DESIGN THINKING (KBMBN106)

Unit 1- Innovation & Creativity: Meaning of Innovation and creativity. Difference between innovation and
creativity, and its role in Industry and organizations, dynamics of creative thinking, Process of Design
Thinking, implementing the process in driving innovation, Case Study

Unit 2- An exercise in design thinking & implementing design thinking through a workshop & exercise case
studies in design thinking, design thinking process. Case Study

Unit 3- Design Thinking in Various Sectors (Health sector, Finance, Education, Infrastructure) Design
thinking case studies in retail, design thinking case studies in banking, design thinking case studies in
management decisions
UNIT I Innovation & Creativity: Meaning of Innovation and creativity. Difference between innovation
and creativity, and its role in Industry and organizations, dynamics of creative thinking, Process of Design
Thinking, implementing the process in driving innovation, Case Study

CREATIVITY
Meaning and Definition of Creativity
Creativity is an on-going process as it constantly needs to identify improved ways to expand the business,
however difficult it might be or how limited the resources may be. Creativity is added advantage to
entrepreneurs in their capabilities to invent something new, not only in theory but also in concrete.
Entrepreneurs feel motivated by the fact that his efforts from start to the scratch go through the entire
process and obtain the desired result. After achieving one target, he takes up another challenge since this is
what he wants to continue doing.
According to Robert E. Franken, "Creativity is defined as the tendency to generate or recognise ideas,
alternatives, or possibilities that may be useful in solving problems, communicating with others, and
entertaining ourselves and others".
According to Dr. Betty Edwards, "Creativity is the ability to find new solutions to a problem or new
modes of expression; thus it brings into existence something new to the individual and to the culture".

Components of Creativity
Following are the components of creativity:
1) Conceptual Fluency: It is the capability to produce quite a lot of appropriate ideas in a short duration
related to a certain problem, issue or situation, which should be resolved.
2) Conceptual Flexibility: It is the capability to have different point of views or frame of references and
diverse methods for solving the same problem.
3) Originality: It is the capacity to generate new, extraordinary, unique solutions to queries or problems
and out-of-the-box interpretations of events, issues and situations.
4) Complexity orientation: It is the aptitude to the challenges and search for answers to difficult and
uncertain situations or issues, and to happily put in effort to evaluate, incorporate, elucidate and resolve
them.

Creative Process
Creativity is the birth of a new and original idea with a purpose or aim. Abstract, impractical ideas that
cannot be implemented are not creative. Hence, creativity in itself is meaningless and useless, unless it is
implemented in a logical way. The process by which a creative idea is born, developed and translated into a
concrete reality is known as the 'creative process.
Despite differences of opinion and approaches, it is usually believed by various scientists that the creative
process goes through the following five stages before converting an idea into a reality. The process differs in
accordance with the creative mind at each stage:

1) Idea Germination: Germination is the process of nurturing an idea along with a purpose. For example,
in the case of artists the purpose is to communicate, in the case of a scientist it would be in response to a
scientific problem. The evolution of an idea is anonymous; it cannot be scanned or researched. However,
it can be determined that most of the creative ideas are drawn on the basis of a person's interest in a
particular field of study.
2) Preparation: Once the idea has been germinated, the next step is to give it a concrete and practical form.
This is when the intellect takes over to find answers as to how the idea could be turned into a reality. It
also involves research work where the inventor of the idea examines the work of others in the same field.
Inventors carry out laboratory experiments, those desiring to launch a new product or service. This helps
the marketer to analyze consumer's tastes and preferences.
3) Incubation: Generally creative ideas are born through insights or in a sudden spark of brilliance. Before
the idea is acted upon it is often allowed to incubate properly. The time given helps the idea to grow and
nurture. During this period the mind also receives ample time to adapt the scope of idea and continues to
work upon it at a subconscious level.
4) Illumination: This is the time when the idea is converted into its real form, as imagined by the inventor.
The idea in its nascent form remains within mind of the individual for a long time, without being realised
or implemented. Unexpectedly, through a suitable occurrence the idea takes a form of the most creative
substance. It is a lengthy and on-going process where the individual penetrates to find out the way to
reality. The stage of preparation and incubation acts repetitively in anticipation of reaching the final
destination.
5) Verification: The illuminated idea is still incomplete until it undergoes the verification stage where the
idea is evaluated. This reveals whether the idea is valuable or not. This is a long and tedious process in
which the knowledge and skills of the individual are tested. It requires great patience and tenacity on the
part of the individual.

INNOVATION
Meaning and Definition of Innovation
Innovation' refers to the ability of a person to develop something new based on his acquired knowledge.
Here, 'something new' means it should be totally different from all the other existing things.
Innovation plays a crucial role in almost every phase of life. It is usually related to various areas like
business, technology or engineering and it can even be applied on a personal level. One of the key functions
of innovation is problem solving.
An entrepreneur needs to be creative in order to innovate. Innovation is considered as an important function
in the process of entrepreneurship. Thus, it can be concluded that creativity is a preliminary requisite of
innovation.
According to Stephen P. Robbins, "Innovation is a new idea applied to initiating or improving a product,
process or services".
According to Peter Drucker, "Innovation is the means by which the entrepreneur either creates new wealth
producing resources or endows existing resources with enhanced potential for creating wealth".
It is very important and challenging to manage the innovation process. It is important because it provides
business opportunities to the entrepreneurs, and is challenging, as it contains a number of elements in its
process.
Therefore, for the success and survival of any business enterprise it is crucial to effectively manage the R&D
and innovation practices. There are different approaches which are used by the companies depending on the
size and type of business.

Essential Ingredients of Innovation

There are four essential ingredients of innovation which are explained below:
1) Something new: 'New' means a different and unique product which has never been created before.
Everyone likes to own a thing which is distinctive in all ways. Hence, it can be said that 'newness' is the
beginning of something.
2) Better Than What Exists: Innovation is not only creating something new, but also introducing a better
version of a thing that already exists. It should increase the perceived value of a new product from that of
an existing one. For example, new and improved office policies must have something better than the
previous ones.
3) Economically Feasible: Along with new and improved features, a product must also be economically
feasible. The entrepreneur should know whether the product is going to be productive enough to bring
profit or not. For example, if an entrepreneur is launching a new and improved soft drink, he should
make sure that the product is making more sales and earning profits.
4) Widespread Appeal: An innovation should have a basic appeal in the target market. An appeal
can only be formed when a product has all the three elements which are discussed above, i.e.,
newness, better than what exists and economically viable. For example, a new soft drink can
 appeal the customers if it is better than others like it can be refreshing and have different flavours.
But if it is not able to appeal anyone, then it cannot be called as an innovation.
Sources of Innovation
According to Drucker, an entrepreneur should observe seven sources of innovation. These sources provide
business opportunities to entrepreneurs and are called as "symptoms" which are "reliable indicators of
changes that have already happened, or can be made to happen with little effort". These seven sources of
innovation are as follows:
1) Unexpected Success, Unexpected Failure, or Unexpected outside Event: These are explained below:
 Unexpected Success: Entrepreneurs cannot take credit for an unexpected success and thus, accepting
this success will be hard for them, due to which they fail to exploit this opportunity. The unexpected
success of the business neither identifies its qualitative aspect nor is countable in the quantitative
financial reporting. Hence, an entrepreneur is advised to consider unexpected success as a symptom
and generate an innovative business opportunity by continuously analyzing the open market.
 Unexpected Failure: It is not possible for entrepreneurs to avoid an unexpected failure.
Generally, it is not considered as a symptom that generates an innovative business opportunity.
Entrepreneurs need to understand that this unexpected failure can occur due to the changes
held in the value or application of a product, if there are no errors found in the product design and
marketing strategy.
 Unexpected outside Event: An unexpected outside event is an opportunity which may occur
due to a market change. In this act, there is a need to replace the existing products and
distribution channels with new products and their applications. Thus, it is considered as a
symptom to create an innovative business opportunity.
2) Incongruity in Reality: In reality, incongruity or inappropriateness occurs when a person feels
absurd and recognizes that something is odd or out of control. For example, a dynamic gain or loss
in weight can lead to issues related with the fitting of clothes. Incongruity indicates change and
reveals opportunities for improvement where a small innovation can do wonders. These changes can
be both qualitative and quantitative in nature, which are noticeable yet sometimes overlooked.
For making incongruity an innovation opportunity, an entrepreneur should consider the following points:
 Change in Financial Performance
 Identify Things that do not Harmonise
 Identify Long Lead Times, Combined with or Separate from large capital equipment investment
 Search the Mismatch between Customers and their Beliefs about their Needs and wants
3) Innovation Based on Process Need: Processes and procedures are imperative for starting and running
the businesses. According to Drucker, there are five criteria and two constrain - for determining and
formulating innovations in order to fulfill a process need.
Following are the five criteria:
 A self-sufficient process,
 A clearly defined purpose for the process,
 A weak missing link or step in the process,
 A solution that can be well-defined, and
 A consensus from the process users that there ought to be a better way.
Following are the two constraints:
 A mismatch or that something is out of harmony with its purpose may not be accepted understood by
some of the process users.
 Even if one understands the need for a change in the process or procedure, one may not have
knowledge to create the alterations so it will fit, or to change the notes to bring it back into harmony.
4) Changes in Industry and Market Structure: The changes in industry and market structure
unexpectedly attract the attention of every customer and it creates a big innovation opportunity for the
entrepreneurs. This change acts as a good source of innovation if analyzed accurately. For example, the
main street businesses were drastically affected by the formation of Wal-Mart's stores in small cities.
Many businessmen view Wal-Mart as a threat for their businesses and for the city, thus, ignoring and
overlooking the opportunity.
5) Demographic Changes: The changes occurring in the market demographics also act as a big source of
innovation. In recent times, middle class is diminishing, family size is reducing, nuclear families and
 single-parent families are the trending customer segments. Other than this, changes in population size,
employment, educational level, family structure, age structure, tastes and preferences, etc., can also
create innovation opportunities. An innovative entrepreneur analyses all these changes in the market
demographics and introduces innovative products or services as per the requirement of the customers.
6) Changes in Perception, Mood, and Meaning: The changes in the perception, moods, assumptions,
attitudes and beliefs of the population also act as a big source of innovation. An innovative entrepreneur
observes this change and forms a new product that suits the current needs of the customers.
7) New Knowledge: With the advancement of new knowledge, new products and markets can be created.
It acts as a potential source for developing innovation opportunities. In the scientific area, development
of new programming methods, micro-electronics, nano-technology, biotechnology, etc., are some of the
major innovations which are held in the market.

Innovation Process
The process of innovation is a nine-step process, which involves focused and exploratory thinking. In this
respect, concentrated thinking is a direct form of thinking which involves making decisions, evaluating
alternatives, and monitoring quality in regard with the strategic goals of the enterprise. Exploratory thinking
includes expanding thinking to look for new ideas, withholding judgment, seeking for a quantity of ideas
through new connections and accepting all possibilities. The nine-step process is divided into three main
phases, which are further divided into three stages.

These phases are as follows:

1) Understanding the Problem: This phase involves the following three stages:
a) Gathering Information: It is the first step in the process of innovation. The activities performed at
this stage are as follows:
 Selecting a team to state the main problem.
 Exploring the main reasons due to which the team thinks that it has recognised the right problem.
 Collecting facts, figures and data from various viewpoints.
 Applying "what/when/how/where/who/why" to the problem.
 Exploring external business environment for more data and information.
 Analyzing and evaluating the problem for selecting the best data; this facilitates in the right
understanding of the problem.
b) Clarifying the Real Problem: This stage involves the following activities:
 Widening the awareness and clarifying the problem.
 Recognizing and enlisting the possible causes of the problem.
 Creating alternatives for the problem statements.
 Selecting the best problem statement that represents the most real or important problem.
c) Setting Innovation Goalposts: This is the last stage in the phase of understanding the
problem. It includes the following activities, that an entrepreneur performs:
 Exploring the range of acceptability for alternatives and solutions towards a specific problem.
 Identifying significant standards for decision-making.
 Reviewing the previous standards.
 Setting the goals of innovation.
2) Imagination: This phase involves the following three stages:
a) Finding Stimuli: In this stage, an entrepreneur generates ideas for achieving the pre- defined
innovation goals. It involves the following three actions that an entrepreneur performs:
 Exploring the business environment for information and signals.
 Researching the past, present and future.
 Discovering various perspectives.
 Exploring the marketplace.
 Examining and minimizing the stimuli.
b) Uncovering Insights: In this stage, an entrepreneur performs the following activities:
 Using the selected stimuli for identifying potential insights and findings.
 Suspending decisions while uncovering these insights.
 Making use of creative-linkages and power tools.
  Selecting insights of more importance for further reproduction.
c) Identifying Ideas: In this stage, an entrepreneur performs the following activities:
 Exploring the important insights for potential ideas to resolve the real problem.
 Comparing and choosing the best ideas based upon the pre-defined goals of innovation.
 Transforming these ideas into full concepts.
3) Actions and Implementation: This is the last phase in the process of innovation and involves
the actual execution and implementation of the ideas so as to achieve the goals of innovation.
It consists of the following three steps:
a) Developing the Innovation Roadmap: This step involves the following activities:
 Considering the concepts and transforming them into plans.
 Inspecting the needs, timing and responsibilities of the resource.
 Recognizing alternative plans.
 Selecting the best ideal plan based on the goals of innovation and set criteria.
 Considering the impact of plan on rest of the organization.
b) Gaining Commitment: In this step, an entrepreneur performs the following activities:
 Exploring commitment to the ideal plan.
 Recoginising the factors responsible for supporting the plan.
 Preparing the plan for presentation.
 Presenting the plan.
 Making necessary changes in the plan.
 Testing the elements of the plan, if required.
 Finalizing commitment towards the final plan.
c) Implementing the Innovation Roadmap: This is the last step in the process of innovation. The
following activities, undertaken by an entrepreneur are:
 Releasing the final plan into action.
 Adjusting the plan, if required.
 Monitoring the whole process and results.
 Sharing the results and learning.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION

Many times, creativity and innovation are used interchangeably. Creativity is the process of bringing out
something novel in the real world. It is just search and identification of an idea. Later, the idea is brought
into existence using methods and concepts, which leads to innovation.
Innovation is the implementation of "new" idea into something "useful", which implies that it can be
converted at an economic cost and should satisfy a need.
In other words, innovation may be defined as the transformation of a creative idea into something useful.
Ideas are of no value until they are enclosed into an innovative product, process or services.
Needless to say, innovation always follows creativity. It is a unique ability which is possessed by
individuals, who have the instinct to do something exceptional. Some of the methods to innovate the product
are as follows:
1. Inventing New Products and Services: A classic example of inventing a new product can be the
introduction of CBS, inventions of ATMs, net banking etc., which have revolutionized Indian banking
services. It has made banking services user friendly and all time accessible.
2. Cutting Cost: Through innovation, a useful yet costly product can be made affordable to many users. If
the sales increase, the business also grows rapidly.
A typical example of this can be Reliance Telecommunications, who sold their cell phones for Rs.501
only to make it affordable for every citizen of India.
3. Simplifying Operations: The procedure for availing products and services has been made and
accessible to customers. For example, online application for passport registration, booking of CNG, easy
loans for every household item at 0% interest rate.
Creativity and innovation go hand-in hand. But both acquire specific roles, which combine to form a new
product. The primary difference between creativity and innovation is that the former refers to conceive a
fresh idea or plan, whereas the latter implies initiating something new to the market, which is not introduced
earlier.
Basis for
Creativity Innovation
Comparison

Meaning Creativity is an act of creating new Innovation is the introduction of something

ideas, imaginations and possibilities. new and effective into the market.

