Many companies struggle to create and maintain an innovative culture integrated with a lean and sustainable business model, which allows them to compete in a rapidly evolving digital environment. But the design-led entrepreneurial realities seem to do better. The numerous mergers and acquisitions (M&A) of design companies by large consulting firms, in recent years, confirm this.
Design is often associated with a divergent creative process with respect to the normal logical design process. Yet the introduction of design methodology in project-thinking has led to the construction of innovative tools that are so effective that more and more companies have decided to adopt them in different contexts.
In this short article, we give an introduction to Design Thinking, the contexts in which it applies and the advantages obtained by those who have adopted it as an innovation methodology within their company. We will also look at the limits that should be taken into consideration when evaluating whether to use it as a design tool.
The Design Thinking methodology aims to generate innovation starting from the user needs.
You start with a careful analysis of user needs, empathizing with them, to capture real problems and their expectations.
Through creativity techniques, different ideas are generated from which prototypes are developed which, once tested and validated, give rise to the implementation of the innovative solution.
In his article published in 2008 in the Harvard Business Review, Tim Brown defines Design Thinking as a methodology that focuses on people and uses design tools to solve complex problems.
Promoted by the d.school of Stanford University, Design Thinking has been adopted in recent years as a reference methodology in various fields, such as corporate, industrial and healthcare, used in educational, political and social innovation.
Companies like Google, Airbnb, Toyota or IBM have successfully implemented this methodology.
Even in Italy the pervasiveness of this approach is growing in business application contexts, so much so that the Politecnico di Milano established in 2017 an Observatory dedicated to Design Thinking for Business that “wants to be the reference point for the community of innovators who adopt approaches pioneers such as Design Thinking in creating value for their companies”.
Application contexts for the business
Some application contexts in which the Design Thinking approach is to be considered a valid design tool:
- strategic consultancy (eg innovation of business or innovation of process or innovation of value )
- digital transformation (implementation of truly valuable digital solutions for people and companies)
- design of digital user experiences (UX / UI)
- development of new consumer experiences
- product management – generating new ideas for new products/services
- creating a new business model (or designing variants of the existing one)
Observed advantages
The advantages of using Design Thinking often depend on context and project objectives. However, there are common advantages:
- facilitates and speeds up the solution adoption: with a bottom-up approach the design based on Design Thinking starts from the need of the end-user, to build a solution (technological or process) really valuable for him;
- strong engagement of the end-user who feels involved right from the design side: a way for companies to enhance their employees and “take them on board” of the challenge they are facing;
- an iterative approach in the design phase allows to test the solution proposals and modify them until reaching the most suitable solution before proceeding with the actual implementation;
- facilitates the dissemination and growth of an innovative culture within the company.
The Design Thinking limits
If you are thinking of adopting Design Thinking for a project within your company, you should consider some of its limitations first:
- Design Thinking projects usually have a medium-long duration (generally 7/8 months), a lighter version can be adopted for limited purposes (such as the generation of ideas only)
- Design Thinking requires the direct involvement of users who must be put in a position to make their own contribution (availability of time and resources)
- the application of the methodology for the design of corporate digital solutions could clash with restrictions imposed by integrations with systems already in use.
Conclusion
Unfortunately, there are still many interventions of innovation within companies that fail for various reasons. Often it is a bad user involvement or an underestimation of the impact of the initiative on the business. Methodologies such as Design Thinking allow to limit these risks, however, it is good to know how to adapt them in a pragmatic way to the specific context.
See you at the next pill!