What is Design Thinking?
The culture of Design Thinking has been adopted by some of the most innovative companies in the world. Design Thinking was born in Silicon Valley in the 2000s. Instigated by Tim Brown, CEO and Chairman of the IDEO agency, this working method enables an innovation problem to be solved using a multidisciplinary, human-centred approach. It is also said to be a synthesis of analytical and intuitive thinking. Design Thinking is applied to find an innovative solution to a given problem. This solution must meet 3 fundamental principles.
- Desirability (of the market or players)
- Technical and organisational feasibility
- Economic viability
Putting people at the heart of our thinking
Nowadays, it is necessary to produce in line with customer expectations. We need to focus on what customers like. The customer experience has become the key to economic development, and it is now inconceivable to ignore their desires and uses in the process of designing an offering. As you will have understood, in Design Thinking, the user is the most important person. They are placed at the heart of the design process.
What's the point?
The aim is to highlight the real problems and solve them with innovative solutions.
Design Thinking allows you to innovate in all areas of your business, whatever the sector: from product packaging to the services you offer, from the company's business model to its internal processes.
Inspired by the methods of IDEO, the leader in Design Thinking, this is a practical guide to applying Design Thinking in your company or department.
Inspiration
The main objective of this stage is to define the problem in order to propose a solution.
- We start by defining the problem, the innovation challenge. Thanks to the multidisciplinary team, we will try to meet this challenge. All ideas are taken into account, there is no hierarchy in this team.
- Secondly, we identify the needs and motivations of end customers. To do this, we try to understand the user journey (buyer, prescribers, users, etc.), their objectives, their obstacles, etc. To do this, we set up a meeting in the field, acting as an observer. We immerse ourselves as fully as possible in the customer's needs. Then we present our conclusions.
Ideation
During this second stage, we will develop several ideas around the problem we have identified in order to come up with the best concept.
- The various members of the team are brought together and each notes down what they have identified during the needs identification process. All the points raised are displayed to give an overview.
- Then the team will brainstorm, imagining potential scenarios to best meet customer needs.
Implementation
The third and final stage of Tim Brown's model aims to put the project into practice.
- Bringing ideas to life makes it easier to test them and identify areas for improvement. We'll test the prototype with the public and then, depending on the feedback, we'll adjust or develop it.
These iteration phases ensure that the customer experience is as close as possible. In this way, companies increase their chances of success and minimise risks and costs by identifying mistakes early on. Design Thinking is a significant advantage that is easy to implement.