Process Imaginative Productive

Quantifiable No Yes

Related to Thinking something new Introducing something new

Money No Yes
Consumption

Risk No Yes

Example
The invention of the motorcycle was the biggest innovation over scooters. In early centuries, people used to
travel with scooters, for which they have to make lots of efforts to start it like they need to strike the kick
and knee down from either side if it doesn’t start. So, years and years passed away, and nobody even thought
for the invention of bikes. The invention of the motorcycle makes them realize that they can also ride bikes
without making any extra efforts; they just have to click the switch and its starts automatically.
In this example, the thought of creation of a new traveling motorcycle is creativity, but the actual
invention of it is innovation.

CONCLUSION
There is always a dispute between creativity and innovation as both are important for an organization to last
longer. The existence of both can lead to success. After a huge discussion, let’s know about how we can be
creative – by asking questions, drawing conclusions, experimenting & exploring new ideas and widening the
areas of thinking. For being innovative, a person must have the ability to take risks, experimenting, asking
questions and observing things.

ROLE IN INDUSTRY AND ORGANIZATIONS

Role of Innovation in Industry and Organization
Innovation is a significant factor for the organization to achieve the competitive advantage. The organization
which brings innovation in its processes is able to stay alive in the long run. Elements of innovation such as
resources and skills, motivation and empowerment of employees, and proper training help to bring out
innovative and quality products.
1) Leads Competitive Advantage in the Market: As mentioned above, the market nowadays is quite
dynamic and volatile in nature. And the main reasons behind the same are the ever-growing competition
from the new as well as the established players in the market, evolving tastes of the customers, and the
changing norms and policies of the government. Hence, in to successfully survive and thrive in the
competitive market, it is essential for the brands to come up with the product and services offerings that
are high on the aspect of innovation giving the brand the much required competitive advantage.
2) Bring Loyal Customers: One of the most difficult tasks for the brands in the market is to retain the long
list of loyal customers and keep on adding to the list. And that is only possible when the brands are able
to solve their pain and problem areas with the product and service offerings that are new, novel, and
innovative. Hence, it is very crucial for the brands to realize the Importance of Innovation to keep their
cash registers ringing and profits elevated by keeping the customers happy and satisfied.
3) Creating Unique Selling Proposition: If we conduct market research that can be of primary or
secondary nature, we will figure out that each and every successful brand has a unique selling
proposition. And that is their intellectual property and works as an inspiration for their contemporaries in
 the market. And the unique selling proposition can be arrived and derived on the basis of innovation.
And once the brand's USP is hit amongst the target audience and they are accepting the same with the
open arms, there is literally no looking back for the brand. And it is the aspect of realizing the
Importance of Innovation that has given the brand's its unique selling proposition.
4) Enhanced Brand Value: If company takes a look at the brand examples that are known for their high
brand value, it is the factor of innovation that makes it possible for them. KFC is known for its unique
flavours, Apple is known for its cutting edge technology, and Louis Vuitton is known for its high-end
quality and design elements. The examples are many, but the main underlining fact is that all the above
mentioned brands are offering something to their target audience that is unique and innovative in nature.
5) Constant Improvement: Research and development are slowly becoming a huge part of every company
in order to stay relevant in the market beating the competition. And one of the crucial motives of the
management of the firm behind the same is to come up with the products and services that are high on
innovation and novelty.
Role of Creativity in Industry and Organization / Importance of Creativity to Entrepreneurs
The importance of creativity to entrepreneurs is as follows:
1) Ability to Discover New Solutions: Creativity is one concept that has remained unexplored in depth. It
helps the entrepreneurs to look up for better solutions to issues and to invent new things. Hence,
creativity can be better understood by entrepreneurs as problem solving is one of their key functions.
2) Increases Efficiency: Creativity also plays a crucial role in the innovative and creative process. Ideas
that end up improving the output and the effectiveness of system needs creativity. It acts as a main
source to develop ideas in order to increase the efficiency and usefulness of a system. In creativity, there
are two main features, viz., people and process. The people are represented as the resources who find out
the solution. Whereas, the process follows above methodology. It is target-oriented and structured way
of problem-solving. Although the approach that people might use differs from process to process.
3) Enhances Knowledge: Creativity provides the benefit of in-depth knowledge and skills to entrepreneurs
and also widens the scope of knowledge. It helps entrepreneurs to utilize their prior skills in creating
better ideas, techniques and improved ways of implementing them.
4) Assists in Exploring Opportunities: In order to develop something new needs an extensive research to
find out the opportunities in the different areas. At times, it might also be needed to set up new areas or
new market opportunities. In the initial stage, new ideas might be developed by thinking totally out-of-
the-box or by following a dynamic process or alternative set of actions.

CREATIVE THINKING
When traditional mediums or normal approaches are failed in finding the answers of the questions or solving
the problems then the ability of finding the solutions of problems by changing one's perspective is defined as
creative thinking. Easy solutions or answers are for everyone, whereas the creative answers or solutions are
for the people who have experience of any industry or business.
The concept of convergent and divergent thinking is suggested by J.P. Guilford on the basis of his studies
which explains that how different people responded differently to different problems. He was a psychologist
of America. He conducted a detailed study on problem-solving and human intelligence and observed that
rather than employing two types of mix, people have preferences for either convergent or divergent thinking.
On the other hand, some other psychologists observed that rather than looking for creative answers, many
people show a preference for convergent thinking because the modern schooling pushes the students towards
the best possible answers. The cycle of divergent and convergent thinking comprises creative process.
Divergent thinking is an imaginative approach and involves adoption of new framework, pursuit new
relationships, draws extensively on intuition and imagination.
Convergent thinking is a rational approach and involves various mechanisms such as, logical analysis,
synthesis, comparison, optimization and classification. Logical, convergent thinking provides the basis in
understanding an ambiguous problem. Once the divergent thinking gains a new insight and makes an
original line then creative thinking becomes active again.
Characteristics of Creative Thinking
The characteristics of creative thinking are as follows:
1) Receptivity: Creative thinking is receptive in nature. A creative people accept new experiences and
open for new ideas.
2) Curiosity: Creative thinking involves curiosity. For example, a good designer is always curious for
his/her every new project.
3) Wide Range of Interests: The creative people may create or make a wide variety of connections with
the help of wide knowledge base. For example, an artist may make more connections in comparison to a
narrow minded specialist.
4) Attentiveness: A creative person pays attention to every information or minor details because he/she
realise that every information or experience is important for them.
5) Complexity: In order to be effective, a creative people should combine the rational approach with the
intuitive.
6) Conviction: A creative people value the existing knowledge or experiences. For example, a scientist
may use their old ideas for expanding his work or for replacing old ideas with new ideas.
7) Connection Seeking: A creative people seeing the similarity between those parts which are different.
Types of Creative Thinking
Organization needs to develop certain basic thinking skills for developing a creative problem-solving
approach and for dealing with them creatively. This skill is essential for formulating the solution of a
problem and for gaining understanding of problem and characterizes that how an individual go in search of
problem-solving. There are several types of creative thinking. These are:
1) Convergent Thinking: The ability of an individual to reach to a right solution of a problem from
various possible options is defined as convergent thinking. In this type of thinking the problems have
mostly one right solution. When the problems may have many solutions then, divergent thinking is
required. It is a combination of different ideas. Hence, creative thinking is a process of combining
different perspectives of a particular topic together in some systematic, organized and logical way to find
out a single solution or answer.
2) Divergent Thinking: Divergent thinking is a process of generating many creative ideas or solution of a
problem by exploring many possible solutions or options. It generates many new ideas or approaches to
a problem. It is process of exploring many possible options or solutions of a problem. In this type of
thinking, a divergent thinker allows his/her mind to move in different directions and collect various ideas
and thoughts which are related to that particular subject. Thus, divergent thinking may be used as a
brainstorming method in a variety of contexts such as, classroom, research and development department
of a company, etc.
3) Making Forced Relationships: One of the unique features of creative thinking is the ability to connect
two or more clearly different ideas, elements, individuals and concepts. This phenomenon is called as
forced relationship. So many thinking continues automatically besides habitual lines. This type of
thinking is natural for majority of people. However, it is not effective in generating new or interesting or
unique ideas. People must search for or construct non-habitual and non-familiar linkages between the
facts and objects that are not related with each other. By identifying the common or similar elements in
dissimilar things or objects, these relationships are formed. For example, a competent manager and
locomotive engine are two different things or items but, one may find those features and qualities which
are common in these two.
4) Recognizing Positive Potential in a Problem : Every problem has always two sides. One side is
negative, which creates concern and worries and the second side is experience rarely. For any problems
which generate worries and anxiety, it is also important to find out those elements which are essential for
the positive potential or positive significance of that problem. Flexibility, openness or receptivity is a
sign of finding positive potential of a problem. A sense of positive potential can make a person flexible
to new course of action or opportunities which may balance out the negative aspects or which allows a
person to make good in bad situation or condition. This means bringing unfavorable gains in unexpected
ways. In order to discover the most brilliant or unusual ideas, it allows one to know what might happen
in the next moment, or consider the intermediate results of a new idea. This can often unlock a new,
useful part of a very unusual or brilliant idea that might not have happened otherwise.
5) Dissecting Ideas: The process of identifying the missing element by developing a list of useful elements
is called as dissecting an idea. In tins case, the list of useful items may be prepared by the understandings
of convergent and divergent thinking or by making forced relationship. The missing element is identified
in form of "How to" statements. These statements may concern with planning, disagreements, managing,
 organizing, sending messages, forwarding, or implementing an idea or communicating it. They may
focus on testing the ideas in real-life situations. The problems are reassessed or revised by these new
ideas.
6) Visualizing Future Solution State(s): Usually, the creative individuals visualize the solutions of the
problem. After that they try to create an insight of the problem, i.e. how a problem may appear. In the
context of that insight, they use existing elements and then change them into new ideas or elements for
solving the problem. Rather than 'what is', 'what should be' and 'what could be' is more important for
them. Thus, it possesses an innovative or futuristic approach of solving a problem which is also
important.
DYNAMICS OF CREATIVE THINKING
Motivation, curiosity and fear, breaking and making connection and evaluation are the four dynamics that
are vital to understand while creative thinking. These dynamics forms the foundation of the creative process.
1) Motivation: It is the measure of the emotional investment taken from the people to break natural inertia
and to shift from their present situation towards their goals. Emotional pressure is created by the distance
between circumstances and desire which motivates someone to do something creative. This activating
desire acts as the dynamic that help a person to get involved in the creative process. Simply put, each
individual and every company needs motivation in order to begin a creative process.
2) Curiosity and Fear: Motivation is followed by curiosity. With curiosity comes fear. Curiosity involves
searching for potentially relevant and valuable information and transforming an unfamiliar situation into
something feasible, advantageous and manageable. This unknown situation is often terrifying and
fearful. It became hard for people to sustaining curiosity in the situation of fear. In case a person is
frightened sufficiently he will lose most capacity for creative curiosity. They should avoid beginning
potential risky tasks. We commit beyond the point of possible discouragement in case where situation lie
in such strong intrinsic belief in the work. The above situation arises when individual risk tolerance
becomes more important than the motivations involved in a work.
3) Breaking and Making Connections: Most of the work of creativity gets done in breaking and making
connection. Destruction involves the breaking of rigid sets of assumptions about what could and could
not be done in a specific situation. In case of connections, day to day creativity mostly occurs when
people gain large amounts of interrelated knowledge in a specific area over a period of time. Sometimes,
being more creatively prolific in a particular discipline acts as a hindrance to discovery. Current lines of
thinking and old assumptions are destroyed by looking to patters of information's from several
disciplines. It is regarded as an efficient way to establish new connections.
4) Evaluation: One has to make decisions sooner or later. New ideas are ready to be accepted or rejected
and are not completely developed. One can make a fair decision about the worth of the new ideas once
they are improved, explored and tailored. With rejection and acceptance of idea, evaluation ends. The
active, curious and creative mind starts focusing on other challenges with natural closure.
BENEFITS OF CREATIVE THINKING
The benefits of creative thinking are as follows:
1) Ability to Identify Best Practices: Best practice needs to be applied in order to achieve high
performance. Work-related task involves best practices that signify the most effective way to accomplish
a task. This acts as a success formula. A creative thinker perform the tasks by using the new approach or
ideas whereas, a people who are not a creative thinker tend to perform the tasks by the way they have
always performed. A creative thinker always asks themselves that, Is there a better way of doing the
things? Although, they respect the opinion of others also. They always ask from other to know the best
way of doing the given work. They continuously look towards the ways to establish the best practices
and to improve the old practices or approaches.
2) Credibility and Prestige: A creative thinker is able to make the team perform quickly with their team
members, management and supervisor. As the creative thinker gain status in the eyes of their teammates
and others thus, after a period of time the credibility converts into the prestige. For example, a best hitter
of a basketball team can gain credibility and prestige in the eyes of the teammates and coaches by hitting
the ball and winning the game. In this case, this credibility helps the hitter to make his career.
3) Better Problem Solving: A creative thinker can be a better problem solver. It is essential because
solving a problem is critical in a competitive environment. Moreover, in case of creative thinking, it is
very important to solve a problem. In a competitive environment, problems are very normal. Thus, it is
 an assumption that, 'anything that can go wrong will go wrong'. It is very rare that, a plan is appear
exactly as it is expected or intended. Breakdown of equipment, product malfunction, lost files, natural
disaster; customer defects for competitor, key people leaving the organisation, etc. are the examples of
the problems emerging in the organisation. Therefore, both critical and creative thinking are fundamental
to problem solving and problem solving is fundamental to the success of the organisation.
4) More Support for Ideas: There is a possibility that an idea cannot be accepted by every members of an
organisation. For example, when an individual present an idea related to improving the work process or
any other aspects of the job then it might be possible that, the manager, teammates and supervisor cannot
accept the idea. Thus, an individual should be prepared for convincing all the members of the
organisation by showing the logical facts and the difference between the existing idea and the new idea
and how this new idea is better than the existing idea. Critical thinking involves factual and logical
arguments. This thinking applies to one's own thinking as well as the thinking of others. An individual
generates an idea by creative thinking and before proposing this idea, critically evaluate this idea. It
helps in gaining the supporters of the idea. Thus, an individual can revise its own idea by critically
evaluating its own idea.
5) Better Focus during Discussions: A critical thinker can never lose their focus during the discussion
because he/she thinks that every topic is important for them. Whereas, a non-critical thinker cannot do
this. A critical thinker concentrates on the key issues and focused on the unrelated points. Thus, the
critical thinker stay focused during discussion and more valuable partner during the problem solving
discussions.

DESIGN THINKING
Design thinking is a non-linear, iterative process that teams use to understand users, challenge assumptions,
redefine problems and create innovative solutions to prototype and test. Involving five phases—Empathize,
Define, Ideate, Prototype and Test—it is most useful to tackle problems that are ill-defined or unknown.

FEATURES OF DESIGN THINKING

1. Finding simplicity in complexities.
2. Having a beautiful and aesthetically appealing product.
3. Improving clients’ and end user’s quality of experience.
4. Creating innovative, feasible, and viable solutions to real world problems.
5. Addressing the actual requirements of the end users
USES OF DESIGN THINKING
The basic principle of design thinking is that innovation can be disciplined. Innovation is not an elusive
entity that only a few genius people can experience. It is, rather, a practice that can be systematically
approached by a set of practical and meticulous tools, methodologies, and frameworks. Design thinking
helps you learn the following.
1. How to optimize the ability to innovate?
2. How to develop a variety of concepts, products, services, processes, etc. for end-users?
3. How to leverage the diverse ideas of innovation?
4. How to convert useful data, individual insights and vague ideas into feasible reality?
5. How to connect with the customers and end-users by targeting their actual requirements?
6. How to use the different tools used by designers in their profession for solving your customers’
problems?
Goal of Design Thinking
Identify an innovative solution to a problem/opportunity which satisfies 3 core criteria:
 1) Desirability: Think about what clients might want but lack, walking in their shoes and immerse in their
daily routine instead of trying to convince them a product or service is "good"
2) Feasibility: Identify themes and models, through observation and field activities, trying to build
relationships and deepening insights to check how consumers react, adjusting the product, its price, or
positioning
3) Viability: Define the winning solution, in terms of sustainability and profitability, identifying any
activity or resource the company will actually have to produce to communicate, distribute and deliver
this solution.
FIVE STAGES/PROCESS OF DESIGN THINKING
The Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford describes design thinking as a five-stage process. Note:
These stages are not always sequential, and teams often run them in parallel, out of order and repeat them in
an iterative fashion.
1. Stage 1: Empathize—Research Your Users' Needs
Here, you should gain an empathetic understanding of the problem you’re trying to solve, typically
through user research. Empathy is crucial to a human-centered design process such as design thinking
because it allows you to set aside your own assumptions about the world and gain real insight into users
and their needs.
2. Stage 2: Define—State Your Users' Needs and Problems
It’s time to accumulate the information gathered during the Empathize stage. You then analyze your
observations and synthesize them to define the core problems you and your team have identified. These
definitions are called problem statements. You can create personas to help keep your efforts human-
centered before proceeding to ideation.
3. Stage 3: Ideate—Challenge Assumptions and Create Ideas
Now, you’re ready to generate ideas. The solid background of knowledge from the first two phase’s
means you can start to “think outside the box”, look for alternative ways to view the problem and
identify innovative solutions to the problem statement you’ve created. Brainstorming is particularly
useful here..
4. Stage 4: Prototype—Start to Create Solutions
This is an experimental phase. The aim is to identify the best possible solution for each problem found.
Your team should produce some inexpensive, scaled-down versions of the product (or specific features
found within the product) to investigate the ideas you’ve generated. This could involve simply paper
prototyping.
5. Stage 5: Test—Try Your Solutions Out
Evaluators rigorously test the prototypes. Although this is the final phase, design thinking is
iterative: Teams often use the results to redefine one or more further problems. So, you can return to
previous stages to make further iterations, alterations and refinements – to find or rule out alternative
solutions.
Overall, you should understand that these stages are different modes which contribute to the entire
design project, rather than sequential steps. Your goal throughout is to gain the deepest understanding
of the users and what their ideal solution/product would be.

DESIGN THINKING TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES

1) Visualization: Visualization is about using images. It's not about drawing; it's about visual thinking. It
pushes us beyond using words or language alone. It is a way of unlocking a different part of our brains
that allows us to think nonverbally and that managers might not normally use.
2) Journey Mapping: Journey mapping (or experience mapping) is an ethnographic research method that
focuses on tracing the customer's "journey" as he or she interacts with an organisation while in the
 process of receiving a service, with special attention to emotional highs and lows. Experience mapping is
used with the objective of identifying needs that customers are often unable to articulate.
3) Value Chain Analysis: Value chain analysis examines how an organisation interacts with value chain
partners to produce, market, and distribute new offerings. Analysis of the value chain offers ways to
create better value for customers along the chain and uncovers important clues about partners'
capabilities and intentions.
4) Mind Mapping: Mind mapping is used to represent how ideas or other items are linked to a central idea
and to each other. Mind maps are used to generate, visualize, structure, and classify ideas to look for
patterns and insights that provide key design criteria.
5) Rapid Concept: Rapid concept development assists us in generating hypotheses about potential new
business opportunities.
6) Prototyping: Prototyping techniques allow us to make abstract new ideas tangible to potential partners
and customers. These include storyboarding, user scenarios, experience journeys, and business concept
illustrations — all of which encourage deep involvement by important stakeholders to provide feedback.
7) Customer Co-creation: Customer co-creation incorporates techniques that allow managers to engage a
customer while in the process of generating and developing new business ideas of mutual interest. They
are among the most value-enhancing, risk-reducing approaches to growth and innovation.
8) Storytelling: Storytelling is exactly how it sounds: weaving together a story rather than just making a
series of points. It is a close relative of visualization—another way to make new ideas feel real and
compelling. Visual storytelling is actually the most compelling type of story. All good presentations—
whether analytical or design-oriented — tell a persuasive story.
CHALLENGES IN DESIGN THINKING
1) People Want Human-Centric Outputs Without Human Inputs: Understanding human challenges to
find the right problem to solve takes time. Unfortunately, many Design Thinking teams get asked to take
shortcuts and reduce critical ethnography/immersion work to phone interviews and to limit the creative
period for ideation to four hours of a two-day workshop, with disastrous results.
2) Misalignment is a Risk to Every Design Thinking Project: Many Design Thinking projects run
into problems because they fail to maintain alignment throughout the project. Design Thinking
practitioners naturally spend more time with the client's customers and digesting the findings to identify
insights than anyone else involved with the project (project sponsor, core team, and workshop
participants), and are farther along the Design Thinking journey than the folks showing up to understand
and define the problem, ideate, prototype and test.
3) Short-Term Thinking: Most times Design Thinking is applied only while developing a particular
product or in the execution of a particular project. However, Design Thinking should be inbuilt in the
long-term strategy of the organization. Organizations will have to envision the entire ecosystem around
the consumer and apply principles of Design Thinking to every phase. One example of such an approach
is, Paytm which started as a mobile recharge platform to one of the largest mobile payments platform
with over 7 million merchants and 300 million registered wallet users, and now a major e-commerce
platform. Paytm reached at this point by envisioning the entire ecosystem and possibilities around
consumers that their platform could solve, and then created a delightful solution around it.
4) Challenges of Scale and Pace: Digitization has exploded the number of touch points through
which businesses interact with consumers. Today enterprises have to interact with their consumers
at numerous channels, in a world where the time to respond has come to near zero. It can be a
challenging task to apply Design Thinking at every touch point and innovate and engage at a fast
rate. Businesses should prioritize the channels and then apply Design Thinking principles to their
channels in a phase-wise manner.
5) Building a Design Culture: In most organization Design Thinking is limited to product teams. Either
there is a team of designers that are rotated across teams or having a designer for every product team.
While organizations have to identify their own approach basis their organizational culture, to reap the
true benefits of Design Thinking businesses will need to ingrain a Design Thinking approach across
every function.
DESIGN THINKING AND INNOVATION
The words design and innovation are increasingly used interchangeably to describe a method for conceiving
of artifacts, services, and systems. While those terms, and their related tools and techniques, have a strong
relationship to one another, they are not synonymous.
Design thinking became so popular because it minimises the uncertainty and risk of innovation by engaging
customers and users through a series of prototypes to learn test and refine concepts.
According to Tim Brown, President and CEO of IDEO, "Design thinking is a human-centred approach to
innovation that draws from the designer's toolkit to integrate the needs of people, the possibilities of
technology, and the requirements for business success".
Implementing the Design Thinking Process in Driving Innovation/The Design Thinking Process
Design Thinking model proposed by the Hasso-Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford:
1) Empathise: The first stage of the Design Thinking process is to gain an empathic understanding oft the
problem you are trying to solve. This involves consulting experts to find out more about the area of
concern through observing, engaging and empathising with people to understand their experiences and
motivations, as well as immersing yourself in the physical environment so you can gain a deeper
personal understanding of the issues involved. Empathy is crucial to a human-centered design process
such as Design Thinking, and empathy allows design thinkers to set aside their own assumptions about
the world in order to gain insight into users and their needs.
Depending on time constraints, a substantial amount of information is gathered at this stage to use during
the next stage and to develop the best possible understanding of the users, their needs, and the problems
that underlie the development of that particular product.
2) Define (the Problem): During the Define stage, it is required to put together the information that has
been created and gathered during the Empathise stage. This is where the observations are analysed and
synthesised in order to define the core problems that the team have identified up to this point. One
should seek to define the problem as a problem statement in a human- centred manner.
The Define stage will help the designers in the team gather great ideas to establish features, functions,
and any other elements that will allow them to solve the problems or, at the very least, allow users to
resolve issues themselves with the minimum of difficulty. In the Define stage the team starts to progress
to the third stage, Ideate, by asking questions which can help to look for ideas for solutions.
3) Ideate: During the third stage of the Design Thinking process, designers are ready to start
generating ideas. Once the team understands the users and their needs in the Empathise stage, and
it analyses and synthesises the observations in the Define stage, and ends up with a human-
centered problem statement.
With this solid background, the strategist and the team members can start to "think outside the box" to
identify new solutions to the problem statement created, and can start to look for alternative ways of
viewing the problem. There are hundreds of Ideation techniques such as Brainstorm, Brainwrite, Worst
Possible Idea, and SCAMPER.
4) Prototype: The design team will now produce a number of inexpensive, scaled down versions of
the product or specific features found within the product, so they can investigate the problem
solutions generated in the previous stage. Prototypes may be shared and tested within the team
itself, in other departments, or on a small group of people outside the design team. This is an
experimental phase, and the aim is to identify the best possible solution for each of the problems
identified during the first three stages.
The solutions are implemented within the prototypes, and, one by one, they are investigated and either
accepted, improved and re-examined, or rejected on the basis of the users' experiences. By the end of this
stage, the design team will have a better idea of the constraints inherent to the product and the problems
that are present, and have a clearer view of how real users would behave, think, and feel when
interacting with the end product.
5) Test: Designers or evaluators rigorously test the complete product using the best solutions identified
during the prototyping phase. This is the final stage of the 5 stage-model, but in an iterative process, the
results generated during the testing phase are often used to redefine one or more problems and inform
the understanding of the users, the conditions of use, how people think, behave, and feel, and to
empathise. Even during this phase, alterations and refinements are made in order to rule out problem
solutions and derive as deep an understanding of the product and its users as possible.
ROLE OF DESIGN THINKING IN INNOVATION
The successful application of design thinking creates collaboration across multiple disciplines, and therefore
offers companies a way to do things better, in spite of silos and organisational quirks. And while we are
focusing on innovation for this piece, there is of course opportunity to use design thinking for effective
strategy development, organisational change and business transformation. In other words, it's increasingly
the go-to toolset of CEOs and senior executives for anything that needs to be optimised for human
interaction.
When it comes to innovation, the value of design thinking is the emphasis it puts on involving the customer
and on prototyping. This means the right problems (hopefully) get solved and that solutions can be tested
before huge quantities of money are sunk into something that people do not need/want/value One of the
biggest obstacles to innovation is overcome by the prototyping phase of design thinking — namely the lack
of data on which to make decisions. Businesses are inherently risk averse and managers have been trained to
demand data at every point to inform their decision-making, and this means that innovative ideas may often
fail to see the light of day because it is too much of a leap of faith.
But prototypes, including incredibly lo-fi prototypes, allow an innovation to be put into people's hands
quickly and for data to be gathered on the likely effectiveness and desirability of the solution being tested.
This collaborative, co-creative approach that depends upon customer involvement significantly de-risks
innovation by making it less of a shot in the dark and giving executives meaningful data to work with. It is
also worth pointing out that while the process is called design thinking it does not necessarily depend upon
designers to run it — far more important is an open mind and a dose of customer empathy.
Using Design Thinking to Innovate
1) Learn: The LEARN phase is where the project is initiated and business establishes what the true
challenge is and how long the process will take.
i) Immerse: Scope the challenge to establish robust timelines and quickly focus on the most important
levers to pull.
ii) Understand: Research the challenge to ensure businesses really do identify the right problem to
solve, and that they understand its context and actors.
2) Create: In the CREATE phase, the research of the LEARN phase is pulled apart, analysed and
interrogated deeply. Here businesses start to form hypotheses, strategise, scamp and prototype.
i) Define: Examine the research, analyse it and start to form some ideas of how the challenge can
be tackled.
ii) Architect: Strategies are written, scamps are drawn and prototypes are made to bring possible
solutions to life and gain further insight.
3) Make: In the MAKE phase, the focus shifts to delivery of a new experience, service, website or other
software application. The detail in the earlier phases means delivery is fast and smooth.
i) Realise: The main development phase when code is written, experiences constructed or
services documented.
ii) Integrate: This is when the magic happens and something new makes a dent in the world.
Implementation is everything. Design thinking is a circular process rather than a linear one.
Core to it is the belief that things can always be made better, so iterate, iterate, iterate.

Innovation Challenges in Design Thinking

The various innovation challenges in design thinking are as follows:
1) People Desirability: People desirability asks the question “Is there a place for this product or
service in the market?” Navigating whether or not the customers desire a product or whether there
is a market for it is the first innovation challenge that design teams must contend with.
Understanding the desirability of product or service is knowing whether it solves a customer need
or not. If it does not, it may be nice to have, but it would not be desirable.
For example, when Toyota launched its Prius worldwide in 2000, it was desirable to consumers for
several reasons. First, its gas efficiency meant filling up at the pump less, making it cheaper for its
owners to operate. Second, it is kinder to the environment, reducing pollutants released into the air.
Those two traits alone (and there are others) made the hybrid a desirable vehicle for many.
2) Business Viability: When talking about business viability, the questions are "Should we do
this? Is it sustainable?" Yes, design thinking is about focusing on solving customer's needs,
but if it costs too much or takes too long to create, is it a smart business decision? Business
viability is concerned with making sure that an innovative idea fits with a company's business
 goals and can be accomplished both in terms of the money it costs to create and the time it
takes to produce.
For example, if a company is creating a new way for consumers to receive their prescriptions, but the
cost for the new system is prohibitive to the consumers themselves, is the solution viable? Or, will the
company have a lot of money and time in designing a new prescription program that only a handful of
consumers will be able to afford?
3) Technical Feasibility: Technical feasibility simply asks, "Will this idea work?" Does your team or
your company have the processes, resources, skills and tools to make this product or service
feasible for your organisation?
For example, an automobile manufacturer probably is not going to undertake creating a meal kit system
delivered to consumer's homes every week. Why? Because they do not have the processes or resources
available to make that a worthwhile investment. A company that deals solely in automotive parts does
not have the expertise to take on a project better suited for the food industry.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN DESIGN THINKING AND INNOVATION
The difference between design thinking and innovation can be explained as follows:
Basis of
Design Thinking Innovation
Difference
Design thinking is a non-linear, iterative
Innovation is commonly defined as the
process that teams use to understand users,
"carrying out of new combinations" that
challenge assumptions, redefine problems and
include "the introduction of new goods, new
create innovative solutions to prototype and
1) Definition methods of production, the opening of new
test. Involving five phases Empathise, Define,
markets, the conquest of new sources of
Ideate, Prototype and Test, it is most useful to
supply and the carrying out of a new
tackle problems that are ill-defined or
organisation of any industry.
unknown.
Design thinking works with identification with
2) Approach Innovation works with measuring.
issues.
It takes more than design and thinking about
3) Time It takes less time as compared to innovation.
design to make an innovation.
The benefit does not need to be measurable, as
4) Objective Innovation is about measuring benefit.
long as we are design thinking.
Design Thinking is an objective method for
Innovation is directly tied-up with the end
5) Result thinking and acting that is not tied up to the end
result.
result.
Unit 2- An exercise in design thinking & implementing design thinking through a workshop & exercise case
studies in design thinking, design thinking process Case Study

DESIGN THINKING EXERCISES - AN EXERCISE IN DESIGN THINKING

Design thinking exercises are helping designers to understand users, and also identify their challenges and
needs. Besides that, they are designed to reframe the way we approach innovation of a product while
focusing on the end-user. Design Thinking has shown its potential for generating innovative, user-centered
concepts in various projects at the schools, in innovation courses, used by design consultancies like IDEO,
and recently even in projects at large companies. However, if Design Thinking activities are not properly
integrated with production processes, e.g. software development, handovers become necessary and
potentially prevent great ideas from becoming real products.

Types of design thinking exercises

The various types of design thinking exercises are as follows:
1) The six thinking hats
2) Mind mapping
3) Deconstruction
4) The five whys or nine whys exercise
5) Thumbnail sketching

The Six Thinking Hats

Six Thinking Hats is a proven problem-solving technique developed by Dr. Edward de Bono, who is
regarded as the leading international authority in the field of creative thinking, innovation, and the direct
teaching of thinking as a skill.
Each of the Six Thinking Hats represents a different direction or type of thinking, which is identified by a
colour. Using the hats in a sequence, one after another, allows examining a problem thoroughly. The process
reduces confusion and keeps thinking on track. The Six Hats techniques help to clarify the focus of our
thinking so we have a thorough understanding of the problem, which will help to manage the time as
efficiently as possible.
Types of Thinking Hats
The six thinking hats are as follows:

1) White Hat: White hat calls for information known or needed. It covers facts, figures, data, and
information. There are too often facts and figures that are embedded in an argument or belief. Wearing
white hat allows to present information in a neutral and objective way.
2) Yellow Hat: The yellow hat is for optimism and the logical positive view of things. Wearing the yellow
hat allows person to look for benefits, feasibility, and how something can be done. Yellow hat thinking
is a deliberate search for the positive. Every creative idea deserves some yellow hat attention.
3) Black Hat: Wearing the black hat allows considering proposals critically and logically. The black hat is
used to reflect on why a suggestion does not fit the facts, the available experience, or the system in use.
 Wearing black hat involves considering the following issues: Costs, regulations, design, materials, and
safety issues. Mistakes can be disastrous. So the black hat is very valuable. It signifies caution and
critical thinking but do not overuse it.
4) Red Hat: Red hat signifies feelings, hunches, and intuition - the place where emotions are placed
without explanation. Usually, feelings and intuition can only be introduced into a discussion if they are
supported by logic. Often, the feeling is genuine but the logic is false. Wearing the red hat allows to put
forward feelings and intuitions without the need for justification, explanation, or apology. The red hat
allows feelings to come into the discussion without pretending to be anything else. It is always valuable
to get feelings out into the open.
5) Green Hat: The green hat is specifically concerned with creating new ideas and new ways of looking at
things. It includes:
a) Creative thinking,
b) Additional alternatives,
c) Putting forward possibilities and hypothesis,
d) Interesting proposals,
e) New approaches, and
f) Provocations and changes.
The green hat makes time and space available to focus on creative thinking. Even if no creative ideas are
forthcoming, the green hat asks for the creative effort. Often green hat thinking is difficult because it
goes against our habits of recognition, judgment, and criticism.
6) Blue Hat: It is used to manage the thinking process. It controls the sequence of thinking. The blue hat is
the overview or process control. It is for organising and controlling the thinking process so that it
becomes more productive. The blue hat is for thinking about thinking. In technical terms, the blue hat is
concerned with meta-cognition.
Mind Mapping
Mind mapping is a concept that will assist one to make plans and decisions. In other words, it is an
important technique that improves the way one records information, and supports and enhances their
creative problem-solving.
Mind maps can also be used to describe the different personalities and roles that exist within management
teams, and is a useful framework for thinking about how personalities may (or may not) work well together.
Mind maps help people to learn things more effectively. They are now being used throughout the world to
improve the quality of learning, thinking, and working.
Techniques of Mind Mapping
There are many independent techniques of mind mapping which serve a specific purpose like creative and
report writing, reading, visual memory, meeting notes, speeches, restructuring of ideas, originality, etc.
These techniques are:
1) Mnemonic Mind Map Technique: The word mnemonic means mindful. Mnemonic techniques involve
the use of imagination and association in order to produce a new and memorable image. These are
concerned with the various techniques involved in storing facts, ideas, and concepts in one's memory and
their retrieval. For example, if one uses striking images for coding data, the connection built is so strong
that it remains so and the image seen in future will prompt immediate retrieval of the idea associated.
2) Computer Mind Map Technique: With the introduction of computer based mind mapping in the last
couple of years, mind mapping has become even easier. Mind mapping software such as Tony Buzan's
iMindMap utilizes the true principles of mind mapping and duplicate the nonlinear thinking process of
the brain, creating an explosion in creativity, innovation and knowledge sharing. Computer based mind
mapping software enables to arrange information in expandable and collapsible topic trees. It enables to
embed documents, links, notes and other data within the structure of map, transforming it into the
equivalent of a powerful visual database.
3) Hierarchy-Based Mind Map Technique: A hierarchy-based mind map is similar to a flow chart,
though in function it acts as a dynamic, graphical outline that helps the user organize his thoughts. In
effect, it takes the old hierarchical outline, makes it into a graphic and adds a free-flow aspect to it as one
idea branches off from another.
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4) Creative Thinking Mind Map Technique: Creative thinking mind map utilises all the creative thinking
skills. They generate ever-increasing mental energy as the mind mapper moves towards his/her goal.
They allow the mind mapper to view a great many elements all at once, thus increasing the probability of
creative association and integration. They enable people's brains to track out ideas which normally lie in
obscurity on the edge of their thinking.
5) Kind Map Organic Study Technique (MMOST): Mind Map Organic Study Technique (MMOST)
was devised by Tony Buzan, the renowned inventor of the Mind Map. It includes following steps:
a) Browse: First and foremost, before you take any notes, flip through the entire book or article to get a
general feel of the information.
b) Time or Amount: Decide on the time you are going to spend studying or the amount of material you
are going to cover in that time.
c) Knowledge Mind Map: If you already know information about the subject, spend about five
minutes quickly mind mapping what you know.
d) Goals Mind Map: Create a separate mind map to define your goals for the study session and
include questions you want answered from the article or book you are about to study.
e) Take an Overview of the Material: To do so, look at results, illustrations, summaries, conclusions,
table of contents, capitalized words and other important elements rather than "read the content word
for word. This will help you determine the structure of your mind map and provide you with relevant
information to create the Basic Ordering Ideas (BOIs) or the main branches of your mind map.
f) Preview: In this step, concentrate on the beginning and ends of paragraphs, chapters and sections.
g) Inview: In this step, fill the in rest of the information that was not covered in the previous steps.
h) Review: In this stage, go back over areas that you skipped and review the text to add
important information that you have not already included your mind map.
Deconstruction
This design thinking exercise asks designers to revisit their understanding of the core problem for the
purpose of clarifying it. According to Shannon Lue Chee Lip, an independent consultant who uses design
thinking frameworks to help social good organizations create strategic plans for success, this exercise helps
ensure designers are solving the core issue rather than just treating the symptoms.
“Take for example if you were tasked with designing a new phone for the elderly. It might be tempting to
jump straight into ideating features like large buttons or speech-to-text capabilities, but if we step back and
decompose the problem—if we ask ourselves, what's the purpose of a phone, anyway?—we open up a
whole new world of design possibilities. Rather than designing just another accessible phone concept, we
might find ourselves creating entirely new ways for older people to relay their thoughts to another person
physically distant from them," Lip explains.
This kind of decomposition challenges designers to reframe their understanding of the challenge at hand,
acknowledging any biases they might bring to the design process and opening themselves up to new ideas
that might never have surfaced otherwise.
The Five Whys or "Nine Whys" Exercise
Another of Lip's favorite design thinking activities is the Five Whys. It uses recursive questioning to help
designers better understand the root cause of a problem, rather than immediately attempting to address the
more obvious symptoms.
Lip shares, "The process begins by identifying the most obvious problem to be addressed and gradually
working backwards by repeatedly asking 'Why?' and empathizing with the user to trace the root cause of an
issue. The beauty of this exercise lies in its simplicity, as it can very quickly lead us from a simple
presenting problem like
'There's a puddle of water on the floor' to reveal key insights like 'No one can figure out the user interface of
the maintenance request system, so the control valves have not been serviced in years.' That can be
invaluable in informing the design process."

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That exercise focuses on asking questions that start with why. These questions will eventually lead to a
better understanding of a certain thing. Designers use that exercise to clearly understand the root cause of the
user's problem.
Like the previous exercise, this one is also conducted in pairs and takes almost 15 minutes. One
designer is interviewing another designer for 5 minutes, and then switching roles. Start with "What do
you do when working on___?"
1) Designer 1: "What do you do when working on that search page design? Please make a short list of
activities."
2) Designer 2: "Makes the list of activities before designing".
3) Designer 1: "Why is that task important to you?"
Continue asking these questions five times, nine times or until another person can't go any deeper because
they have reached the underlying purpose. When that person gets stuck, ask "Does a story come to mind?".
Later, share insights.
Because of the simplicity, the exercise is also helping designers to reveal when a strong purpose is missing
in a meeting. Once the meeting identifies the main purpose that is unambiguous, everyone has more freedom
and opportunities.
Thumbnail Sketching
Peter Donahue, who works as a full-time freelance designer, prefers "good, old-fashioned thumbnail
sketching" as a design thinking exercise. Donahue usually creates twenty or more quick, small sketches of a
design to help identify and solve key visual problems. He explains, "this is my go-to ideation method.
There's a lot of talk about rapid prototyping in the maker community, and I see thumbnail sketching as the
purest, most rapid form of that method."

DESIGN THINKING WORKSHOP

A design thinking workshop is a creative problem-solving session that is based on the principles of design
thinking. These workshops are activity-based and they are often done in person but they can also be done
remotely.
The activities of a design thinking workshop are organized according to the three phases of the design
thinking process: empathy, ideation, and prototyping.
1) Empathy: Getting to grips with a real user problem and building empathy for the target users /
customers.
2) Ideation, Innovation, and Problem-Solving: Generating as many ideas and potential solutions as
possible.
3) Prototyping and Testing: Building low-fidelity prototypes of the ideas generated, ready for testing on
real or representative users.
Design thinking workshops are all about collaboration and problem-solving. As a designer, one might hold a
Design Thinking workshop with his direct team in order to tackle a tough design challenge he has been
struggling with. However, Design Thinking workshops are not just for designers; they are also increasingly
used to teach professionals how to innovate and problem-solve.
Goals of Design Thinking Workshops
Design thinking workshops help design teams to create feasible and user-focused solutions to design
problems. This helps the team to design better products faster, reduce costs, and increase profits. Other goals
include:
1) Improving the problem-solving skills of the team. These skills are transferable to other design problems
within the team.
2) Creating a sense of community in the design team because workshop participants have to collaborate in
order to get a solution.
3) Giving the team a competitive edge by producing innovative and industry-leading ideas.

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Reason of Design Thinking Workshop
As a designer, incorporating Design Thinking into the process will help him to quickly come up with viable,
user-centric solutions—ultimately resulting in a quicker time-to-market, improved customer retention,
significant cost savings, and a great ROI.
Design thinking workshops enable designer to spread this value across the organisation. Here are some of
the reasons to conduct a design thinking workshop:
1) Teach People how to Problem-Solve : Problem solving is a key skill that everyone should master. A
Design Thinking workshop teaches problem solving in action, giving the workshop participants an
approach they can apply to almost any challenge in any area of their lives.
2) Foster Innovation and Teamwork: The very essence of Design Thinking lies in collaboration and
thinking outside the box. As a designer, these things are second nature to you; for others, it might not
come so easily. A Design Thinking workshop breaks down silos and shows participants how to
challenge their assumptions that will lead to innovation!
3) Secure a Competitive Advantage: A Design Thinking workshop may result in ground breaking
solutions that ultimately set the company apart—but competitive products aren't the only takeaway.
Design Thinking workshops teach creative thinking, which is increasingly seen as a competitive
advantage when applied at a strategic level.

Implementing Design Thinking through a Workshop

The design thinking process is made up of activities that are done before the workshop and during the
workshop. The figure 2.2 shows the steps involved in implementing design thinking through a workshop.
Step 1: Planning and Preparation: Before you can run a design thinking workshop, there are some things
that need to be in place first, they include:
1) Workshop Objectives: This is a clear definition of the goals that the workshop should achieve. Is it to
generate new ideas or to improve on an existing design product? This is also a good time to
define the challenge or question that the workshop will answer. It might be "how can we improve the
user experience of our website users?"
2) Workshop Location: Choose a suitable location for your design thinking workshop. If the workshop is
happening physically, choose a location that has enough space for your design team. If the workshop is
happening online, decide on the meeting and presentation tools that you are going to use.
3) Workshop Agenda: This is a plan of how and when the different activities are going to happen. Do not
over schedule the workshop and be sure to include a lot of activities in your design thinking workshop
agenda.
4) Workshop Materials: Ensure that all the necessary design thinking workshop materials such as paper,
marker pens, sticky notes, whiteboards, and props are in place. After making all the necessary
preparations as outlined above, the next steps will be the execution of your workshop agenda.
Step 2: Introduction: Welcome all the participants to the workshop and brief them on what they should
expect during the workshop. Share the following information:
1) The main objective of the workshop and the problem that it is going to solve.
2) A schedule of the workshop activities.
Step 3: Kick off the Meeting Using an Icebreaker: Use fun icebreaker activities to help your team loosen
up before the workshop begins. This will make it easy for them to collaborate and share their ideas.
Step 4: Introduce Design Thinking: Make a brief presentation on what design thinking is, the phases of
design thinking, and its benefits. This presentation is useful even for designers who are already familiar with
the design thinking philosophy because it brings everyone up to speed and ensures that you are all on the
same page.
Step 5: Empathizing with the User: This is the first step in the design thinking process where you
encourage the workshop participants to put themselves in the shoes of the user. This will help them to start
generating ideas on what the user needs from the product. One can use activities such as role-playing and
creating an empathy map to help the participants really understand the needs, wants, feelings, and language

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of the user. After these activities, give the participants a chance to share their findings and ask questions, if
any.
Step 6: Get more Specific on the Problem: After the empathy exercise, participants are better placed to
really narrow down on the problem that the user faces. Ask the team to create a problem statement that will
guide the rest of the design thinking workshop.
Step 7: Come up with Ideas and Possible Solutions: The next design thinking step is ideation where the
team suggests possible solutions to the problem that they identified in step 6. Use techniques such as
brainstorming to come up with a list of potential solutions. Give the participants a chance to discuss their
solutions and then come up with one refined solution.
Step 8: Create a User Journey Map: After settling on one solution, get the team to map out the steps that
users will take so that they can solve the problem. These steps can be downloading an application, setting up
an account, adding their bank details, and then sending money. Give them enough space and sticky notes to
create a step by step representation of the user journey.
Step 9: Prototyping and Testing: This is the final step in the design thinking process where participants
will create low fidelity prototypes of their solution. Ask the users to create screens for each step of the user
journey and then ask them to add functionality to their screens in the form of buttons. Once again, give the
team some time to compare their prototypes and then ask them to vote for the best prototype.
Step 10: Describe the Next Steps and Close the Workshop: Close the workshop by explaining to the team
the next steps such as turning their prototypes into wireframes, high fidelity prototypes, and actual user
testing. This is also a good time to ask your design team what they learned from the design thinking
workshop. Don't forget to ask for feedback so that you can improve your design thinking workshop
facilitation skills.
Benefits of Design Thinking Workshops
Design thinking workshops are growing in popularity across industries due to their effectiveness in business
innovation and problem-solving. The term "design thinking" it has tripled in popularity in the past five
years, according to Google Trend. Despite the name, Design Thinking workshops are not just for those in
design. Any business can benefit from a design thinking workshop, from marketing to product and sales.
The various benefits of design thinking workshops are as follows:
1) Learn about the concepts behind this powerful new paradigm, how to apply it and when to apply it.
2) Learn to dirty your hands by using some of the key tools that are part of Design Thinking.
3) Feel the impact of Design Thinking in various domains through the case studies.
4) Uncover opportunities and hidden potential in organisation.
5) Learn the framework that helps build digital ecosystems.
6) Align various stakeholders and leaders towards a single purpose.
7) Create real business impact over sustained periods of time.
8) Create a culture of design and empathy in organisation.

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Unit 3- Design Thinking in Various Sectors (Health sector, Finance, Education, Infrastructure) Design
thinking case studies in retail, design thinking case studies in banking, design thinking case studies in
management decisions

DESIGN THINKING IN HEALTH SECTOR

Design thinking is piercing various aspects of our lives, including healthcare, even though adopting
approaches that can make everyone's life better takes time. Many medical professionals across the world are
implementing the method as a way to make the patient's hospital experience and healing process more
pleasant. Believe it or not, there are hospitals that no longer look at the patient as if they were an ATM
machine that they can drain financially by forcing them into healthcare program that are not relevant to their
treatment. Also, medical students are now using empathy to address the voids when it comes to patient care,
especially if the suffering feels a bit alienated from the outside worlds by the illness.
According to the Board of Innovation, 2020 will be dedicated to health technology with a human touch.
The rising trust in technology is finally triggering a disruptive change in the healthcare industry There are a
few start-ups that are using people's health-related information in order to predict illnesses or medical
conditions.
For example, Start-up Citizen is working towards giving cancer patients access to their own health records
and the Medopad Company has developed an app that compiles and analyses health data from patient
wearables, mobile devices, and medical bodies to predict chronic diseases. Soon online doctor's visits and
non-invasive operations via robots will also be possible across the world. Thus, healthcare corporations and
start-ups should no longer think only about the treatment and diagnosis of the patients, but also about
providing a reliable, easily accessible, and user-friendly) patient environment with short communication
lines and personal interactions.

APPLYING DESIGN THINKING TO THE HEALTHCARE-CONSUMER EXPERIENCE

Many healthcare organizations are struggling to retain customers, given archaic service designs and
processes. Consumers have grown accustomed to the personal attention and convenience they find in other
industries, such as retail and hospitality, and often lack a similar experience in healthcare.
How would a design-thinking approach help a health plan tackle the challenges of managing customer
experience? Let's break it down through the four-pronged approach:
1) Empathy: A major advantage of design thinking compared with other process-improvement
methodologies is that it removes assumptions from the equation by incorporating perspectives and
experiences from a diverse group of stakeholders. A fundamental component of design thinking is
empathy, the ability to understand the feeling of others. The key output of the "empathetic stage' is the
crafting of a problem statement that is based on a holistic view of the stated and the unstated needs — as
well as the asked and unasked questions — of the customer.
Consider population health programs, which are designed to solve for identified care gaps as pan of
efforts to reduce costs and improve outcomes. These programs traditionally apply economic and medical
lenses and filters as part of the problem-solving process. But from a user's perspective medical issues
generally are less of an impediment to a good outcome compared with living conditions and
socioeconomic barriers. A good design-thinking approach thus starts with understanding actual user
stories from among a diverse population, rather than merely considering statistical data.
2) Multidisciplinary Thinking: Design thinking depends on the diversity and quantity of the ideas gathered
from multiple ideation sessions involving people directly and indirectly associated with the issue at hand.
The perspective gleaned from each role is one piece in a much larger puzzle.
The central output of the multidisciplinary-thinking stage is to establish the framework for a broad
solution design. This framework allows the designers to push boundaries and embrace possibilities.
3) Rapid Solutions Deployment: The first two prongs of design thinking are human-centered,
leveraging empathy and collective brainpower to dissect and solve for complex problems. The
third aspect entails quickly putting tailored solutions to work.

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 To improve member service by addressing social determinants of health, for example, a health plan's
priority, based on an assessment of social and economic barriers, may be to initially make available Uber-
style medical transportation followed by home-based services such as cleaning and daycare support.
The critical component is rapid assessment with defined metrics. A well-designed process should take no
more than one quarter to assess effectiveness.
4) Continual Improvement: Success with design thinking relies on continually assessing progress
and benchmarking results, while remaining agile to adjust for unforeseen challenges. This final
step is crucial to making improvements in successive iterations based on stakeholder and consumer
feedback.
To continue with the example of the population health initiative, the solution might incorporate a
predictive analytics model to help the health plan pinpoint patients who need case management and
outreach that extends beyond healthcare settings. The solutions team should periodically update the
analytics model based on the latest research and evidence on treatment pathways.
Such rigor allows the model to be laser-focused on identifying and customizing treatment plans, a key
aspect of optimizing the customer experience.
THE ELEMENTS OF DESIGN THINKING IN HEALTH CARE
1) Teamwork: An essential component of design thinking is collaborating as a team. Dr. Zinter's class
divided into several groups, each team devoted to a problem that would lead to a product launch. My
residents and I met regularly with the two teams of students we were partnered with over the semester.
The students asked a ton of questions, played with otoscopes and vacuum tubes, met with nurses, and
toured the lab and the newborn ICU — and though they never prototyped with actual patients, they got a
chance to observe and really understand what all were up against. There was no room for grandstanding
or ego. The team was in it together.
2) The Iterative Design Process: Background research and defining the problem is the first step. Second,
the students began generating ideas and designing and building prototypes. Then test, revise, test, revise.
Failure was part of the story. But with every iteration, the prototypes got better.
3) A Variety of Thinkers: Although you might think that design thinking in health care might be well-
suited to only engineering types, what I saw in Dr. Zinter's class (and what works in industry as well) is
that it's important to bring in the humanities, too. In fact, a wide array of intelligences and abilities makes
for the most forward innovations.
4) Persistence and Playfulness: The willingness to prototype, to fail; only to try again is a key element of
design thinking. Innovation takes time and persistence. There are pressures o: deadlines and performance,
but there is also an element of playfulness. The gang played with 31 printers, studied how leeches extract
blood, and figured out how to beam the image of a tympanic membrane to my I-phone.
5) A Sense of Purpose: At the end of the semester, there was an Apple-style product launch More than 150
people showed up - friends of the students who hadn't seen them all semester several deans and
administrators, a few members of the press, and even a few curious entrepreneurial types. Who draws a
standing-room-only crowd to a class final exam? Real world medical application of design thinking is
what attracted these students — and our two projects were terrific.
REASONS DESIGN THINKING MATTERS IN HEALTH SECTOR
1) Design Thinking is Empathy-Driven and Starts with Customer Needs: In health care everyone strives to
be patient-centric. All the members of healthcare are inviting patients to be part of quality improvement
programs, to be active in design sessions and to participate ii strategic planning meetings.
It is logical that a problem-solving toolkit that has the patient in the centre would resonate well within
healthcare. This also 'keeps things real' since we can always come back to framing the problem we are
solving through the unmet needs of the patient.
2) Design Thinking is Intentionally Cross-Functional : The tools seek cross-cutting perspective and
divergent thinking as the basis for coming up with new solutions. It has been long documented that
physicians, nurses, engineers, scientists, commercialization teams, administrators and others see
situations quite differently, therefore making the drive to consensus a seemingly impossible task. With
design thinking, the job is to create a gallery of man plausible options and then test them. The

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 collaborative aspect of co-creating alternative scenarios also has an added benefit the opportunity to
productively work with others who indeed see the world differently.
3) Design Thinking involves Rapid Testing and Experimentation to determine how to Proceed : The
health care audience is scientifically rooted. The beauty of design thinking is that one of its foundational
tenets is to test, test, test. Once options are created, teams develop low cost, low fidelity ways to
determine if ideas have merit.
These well-planned tests provide insights about key assumptions and deliver candid feedback from end-
users. Outcomes from these experiments signal teams to either
a) Pivot and modify the idea,
b) Return to the gallery of options to start a new or
c) Craft the next test of the most promising idea to develop it further.
DESIGN THINKING BENEFITS FOR THE PATIENT
The benefits the Design thinking vision can bring to healthcare are many, but the benefits related tcl patients
are probably those that cause more social concern, precisely because it is something tha' 1 affects us all,
because at some point in our life will have to go through that.
Among the benefits design thinking application has brought to healthcare, we can highlight the usei
experience improvement when interacting with machines (reducing anxiety and fear), the improvement of
the professional-user communication (the doctor-patient communication oi pharmacist-consumer) or the
increase of comfort and mobility of patients.
DESIGN THINKING CHALLENGES IN HEALTHCARE
Applying design thinking to working with health plans and health providers is particularly challenging. Here
are some challenges designer faces while applying design thinking in healthcare sector:
1) Complex Regulatory Framework: Firstly, the healthcare sector's complex regulatory framework means
stakeholders are sanctioned more for under-regulating than for over-regulating, so they tend to be
cautious when design and regulation come face-to-face. One approach, however, is to brainstorm design
challenges as if the rules simply don't exist, and then to overlay them to see where they create pain points,
adjusting the design as needed.
2) Designing one Service for All: A second challenge when applying design thinking in healthcare is
designing a service that works for an entire population. Most products and services are aimed at specific
demographics. With healthcare, however, a true design solution must cater to people of varying ages,
accessibility needs, income levels, language abilities, as well as housing and employment status.
3) Multi-agency Structure of Healthcare Sector : One more major challenge for healthcare-related design
is its multi-agency structure. A care plan for someone can involve several different providers, from a
hospital to a physical therapist, all of whom need to be brought onboard during the design thinking
process. Add in the growing importance of home care, the accompanying family & friends support
network, and the ability to apply this concept at scale is apparent.

DESIGN THINKING IN FINANCE

The financial sector is not always associated with progressive problem-solving, but in recent years the
world's biggest banks have seen the benefits of implementing design thinking. Following the footsteps of
Bank of America, who obtained thousands of new customers with their "Keep the change" program, other
major actors were also able to see the disruptive nature of the method.
Some of the top companies in the financial sector currently benefit from the application of design-1
concepts. A variety of financial and asset management companies are successfully implementing design
thinking across their operations. This especially makes an impact in providing better custom service while
building those valuable relationships required for success in financial services.
ROLE OF DESIGN THINKING IN FINANCIAL SECTORS
These days, banks talk a lot about the consumer experience, formulation and thinking like a start-up which is
nothing but a part of "Design Thinking". There is wide concern in the banking industry that significant stake
of revenues and the conventional styles of operating business are at risk owing to the evolution of fintech

25
start-ups that are challenging the established players. In the present economic environment, banks are
seeking to shape and unfold their business models to match these demands an opportunity. Design Thinking
is a pragmatic tool that can help banks in their endeavors. Th banking sector is going through a course of
disruption, but this not the end of the industry. Instead, this disruption marks the provenance of the banking
sector's new gene: a mix of advances in busines models, agile execution, and Design Thinking.
DESIGN THINKING FRAMEWORK FOR FINANCE PROCESSES
Design thinking for finance processes are particularly challenging since its processes involve both internal
and external customers. However, introducing customer-centric innovation in this area is particularly
important since the focus of companies has still traditionally been on external customers. A design thinking
framework for finance processes includes:

1) Empathies: This stage involves identifying which customers require a solution. This phase captures
information to create an empathy map:
a) "What does the Customer See": This question tries to capture the customer's view on the process.
b) "What are the Customer's Frustrations": This question tries to capture the pain points of
the process.
c) "What does the Customer Need to Achieve": This question tries to capture the customer's
suggestion on how the process should be fixed.
2) Define: This step involves creating the mission statement to define the scope of the project comprising of
key user issues. The final output should be to identify the exact problems using tools such as pain point
analyses.
3) Ideate: The most critical phase, this step involves generating an exhaustive list of solutions and
exploring all possible alternatives around the key levers such as digitisation, Lean processes, analytics
and reporting. The tools used might include insight generation, mind maps, and others.
4) Prototype: This step involves translating the ideas into a tangible output to convey the ideas effectively
via tools like process simulation.
5) Test: This step involves floating the solution among customers and gathering feedback before rolling out
the final solution. UAT testing across all customer levels is the key to a successful design thinking
project.
CHALLENGES IN FINANCE SECTOR
The challenges applying in finance sector are:
1) At Leadership Level: Following challenges that arose when applying design thinking were identified:
a) Lack of Resource: The first key challenge identified was a lack of resources to execute such a
process correctly. For example, in some instances, banks lacked specific technology design and
development skills needed to generate a prototype quickly; such capabilities are not part of the
organizational or functional DNA of the IT function at many banks.
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 b) Unrealistic Expectations: Secondly, there were unrealistic expectations from the leadership
team about the outputs, sometimes measuring the Design Thinking process under the
performance indicators of the current business model, rather than on the growth potential of the
new business model.
c) Poor Challenge: Thirdly, the challenge or goal was poorly defined: It was either too generic or else
not supported with enough data.
2) At Team Level: Following challenges that arose when applying design thinking were identified:
a) Loss of focus: Research also revealed three relevant challenges. In the first place, there was
often a loss of focus during the process. For example, participants came up with proposals that
did not directly solve the problem.
b) Time Constraints: In the second place, the team asked for more time during each session or
lacked time for one of the steps in Design Thinking. Usually, teams did not sequence their
activities properly.
c) Management Team: Finally, there were other management issues during the whole process
such as difficulty in arranging concrete time slots in the executive agendas of team members to
ensure the exchange of ideas from different business units.
3) At the individual level: Two challenges that arose when applying design thinking were identified:
a) Weak Facilitator: Firstly, team members sometimes described their meeting leaders as weak
facilitators because either the person was not introduced properly at the beginning of the
meeting or the person's functions were not clearly defined.
b) Participant Issues: Secondly, there were issues with participants who did not understand the
views of other team members, lacked communication skills to justify their ideas or were not
prepared enough to contribute to the meeting.

DESIGN THINKING CASE STUDY IN BANKING

CASE STUDY 1 DEO AND BANK OF AMERICA'S KEEP THE CHANGE PROGRAM
IDEO was given the challenge by Bank of America to find novel ways to entice people to open accounts.
The bank was hoping that IDEO's human-centred, ethnographic-based approach to design would bring
innovation to an industry that's typically very conservative and reluctant to change. To accomplish this,
IDEO embedded themselves into the Bank of America team and conducted observations in several cities
across America. They spoke to families and individuals, learning about spending and banking habits. As
IDEO synthesized their observations, they began to notice some interesting patterns.
Often, mothers were in charge of the finances. This was during the early 2000s, before online banking and
mobile devices had more or less replaced the idea of a balanced checkbook. Some moms had a practice of
rounding up the number in their checkbooks; this made addition easier, but it also gave a small buffer in
spending.
Armed with this insight and the knowledge that many of these families had difficulty saving what money
they had, IDEO came up with a service idea. People could enroll in a savings account that would round up
purchases made with debit cards. Then, the overage would be transferred to a savings account automatically.
In addition, the bank would match the money transferred to savings to a certain dollar amount.
As you might imagine, this program became very popular and not only with people who had trouble saving
money. Ever since the program launched in September of 2005, more than 12.3 million customers have
enrolled, saving a total of more than 2 billion dollars. Of all new customers, 60% enroll in the program.
When we interviewed Faith Tucker, the former Senior Vice President & Product Developer at Bank of
America, she was clearly proud of the emotional impact this service had on people who found saving money
difficult. The amount was largely inconsequential it was more about the change in mental state and feeling
of empowerment that these customers gained. To a certain degree, it removed the feeling of shame that came
along with being unable to save money, which was replaced with pride at taking more control over finances.

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 CASE STUDY 2 CITI BANK
In October 2015, Citi launched its FinTech unit to act as a start up inside a bank dedicated to mobile-first
solutions for its consumer banking customers. A month before that, Citi's Gates joined the bank as part of
the then 40-person Citi FinTech unit, to lead its in-house design studios as well as external agencies. His
team has designed the user experiences for Citi.com's various updates, the Citi mobile app and worked on
the branding and advertising for Citi FinTech, the Citi Innovation Labs and the Citi Global Consumer Bank.
A deal signed that with the design consultant IDEO, in which it would train Citi employees on design
thinking, has been a tremendous force in Citi's innovation strategy, Gates said in January at the Design
Finance conference. The two have been working together to create a version of design thinking with agile
methods for innovation that's unique to Citi. Gates said he hopes his team would take the lead on spreading
innovation across Citi.
"Design thinking gives everyone permission to come into that process, to participate. So instead of me going
to legal and saying 'will you approve this, yes or no?' Come be part of the process. And then I can tap into
the base thing: people will psychologically support what they're part of. That was a massive transformation
'Creative' isn't a department anymore."
Since then, the demand for the design teams' work has grown to be the fastest growing team in the consumer
bank, he says. He began the transformation by evaluating existing in-house creative talent and then re-
establishing standards, culture and structures for the team. He has since hired new leadership and talent and
coaches existing talent across different studios.

DESIGN THINKING IN EDUCATION

Design thinking has the ability to reconnect educators to their creativity and aspirations so that they can help
the students develop their own skills further. A lot of practitioners are now flexibly customizing the design
thinking process so that they could fit their specific environments. There are 4 essential modes that teachers
are focusing on when implementing the method: leading with empathy, challenging assumptions, making
experiments happen, and sharing their creative progress.
Empathy is the root of human-centred design and professionals cultivate it by listening to their students
more. They believe that learning should not adapt to pedantic or regulations, rather to the student's needs.
Challenging assumptions and reframing the problems is also critical for letting children innovate and learn
by experimenting.
But design cannot thrive in isolation, so teachers and professors share their experience with implementing
the design thinking approach so that they can inspire others to try and benefit from using the method.
STEPS FOR DESIGN THINKING IN EDUCATION
The steps mentioned above can be successfully applied to the educational system as follows:
1) Empathies: Knowing students and understanding their needs, their motivation, their setbacks,
allows teachers to design the right lessons for them. To empathies, teachers need to observe
their students behaviour to try to correlate what they say with what they do, which, more often
than not, do not coincide.
Then, educators have to engage students in the classroom activities by involving them in the learning
process, making them more responsible for their own education, even allowing them to be decision-
makers. Teachers should watch and listen more, letting students reveal what they know, what they
struggle with and what their needs are.
2) Define: Next, teachers gather every information received through empathy and define the challenges they
face. The purpose of this step is to express a "meaningful and actionable problem statement" called a
point of view, which synthesizes everything teachers know about their learners so far.
3) Ideate: After analyzing all the data and defining the problem, educators have to come up with a solution.
Creating a list of How-might-we...? Will make it easier for teachers to respond to student's challenges and
find the right idea to put to practice by going deeper than discovering the obvious solution.

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4) Prototype: It is a plan a teacher makes to meet student's needs which will be put to the test and changed
or adapted as a consequence of student's feedback. This stage implies testing a variety of possibilities and
not committing to one direction only.
5) Test: This represents the real testing phase which takes place with the purpose of refining the 'prototypes'
teachers create, learning more about their students, being able to present 'the point of view' more
accurately. Educators take into account the feedback they receive, make the changes needed and test their
prototype again until they reach the best variation, they can find to suit their students' needs.
NEED OF DESIGN THINKING IN EDUCATION SECTOR
1) Design thinking encourages learners to take an inquiry stance and think divergently.
2) It involves more structured steps like identifying and understanding the challenges, collecting
information, generating potential solutions, experimenting and refining ideas, testing solutions and
improving the same through feedbacks.
3) Design thinking is an iterative process, circular in nature. When applied in pedagogy, such a method
stimulates idea generation, enhances creativity and leads to 'out of the box' thinking and innovation in
students.
4) It affirms experimentation, processing information by taking into consideration the real world, people's
experiences and feedback and applying creativity, critical thinking and communication. Such an approach
encourages curiosity, constructiveness and reflexivity in learners.
5) It can enable highly collaborative activities in and outside the classroom, as design thinking is a social
process and involves interactions and discussions among peers.
DESIGN THINKING RESOURCES FOR EDUCATORS
When teachers become agents of change leading their efforts towards innovations, that's when design
thinking is at its best. It is a mindset of being able to take action and create a better future in education and
beyond. Design thinking is human-centered, it challenges problem-solving, it tackles real-world issues
providing students with meaningful work, it develops their abilities to empathize with others, to define
problems, take the necessary steps towards finding a viable solution. Teachers who choose design thinking
should consider the following:
1) Be willing to deal with uncertainty;
2) Give up control;
3) Show flexibility;
4) Lead with empathy;
5) Foster students' individual creativity;
6) Don't assume things, test them first;
7) 'Failing forward' is a real motto;
8) Do it now, adapt & adjust later;
9) Discover-Interpret-Brainstorm-Experiment
BENEFITS OF DESIGN THINKING IN EDUCATION SECTOR
Design thinking as a mindset and work attitude for creative problem solving has become crucial for many
activities both in education and advanced training. The benefits are discussed below:
1) The Traditional Way: Educational design has been focusing on the question of how to get 'manageable
bundles' of existing knowledge into people's brains. That are headed into a world where humans as being
a container of mere knowledge is way less needed than humans as being confident and creative designers
of the future.
2) Design Thinking Brings Back to The Learning Individual : Bringing design thinking to education
means emphasizing our human talents and abilities. It is worth mentioning that this is neither entirely new
nor does it intend to completely replace things that are already working well. But design thinking has
proven to be an effective approach for making changes across a variety of professions such as research,
business, and management.
3) Four-Dimensional Educational Framework: The four-dimensional education framework below
focuses on knowledge (what to know and understand), skills (how to use that knowledge), character (how
to behave and engage in the world), and learning to learn (how to reflect on and adapt by continuing to
learn and grow).
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4) Fostering Character Development: Design thinking is particularly powerful in adding value regarding
the three dimensions 'character', 'skills' and 'learning to learn'. Through fostering character development,
one builds the foundation for lifelong learning. Character education is about the acquisition and
strengthening of virtues (qualities), values (beliefs and ideals), and the capacity to make wise choices for
a well-rounded life and a thriving society.
a) Creative Confidence: Creative confidence is a term introduced by Tom and David Kelly in 2012 and is
an inherently optimistic way of looking at what is possible and believing in your ability to create change
in the world around you.
b) Adaptability: Consistently adapting to changing circumstances and environments and embracing
new ideas is one of the key characteristics of design thinking. Innovation in its nature is
unpredictable and therefore individual get constantly challenged to rethink and dare to go in new
directions.
c) Social and cultural awareness: Design thinking provides a framework for interdisciplinary
collaboration, as its core is a we-culture of mutual creation. Diversity does not only get tolerated but
promoted as being a crucial part of the process. The persons work together with people that are
different from others. Individual immerse others in life worlds that are possibly foreign to them.
Consequently, individual consistently are confronted with and learn more about new perspectives
and point of views.
5) Fostering Skills Through DT: Skills have always been subject of educative discussions, and there is
always the question of what skills are relevant in the future.
a) Critical thinking/problem solving: Design thinking is a human-centered approach toward
problem solving. It provides a framework of how to tackle complex problems. Design thinking
reminds one to always be a questioning thinker as it prompts to examine and test propositions
of any kind which are offered for acceptance.
b) Creativity: Creative confidence requires creativity. Design thinking helps to apply, explore
and practice creativity. It prompts to use both the hemispheres, meaning the logical as well as
the intuitive side of the brain. As an open-ended and playful approach, design thinking gives
the necessary freedom to be an explorer of the unknown.
c) Collaboration: Complex problems can only be solved through collaboration among people
with different skills, backgrounds, and perspectives. And yet, the more someone differs from
oneself, the less easy it is to work together. Design thinking is beneficial in two ways.
On the one hand, it provides teams with a common language to go through the creative process. On the
other hand, through grounding practice in a deep understanding of humans, their needs and their
circumstances, design thinking facilitates an alignment of team member's perspectives, as they work
toward the common goal of improving human's lives. Consequently, team members have a structured
process of joining forces to achieve the goal of improving lives.
6) Learning to learn through Design Thinking : Learning how to learn, or also 'Meta- Learning
Dimension', basically encircles all other dimensions ('Knowledge', 'Skills', and 'Character') and supports
an ongoing development. Learning to learn engages learners to build on prior learning and life
experiences in order to use and apply knowledge and skills in a variety of contexts.
a) Curiosity & Motivation: Albert Einstein once said: "I have no special talents. I am only passionately
curious." Curiosity and motivation play an essential role in design thinking. Design thinking
encourages people to acknowledge that they may know some things, but still there is so much to
explore. In design thinking, one constantly tries to adopt a beginner's mindset and explore things from
different perspectives. Quite often it results from the empathy one has built for users, because
individuals get intrinsically motivated to improve their experiences.
b) Reflection: Reflection is constructive questioning about what individuals do and why they do it and
then deciding about the next steps in the future. This is a central facet of the iterative working process
in design thinking. Educational staff constantly gets feedback from everyone including users also.
c) Patience: Patience is a virtue. There is no magic tool to solve a problem; there is no shortcut to
innovation. Same holds true for design thinking; it is not the easy solution some people would wish
for.

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 DESIGN THINKING IN INFRASTRUCTURE
Traditional planning methodologies rely heavily on top-down approaches- the plans are first made and
strategized, and only then are the citizens informed about it. These plans are usually made without involving
the citizens in the process, and as a result, often fail to reflect the problems faced by citizens on the ground.
Consequently, citizens naturally have a lesser degree of ownership of these top-down plans and
responsibility towards maintenance of public infrastructure. While participatory planning approaches seek to
address these gaps by working with the citizens in understanding their problems, they rarely close the loop
by seeking feedback from the citizens after the plan is prepared. Thus, the ownership of the plan by the
citizens is not guaranteed. Additionally, this also precludes any further refinement of the existing plan.
Design Thinking provides a framework to overcome the flaws of the traditional participatory planning
approaches in the following ways- first, design thinking enables the creation of an infrastructure plan that
places citizens at the heart of the process. A process of deep empathizing (through household surveys,
interviews, and charettes) will enable the development of a granular understanding of the problems faced by
citizens. Second, the design thinking method also facilitates a process of refinement of the plan through
continuous prototyping and testing.
DESIGN PRINCIPLES FOR INFRASTRUCTURE
1) Setting the Scene: Design thinking should be part of creating the vision and designing the brief 1 for a
new project. Even while still setting the brief, before a design team has been hired, the applicant and
project management should be thinking in design terms and define a clear, design-led framework in
which the project can develop. Machinery and internal processing equipment will represent the project's
predominant purpose and highest costs - far more than the expenditure for facades and building - but its
design will be integral to the scheme's success, both in terms of local acceptance and impact on the
surroundings. There should therefore be suitable budget to ensure that building and landscape design
match the quality of the technical equipment and that they can be maintained long-term.
2) Multi-disciplinary Teamwork: To achieve a scheme that works both functionally and in design terms
and, that, moreover, is well received, collaborations between stakeholders must begin early and be
sustained. Stakeholders may include, among others, the client, the design team, technical experts, the
community and the local planning authority. From the start off planning, the design team should include
not just engineers and technical specialists but also architects and landscape designers. By including this
expertise and letting them challenge the: engineering approach, the applicant can achieve an inspirational,
elegant and ambitious structure that has the potential to last for decades, at lower building costs and be
relatively maintenance free. Early design input will ensure that efficiency, engineering aspects, town and
landscape considerations and compelling design solutions come successfully together. Plant layout can be
reorganized to minimize the footprint, mitigate impact on views and improve the relationship with its
surroundings.
3) The Bigger Picture: Design does not start and end with the immediate project or site. Holistic thinking is
required to ensure that projects are part of an integrated process that fits into bigger strategies such as
regional or sub-regional planning. Potential synergies in an area should be explored in great detail, for
example, to use the exhaust heat from new power plants for district heating systems, communal
greenhouses and other uses. Large power plants are a major investment and often located in declining
post-industrial areas and large brownfield sites. Investment and job opportunities can be very welcome,
bringing benefit to the community and potentially creating a sense of local identity.
4) Site Masterplan: It is in the nature of nationally significant infrastructure projects to have far-
reaching impacts. These can be both hugely positive (utility provision, employment) and
potentially negative (noise, traffic, odour, visual blight etc.). Good design will do much to
reconcile the infrastructure project with its environment by creating a facility that responds to its
context. Understanding the structure of its surroundings, topography and adjacent land use at each
site should be the starting point for master-planning.
5) Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment: Due to their size - and number in the case of power lines
and wind farms - infrastructure projects are visible from many viewpoints. They may impact on many
different surrounding areas, whether it is densely urbanized townscapes, suburban or sparsely populated
rural settings. Each context requires a different appreciation of how to handle scale and how the project
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 relates to the environment. For power lines and wind farms, visual impact assessment and landscape
character assessment is an obvious part of the planning process, but large power plants should also be
assessed using the same strict criteria as have been put in place for residential buildings, high-rise
buildings and any other major architectural work in terms of their impact and the quality of design.
Visual impact assessment should be used as a design tool to inform location, orientation, composition and
height. This should take in a large number of viewpoints right from the beginning of design.
6) Landscape Design: Intelligent landscape design mitigates the impact of an infrastructure installation and
can enhance its setting. It should be developed in parallel with the proposal and take into account site
topography; including, for example, existing flora. Good landscape designers minimize tarmac surfaces
and provide better road systems, pedestrian routes, car parking and lay-by surfaces. They will often look
at using excavated material to reform and shape the site to suit the plant. Wherever possible, the majority
of the site should be given back to nature, providing space for leisure, play and wildlife - even up to the
point of sinking the structure into the ground. Often remote and protected from human activity sites can
become valuable habitats for a wide range of flora and fauna. Well-designed outdoor spaces will offer
pleasure and relaxation for staff and can create a visitor attraction in their own right, perhaps a new
destination for school ecology projects.
7) Design Approach: A clear architectural concept can manifest itself through symmetry (or asymmetry)
and balance, repetition of organizational elements such as the grid, the frame or the bay and resonance
between elements of different scales. The structure of the building - the system of bearing elements
(girders, columns and walls) - can significantly inform the overall appearance.
8) Materials and Detailing: High quality materials and careful detailing will limit the need foil
maintenance and allow schemes to weather and age well. Metal cladding is often the default these
days, but there may be other options that better reflect the value of a major civic building. Local
materials and traditional building methods, for example, might inform the design.
9) Sustainability: Given the complexity of infrastructure projects, sustainability must be integral to the
design from the very beginning. A successful proposal will cover every aspect of this, including, giving
just a few examples, traffic movements (e.g., delivery and refuse), social inclusion of workers and
visitors and the use of biomass. While natural light provides good working conditions for staff, glazed
surfaces need to be carefully considered to avoid glare and light pollution affecting wildlife and residents
at night. The site strategy should include and biodiversity, planting and sustainable urban drainage
systems.
10) Visitor Centre: Many large infrastructure proposals offer the opportunity to provide a centre where
visitors can learn about the plant operation and be introduced to the concepts of sustainability, energy
generation, waste management and humanity's impact on the environment in terms of our ecological
footprint and the exploit of natural resources. A good visitor centre can be an engaging place of
exploration, providing a compelling insight into the need for the infrastructure and an appreciation of its
size and scale.

DESIGN THINKING IN RETAIL

Design Thinking can enable retailers to truly understand the how, when and what to provide satisfying
experience during customer interactions. It could be in terms of training store managers and staff to be
sensitive and alert to customer asks or simply analyzing real reasons of basket abandonment.
Retail transformation is often a complicated process that requires systematic diagnosis and exploration.
From our collaboration with retail clients, I have identified three key elements that are core to this
transformation: human, product and service, and touchpoint.
STRATEGIES FOR APPLYING DESIGN THINKING TO RETAIL
Following are the strategies for applying design thinking in retail:
1) Fuse Products to Create New and Better Ones : Fusion will be the key to creating next generation,
futuristic designs. For example, engineers and apparel designers can partner with each other to create
wearable devices that can be embedded into fashionable apparel. Design thinking is essential to support
such collaboration.

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2) Provide Enhanced Experience during Customer Interaction : Design Thinking can enable retailers to
truly understand the how, when and what to provide satisfying experience during customer interactions. It
could be in terms of training store managers and staff to be sensitive and alert to customer asks or simply
analysing real reasons of basket abandonment. Even small events like a reliable return policy can enrich
customer experience.
3) Improve Screen Design: The screens customers are accustomed to today may change significantly
tomorrow. So much so that we could ask if there will even be a need for a screen or if it will give way to
augmented reality or a virtual- screen? New concepts, navigational skills, and designs will define these
virtual screens. How can retailers use the revolutionary screens to their advantage?
For example, they could project a 3D image of their product on the customer's palm. Simulative design
will allow customers to hold the product and evaluate its dimensions before making a purchase decision.
4) Create Brand Value: Retailers will compete and win based on the extent of personalization they
offer to customers based on market intelligence. Companies that intuitively understand and design
products and experiences that are in line with market expectations are more likely to build mind
and market share and have a sustainable brand value.
5) Revive Brick and Mortar Stores: Several retailers are concerned about stores losing their relevance due
to the growth of online and mobile retailing. Design thinking can play an important role in reviving brick
and mortar stores and retaining its relevance. Creative and immersive in-store designs and layouts can
attract customers. Virtual reality experience innovative ways of personalizing services, and special store-
driven loyalty programs are just some of the ways to make the store experience exciting and rewarding
for customers through more the use of design thinking.

DESIGN THINKING CASE STUDY IN RETAIL

CASE STUDY 1 - HOW NIKE BECOME A FASHION POWER HOUSE THROUGH DESIGN
THINKING
In the mid-'80s, Nike released the Air Force One. It was the first sneaker to incorporate its pressurized air
technology that absorbs shock to help athletes perform better. But, to everybody's surprise, tf shoe became
an instant fashion sensation on the streets of New York.
They were so popular in Harlem and the Bronx that they acquired the nickname "the uptowns." "It' just one
example of how sport and design collided," says Adrian Fenech, Nike's senior brand director for North
America. "It created a bond between Nike and the New York City community."
At New York Fashion Week, Nike is paying homage to its roots in New York City with events throughout
the week as part of its "New York Made" series. On Thursday, Nike revealed | collaboration with Comme
des Garcon, which resulted in a re-conceptualized Dunk Hi shoe with clear panel that allows wearers to
express themselves through the socks they wear underneath. 0 Saturday, at Bergdorf Goodman, Nike had a
party to celebrate Riccardo Tisci's new design: a Dun1 made of high-end full-grain leather.
At the cult sneaker store Kith, Nike displayed a collection inspired by its 50 years of creating shoes for
basketball players, featuring one iconic design to represent each decade. "Wei listening to athletes about
ways that shoes impact performance, but also hearing about their passion for luxury materials," says Fenech.
"We've merged the two, responding to their day-to day needs, as well as their style inspiration.
To cap things off, Nike unveiled a new version of the Air Force One designed by Acronym's Errolson Hugh,
which retains elements of the iconic shoe, but incorporates futuristic elements like a quid release fastener to
make it easier to get into the shoe. "Errolson is all about form and functionality,' Fenech explains. "The
original shoe had heel tabs that allowed ease of access. But Errolson took that idea and moved it forward."
This concept of "moving forward" is a big theme at Nike. Fenech says that the company is trying H push the
boundaries in terms of innovation, by creating high tech products that improve athletic performance, but it's
also working to push ahead as a fashion brand. Mark Parker, Nike's CEO, begat his career at Nike in the late
'70s as a designer and believes that design thinking should infuse everything the company does. (To keep his
own artistic instincts sharp, he still occasionally; collaborates with designers Tinker Hatfield and Hiroshi
Fujiwara on limited-edition sneakers as part 1 the Nike HTM Project.)

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 Case Study 2
The UK home furnishing industry is still lagging in innovation solutions compared with its counterparts in
the US, and some parts of Asia.
A recent report from Houzz UK found that as the luxury interior design market is gradually caving in, more
consumers within the space are opting for do-it-yourself options regardless of their income threshold. Even
Millennials are redefining the future of the interior design and entering the home furnishing market which
has calls for the retailers within the industry to take advantage of this shift and respond to consumer's
changing demands.
Retail Insider produces an annual report that contains the top fifty UK and Ireland retail innovations. In
2017, the only companies representing the home furnishing market included collaborations between
Made.com/Hullabalook for a sofa-sizer solution, allowing customers to select the right furniture based on
their space measurements. Their trial period of the solution involved two million users and recorded a higher
conversion rate of 79% and an increase in orders by 83%. In 2018, however, Retail Insider did not report
any innovations in the home furnishing space.
To prevent the continuous decline experienced within the home furnishing industry, it is imperative that the
home furnishing market and retail industry, to begin to adopt research-based solutions. High street shops are
fast losing their hold, and the question retailers should be asking is where is the market heading and how can
we stay ahead of the new trends and keep up to date with consumer behaviour changes and reduce the risk of
home furnishing businesses of phasing out.

So much has been said in recent times about the use of user-centred solutions; however, many industries still
fall behind adopting these methods to effectively design solutions that meet the needs and expectations of
their user group. Design thinking, an approach of developing a solution that puts the users, and other related
stakeholders at the forefront of the design process, factors in what is achievable and how the solution can
foster commercial/business gain.
In other words, to consistently deliver value to customers, businesses must strive to be innovative; an easy
way to help evaluate the innovativeness of a product is to assess them from the perspective of the users.
I carried out a recent study using Design Thinking to explore the home furnishing market in the UK from the
perspectives of the user. My findings and insights showed a disconnect between the user group expectation
and the existing solutions within the market. My study found that there was little or no focus on research-
based solutions within the industry.

DESIGN THINKING AND MANAGEMENT DECISIONS

Role of Design thinking is globally being recognized as a competence in making organizations agile,
adaptive and in transforming businesses. Several Fortune 500 companies have incorporated Design thinking
to nurture innovation and gain a competitive advantage.
According to Ashis Jalote Parmar, Professor, Design, IIMA Design thinking for management-can be
understood as "A creative and systemic problem-solving process that can visualize or shape-tools, society,
products businesses and environment by driving user/context sensitive innovations."
Design management is a complex field; it doesn't relate to a single design discipline and the exact
responsibilities attached to a design manager will depend on the organization they work for, the size of that
organization (and the tier in the hierarchy at which the manager operates), the industry they work in, the
current market position and to a large extent the perceived importance of design to the business.
AREAS OF DESIGN MANAGEMENT
Design thinking falls into a large number of disciplines and thus so too does design management. Some of
the more common areas in which design management can be found include:

34
1) Product Design: The manager here will be looking at managing all functions related to product
development and release and securing relationships with other business units to facilitate this. A user-
centered (or UX centered) approach is commonly the guiding force for this work.
2) Brand Design: Responsibilities here are for brand experience, developing touch points, and creating
reliable, trustworthy perspectives that are strongly recognizable to clients.
3) Service Design: The flip side to product design and something that is becoming increasingly importance
with the rise of the product-service hybrid. Service design takes a customer experience (CV) or customer-
centred approach.
4) Business Design: Business design is an emerging concept - it's the understanding that businesses can be
designed from within to operate more efficiently and at higher levels of effectiveness. Typically, a
business design manager will need to be very effective at persuading others of the utility of their designs.
5) Engineering Design: Engineering design is more concerned with technological outputs than other
disciplines of design - be it a technological process (such as manufacturing) or technological artifacts
(such as a system).
LEVELS OF DESIGN MANAGERS
There are three levels of corporate hierarchy that design managers operate from within:
1) Operational Level: This is the "doing" of design and is concerned with managing projects and teams that
deliver on the business strategy. Good managers will be able to measure performance in terms of
outcomes. Common job titles for design managers here include: operations design manager, design team
lead, senior designer, etc.
2) Tactical Level: This is the "structuring" of design within a business - determining how projects are
coordinated to achieve higher objectives, managing the skill and competency frameworks for design in a
business, creating high-level systems for cooperation or support of design, etc. Common job titles at this
level include: brand design manager, tactical design manager, design director, etc.
3) Strategic Level: This is the "direction" of design within a business - the determination of how design
will meet corporate strategy and the development of the individual design strategy. Common job titles at
this level include: design director, vice-president for design, chief design officer, etc.

DESIGN THINKING CASE STUDIES IN MANAGEMENT DECISIONS

CASE STUDY 1 PEPSICO
PepsiCo's former CEO Indra Nooyi (and current chairwoman) transformed the world's second largest food
and beverage company when she introduced design thinking to the business strategy. After determining that
employees had little understanding of how design impacts product success, she brought in the company's
first chief design officer in 2012, and quickly made design and customer-centricity part of every important
decision the company made. In this 2015 Harvard Business Review interview, she explains how looking at
the company's products as a mom rather than a CEO gave her a more human-centered perspective on the
product line up, and what she had to do to transform the PepsiCo culture so employees would put consumers
at the center of every decision.
These success stories, along with research on the business case for design, illustrate that design thinking isn't
a passing trend or an approach that should be employed solely by creative, product and technology teams.
Rather, design thinking is a bold and disruptive business strategy to help leaders and organizations solve
complex business problems, become customer-centric, drive innovation enterprise-wide, manage change and
transform the way people think and work.

CASE STUDY 2 DELOITTE

Deloitte used Design Thinking to transform HR from a "process developer" to an "experience architect".
From redesigning the physical work environment to optimizing the digital workspace and directing how
managers use their time, Design Thinking has helped Deloitte reimagine the entire process of hiring,
training, engaging, and evaluating employees.
Deloitte has invested in their employees, studying how people behave at work to create profiles and
personas to model their solutions on. These profiles are specific to the employee demographics, work

35
environment and the set of challenges they encounter. Ideating and prototyping has enabled the company to
come up with quicker solutions and effective tools.
Feedback mechanisms based on questionnaires have helped them bring specific requirements to light and
facilitate learning and awareness. Few companies are even using agile methodologies to teach people to do
less and focus more.
Design Thinking principles have a special relevance in behavioral economics. Intelligent choices (empathy
driven) encourage better decisions. Design thinking methods call for 'choice architecture which can guide
people to arrive at the correct choices and eventually the correct decision fast These kinds of smart processes
not only make the job easier for the HR, but also create an enjoyable experience for the employees.

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 CASES
CASE STUDY 1: SLOW ARTIST GARMENTS
With respect to the label's social approach, garments in Slow Artist are made in Spain 100%. They are made
in the workshops "A puntadas", located in Elche, where women from low social classes work.
The co-founder, Tania, told us how they got in touch with the workshop. When winning the prize for the
best project of sustainable fashion given by FICE ("Federation Internacional del Calzado en Espana") in
Elche, one of the girls who gave them the prize, invited them over to the workshop, once she saw the label's
potential. She also commented on the fact that the workshop works together with a jail located in Alcoi so
that they can put women back into society:
"We liked the workshop so much. All those women who had problems in the past are given a second chance
and a learning period. If they adapt well, they start working in the workshop. The majority of women
working in the workshop are ex-cons therefore this workshop gives them the chance to believe in their own
lives again.
It is awesome. They used to make plain and basic T-shirts. Slow Artist has become the first Project they
have been working with which is slightly different, more creative, more colourful, each garment being
unique. They are delighted. They try jackets on, for example, and they are so happy. This is how "A
puntadas has been working".
The garments are made by assuring optimum working conditions. In addition, with its leitmotiv "Global
Vision & Local Flavour", the label aims for fair trade: "We strongly believe in the human sense of the free
trade. Slow Artist social side is really keen on doing fair trade and microcredits projects in several countries
in Latin America, North Africa and Asia, where we would like to help to all these women to be
economically independent, keeping their culture and traditions and of course respecting human rights". Slow
Artist takes great account of social networks too. It has its own official web www.slowartist.es and a blog, a
Facebook account and accounts in Instagram, Linkedln and Twitter.
According to Tania Tarrega "we believe that nowadays it is essential to be present in the net and be up-to-
date". Tania and Esther tell us that when they attended the fair-trade fashion fair in Berlin, people already
knew who they were thanks to the online social networks: "they knew us without having a stand in the fair
and without having previously been present with our label. This fulfills you a lot and makes you want you
keep on working hard. SO, A BIG YES TO ONLINE NETWORKS!".

Who makes Slow Artist?

Nowadays the firm is made up of 4 members: the co-founders Tania and Esther, Maria (in charge of
marketing and communication) and Elena (dressmaker). Tania is the creative head of the firm's and is
mainly in charge of working the prototypes, whereas Esther is in charge of the financial side of the firm. We
should underline that the four of them are multifunctional and carry out different tasks so they do work in
different fields without any problem. Regarding the outside level, the former three take part in the
commercial phase.
As for the English-speaking countries, Tania takes care of the Americas and more extravagant countries
when it comes to fashion such as India and Australia. Esther takes care mainly of Europe, Nordic countries,
Russia etc. Finally, Maria takes care above all of countries in Latin America.
Target
The target of Slow Artist is women with the same way of life: cheerful, optimistic, modern, stylish, with
ethical values and environment-and society-conscious. Age does not matter here but social and
environmental consciousness, core in sustainable fashion. Slow Artist is aimed at women who are looking
for trendy clothes with high quality standards, which in addition is made using ecological fabrics and aiming
for optimum working conditions without damaging society. Moreover, women to which Slow Artist's
products are aimed at I come mainly from middle-high classes. To sum up: women looking for a mixture
between Style and Sustainability.

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Products
Their first collection: DREAM COLLECTION is made of 6 jackets and accessories. Each jacket has a
name: SLOW, ORIGEN, LIBERTY, FREEDOM, FORTUNE and ARTIST. At the beginning the collection
was estimated to have 10 jackets but they had to discard some as it was impossible to produce the design
they had in mind as the final result did not match their expectations.
Because of this the collection was brought down to 6 garments. We are showing you some of the products
from Slow Artist. Slow Artist products are made with organic fabrics. The fabrics are also ecological and
recycled. I Just as mentioned before, they hold OEKO-TEX and GOTS certificates which guarantee the
quality of the manufacturing process of the garments. They are made in a traditional way and hold great
endurance and quality. They are expected to be with the customer for a long time.

QUESTIONS
Ques 1) How ideas at Slow Artist appear when it comes to product design? Are these ideas original
from every single member of the firm or every single member brings his or her own ideas?
Ans: In Slow Artist the inspiration comes from different sources, trends, experiences lived in trips as well as
in their daily life, fashion in the Street and in catwalks, what the trendsetters are wearing, what major firms
are producing and the people they relate to. Tania tells us that all these sources make an influenced enrich
and highlight the great importance that travelling has when it comes to get some inspiration: "They say that
designers travel a lot and I believe that when you are in this, you understand. You have to travel; it is what
makes you generate more. When we travel everything is different, new and lots of ideas come to your head".
As they answered in the interview, Tania is considered the "creative" in the firm and it is her who generates
the majority of ideas. She is the one who makes the Inspiration Panel, where the ideas coming from all
sources are gathered. Based on this panel she draws the pictures that came to her mind and shows them to
the rest of. the team. She looks for the other people's opinion and thanks to these opinions’ modifications are
done or even new designs. We therefore see that at an initial level she is the one who presents the ideas but
everyone contributes in the product design so the origin of the ideas is not only individual but it also has its
collective part by feedback among different members is generated.
The interviewed tell us that this is the way the first collection worked, but that in the seconds or the third
collections (they are the collections being in process) it is aimed to get a greater involvement from the rest
of the team at Slow Artist "because each one of them shows his or her point of view".

Ques 2) How are the different phases in the creative process carried out? Is there a specific period for
design or the design is continuous and it goes on as new ideas come out?
Ans: Now, all different phases of the production process followed by the firm will be showcased through a
graph, utilizing a block cycle graph that will allow us to understand the continuous sequence used to
differentiate all different phases.
Phase 1 Inspiration Panel: The initial phase is also referred to as Inspiration Panel and it is the phase in
which all possible ideas are thought of, the ones, which, as previously mentioned, come from a large variety
of different sources. This process aside, in this phase prime matter is provided by the providers you are
supposed to be working with, thus you draw material and about provided samples from the providers.
Phase 2 Sketching Phase: Once in possession of the materials meant to be used for designs, it is preceded
to Sketching elaboration. Sketches being drawings where the designs developed from the ideas in the first
phase are reflected upon. A mean average of 20 to 50 drawings is made.
Phase 3 Selection of designs: With the sketches ready, a team of Slow Artist designers compare and
validate all sketches and choose those that will be sold to public. In this third phase materials for prototypes
are also provided.
Phase 4 Prototypes: There is no fixed of prototypes to make, but it depends on the type of clothing and how
the company wants it to end up as. It is also of relevance to consider that the company does not work using
premade models but elaborates their own models.

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Phase 5 Sample Catalogue: Once the prototypes are finalized and ready, sample cataloguing is made. With
this ample catalogue in mind, phase 6 commences; made up of two stages. Photograph, video and marketing
campaigns for the collection begin and production is started as well.
Phase 6 Photograph and Marketing and Production: On one stage, photography, video and marketing
campaigns start in this stage. Whereas on the other stage, production is started, which follows according to
the number of clothing articles each selling point in each establishment will have. Both stages are completed
at about the same time and it is then when the product is sold.
Phase 7 Release of the Collection: Collection is released and the product is ready for sales.
Phase 8: Calm Period: A Calm Period is referred to the time in which a collection starts to be promoted. It
has a duration span of at least a month long and, once this period ends, the cycle starts anew: Assistance to
conventions, gathering ideas, development of sketches and designs, etc.
Regarding the second question, regarding whether there is a concrete period for design or whether it is a
continuous process that continues as new ideas are developed, the following can be said: Slow Artist intends
to, starting from the second collection, to release two separate collections per year. Being their goal, the
company needs to schedule and organize all phases previously shown. Therefore, in order to achieve the
goal of launching two collections annually, they needed to establish a period focusing mainly on design,
period in which Inspiration panel starts.
As Anecdote said, the first collection did not follow the established rules strictly: "We have beaten ourselves
in the head plenty of times in the first collection, we have learnt a lot. I designed all that was in my head,
after having had designed it. You pretend to create a fabric that doesn't exist... We had to discard 4 different
jackets at the last second, they wouldn't look like the way they were drawn or how they were expected to
look like". "It was a Brain Storming, an every-man-for-himself, let's-do-what we can, let's release now
scenario, it delays two weeks, it delays one month because a provider did not arrive. You need to put
everyone in place and throw yourself at the same time" It is clear that beginnings are never easy and
experience makes wise. Slow Artist has understood this and makes effort to improve and grown, with their
goal to be one of the greatest intact.

Ques 3) Can we therefore consider that it is an innovative process?

Ans: Once having analysed the production process of this firm, there is enough knowledge available to
answer this question. For this, first it is necessary to remember the definition of Process Innovation:
"Process Innovation is the implementation of a new or significantly improved production or delivery
method". To be fair, it must be acknowledged that the process followed by Slow Artist may not be
innovative in it of itself, as it does not introduce any significant improvement or new method of production.
Even though the process followed appears well constructed and it is hoped that it functions efficiently for
the development of approaching collections.

CASE STUDY 2: POPY UMBRELLA MART

Popy umbrella Mart is a Small and Medium Enterprise. Popy umbrella has its unique success story. Kerala
has been considered as hub for umbrella due to weather conditions. There is heavy demand for umbrella in
this region. Popy umbrella is highly labour intensive firm which is totally depended on its employees'
creativity. Popy has so huge demand that it is sometimes difficult for them to meet the demand. There was
one incident where company has to remove its website as it was not able to cope up with magnitude of
demand.

In 1940s, the late Shri. Thayyil Abraham Varghese, alias "KudaVavachan" Started the making of umbrella
He founded St. George Umbrella Mart in 1954. The race acumen and dynamic entrepreneurship of the
founder was greatly responsible for the astounding growth of the Umbrella Mart in the initial stages. In later
years, with innovative stewardship of his son Shri. Baby, the Umbrella Mart scaled new elevations of
development. The traditional mantle of his well-known father fell on his as association with his father's
venture was long and consistent. People called him St. George Baby. In recognition for his great

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contribution towards the development of modern umbrellas, Shri Baby was conscripted in the in the Quality
Control Committee of ISI as early as in the year 1979.

He became the Chairman of that Committee in year 1986. For his outstanding contribution towards the
development of small-scale industries in India, St George Baby received IMM awards consecutively in the
years 1992 & 1993, 1998. The "Bharathiya Udyoga Jyothi "awards in 1992 was yet another all-India
recognition he got. Popy has received the prestigious "Udyog Ratan' award in 1998, presented by Institute of
Economic Studies, 'Deepika' Business Man of Kerala 1998, Rajiv Gandhi Quality Awards, Akshaya Award,
AKCC Centenary Award were also awarded to him. Mr. Baby has been unanimously elected as the
president of all India Umbrella federation in its Annual General Meeting held at Rajasthan on 19-12-
2005.Popyis also proud to announce that it is first Umbrella company nationally and internationally to
achieve the ISO-9001 certificate Popy has identified many areas of improvement after analysis of areas of
improvement.

Company has always engaged itself in bringing innovation by interacting with its clients for e.g., kids,
female clients, dealers and others. They tried to collect latest information on latest cartoon story or
innovative ways of making such routine product an extra ordinary one. Company has tried to associate
various features with its product which can not only gives visibility to the product but also it can lead up to
multiple utility of the product. Some innovative examples of Popy umbrella are WPWR coating, light house
umbrella which lights up when opened, Teflon water proof umbrella, godfather umbrella which can be used
as walking stick umbrella, Nokia umbrella which looks like cellular phone with five folds, etc.

Popy has also tried to reach its operational efficiency by introducing automation but it has still not resulted
into personal touch of how it gets under labour stitching. Popy has been declared as most likely product in
Kerala. Though it is facing competition from local and international and national brands but owner of the
firm leads the market with innovation and freedom to think and implement. Popy is planning to start, its
operations in other places of South India which will expand its operations.

QUESTIONS
Ques 1) How creativity and innovation played an important role in Popy umbrella Mart?

Ans: In the above case study it is observed that innovation has no limit. A product which nobody would
have thought to innovate has created such a huge success story. The case study shows impartially strong
evidence that reshaping organizations for imagination both technical as well as nontechnical can provide a
powerful advantage to organizations regardless of the pressures of their operating environments.

There is heavy demand for umbrella in kerala region. Popy umbrella is highly labour intensive firm which is
totally depended on its employees' creativity. Popy umbrella Mart had tried to take necessary steps and let
the employees be at their creative best. Company has always engaged itself in bringing innovation by
interacting with its clients for e.g. kids, female clients, dealers and others. They tried to collect latest
information on latest cartoon story or innovative ways of making such routine product an extra ordinary one.
Company has tried to associate various features with its product which can not only gives visibility to the
product but also it can lead up to multiple utility of the product. This case study has shown the importance of
innovation for any organisation.

Ques 2) Explain the various types of creativity. Which type of creativity is involved in Popy umbrella
Mart?

Ans: Creativity is of three types like individual creativity, group creativity and organisational creativity.
1) Individual Creativity: Individual creativity is ideas or innovations by a single individual. For example:
an author writing a book or a process manager thinking of a new process. Individual creativity is the use
of one's mind to generate something original. Individual creativity can occur when employees are
allowed, or encouraged, to find time and space for themselves to contemplate imaginatively on their own.
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2) Group Creativity: Creativity often leads to the development of original ideas that are useful or
influential, and maintaining creativity is crucial for the continued development of organizations in
particular, and society in general. In a company, group creativity often occurs through brainstorming
sessions, meetings, or collaborative projects. At the same time, individual creativity can occur when
employees are allowed, or encouraged, to find time and space for themselves to contemplate
imaginatively on their own.
3) Organisational Creativity: Organizational creativity is defined as the creation of a valuable, useful new
product, service, idea, procedure, or process by individuals working together in a complex social system.
Organizational creativity is ideas or innovations attributed to a group of people that all work for the same
organization. That could be a team developing, creating and marketing a new product.

The creativity involved in above case study is Organisational Creativity as organizational creativity is ideas
or innovations attributed to a group of people that all work for the same organization.

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