Design Thinking – Comprehensive Exam Notes

Design Thinking – Foundations and Context

• Many tools exist for problem-solving; Design Thinking (DT) is distinct because it focuses on DISCOVERING & SOLVING human-centered problems rather than narrowly defined technical ones.
  • Comparison
  • DT: discovers the right problem by understanding people first.
  • TRIZ: excels at solving an already well-defined challenging problem.
• Multiple working definitions
  • “Creative strategies designers utilize during the process of designing.”
  • “A problem-solving process to find human-centered problems and solve them in designers’ way.”
  • “A human-centered 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.”
• DT aligns three lenses (IDEO Venn model)
  • People → desirability
  • Technology → feasibility
  • Business → viability

Historical Milestones

• $1986$ – Six Sigma introduced for quality/profit streamlining; influences later DT quality focus.
• $1987$ – Peter Rowe publishes Design Thinking (Harvard GSD).
• $2005$ – Stanford d.school formally teaches DT to engineers.
• $2006$ – IIT Institute of Design starts first MDes/MBA dual degree.
• $2008$ – IIT “Design Camp” executive program launches.
• $2015$ – Girls Driving for a Difference brings DT education to young girls across the U.S.

The Stanford d.school 5-Stage Model

• EMPATHIZE
• DEFINE
• IDEATE
• PROTOTYPE
• TEST
  (Iteration is implicit—loop back whenever insights emerge.)

High-Level Flow

1. Empathize – deeply understand user’s experience via observation, interaction & immersion.
2. Define – synthesize empathy findings into a clear user POV.
3. Ideate – generate a wide range of possible solutions; step beyond the obvious.
4. Prototype – build quick, low-cost tangible representations; learn by interacting.
5. Test – obtain feedback with higher-resolution versions; refine POV, prototypes & understanding.

Detailed Stage Guides

Empathize

• Goals: develop rapport, uncover needs, expose work-arounds.
• Techniques & mind-sets
  • Ask “Why?” repeatedly to reach root causes.
  • Adopt a child-like curiosity; withhold judgment.
  • Observe inconsistencies between what users say and what they do.
  • Investigate extreme users; one rich interview > dozens of superficial ones.
  • Avoid stereotypes; “designing for everybody = designing for nobody.”

Define (Point of View)

• Craft a concise POV template:
  [USER] needs [USER’S NEED] because [INSIGHT].
• Makes the opportunity compelling for design, pitching, and marketing.
• Example POV (Nepal): “Mothers in remote rural Nepal need an affordable, effective way to keep newborns warm after home births because institutional healthcare is unaffordable or inaccessible.”

Ideate

• Encourage quantity & diversity; postpone judgment.
• Brainstorming, sketching, crazy-8’s, SCAMPER, mind maps, etc.
• Rewrite the problem statement if new insights surface during ideation.

Prototype

• Purpose: learn, communicate, fail fast & cheap.
• Typical materials: sticky notes, paper, cardboard tubes, yarn, markers, glue.
• Build multiple variants to test discrete assumptions.

Test

• Solicit feedback with prompts:
  • What worked?
    – What could be improved?
    ? New questions?
    ! New ideas?
• Observe user interaction; refine prototype or pivot problem statement.

Human-Centered Design (HCD) Principles

• Goal: deliver products that genuinely address user needs, not “tchotchkes / widgets.”
• Innovate beyond stated desires.
  (Henry Ford quote: “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”)

Case Illustrations

Case 1 – Embrace Infant Warmer (Extreme Affordability)

• POV example above; focuses on rural Nepalese mothers, low-cost neonatal thermoregulation.

Case 2 – BioLite Energy (Clean Cooking & Off-Grid Power)

• Problem cluster
  • Indoor cooking fires
  • $3\ \text{billion}$ people rely on smoky open wood fires.
  • $4\ \text{million}$ deaths/year (exceeds AIDS+TB+malaria combined).
  • Women spend $10$ hr/week gathering fuel.
  • Emit more smoke than all cars & trucks globally.
  • Access to electricity
  • $2.3\ \text{billion}$ people have unreliable/no power.
  • $550\ \text{million}$ off-grid mobile users travel long distances & pay high fees to charge phones.
  • Lighting inefficiency
  • Off-grid households spend $\$38\ \text{billion}$/yr on kerosene, etc.
  • Basic kerosene lamp = $0.6\%$ of recommended study illumination; $0.3\%$ for living areas.

Integrating DT Into Projects

• Warm-up exercise: 60-second rapid-fire sketches (home, coffee, mouse, person, etc.) to loosen creative muscles.
• Project flow (used in class workshop: “Redesign the Remote Work Experience”)
  1. Empathize: conduct two structured interviews (4 min each) & capture notes.
  2. Define: list needs & insights; craft problem statement.
  3. Ideate: sketch multiple concepts; iterate after feedback.
  4. Prototype: build tangible mock-ups with office supplies.
  5. Test: share, record what worked/needs improvement, raise new questions.
• Persona example – “Grace”
  • $40$-year-old Caucasian female, pre-menopausal.
  • Health: general good health; annual screening mammograms.
  • Education: BA, non-technical; prefers plain language.
  • Constraints: long distance to city hospital; unclear about new screening guidelines; lacks regular family doctor.
  • Goal: stay healthy & detect cancer early.
  • Pain Point: confusion over mammography guidelines.

Comparison of Innovation Approaches

• Design Thinking targets Experience (emotional) innovation rather than purely functional or technical novelty.
• Not every innovation initiative needs DT; choose based on problem nature.

Common Pitfalls & Best Practices

• Focus groups ≠ HCD → they elicit opinions, not deep empathy.
• Average users yield average products; seek extremes for breakthrough insights.
• Keep cycles short; embrace continuous improvement.
• Never assume—validate with real users.

Resource Arsenal for Further Mastery

• IDEO → Design Thinking resources
  https://www.ideou.com/pages/design-thinking-resources
• Design Kit Methods
  http://www.designkit.org/methods
• Frog Design → Collective Action Toolkit
  https://www.frogdesign.com/work/frog-collective-action-toolkit
• Stanford d.school resources
  https://dschool.stanford.edu/resources
• Luma Institute – systematic HCD methods
  https://www.luma-institute.com/why-luma/our-system/
• Google Design Sprint kit
  https://designsprintkit.withgoogle.com/
• IBM Design Thinking
  https://www.ibm.com/design/thinking/
• Interaction Design Foundation videos/methods
  https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/essential-design-thinking-videos-and-methods
• Canva – visual design principles
  https://www.canva.com/learn/design-elements-principles/
• Design Council UK – DT double diamond
  https://innovationenglish.sites.ku.dk/model/design-thinking/
• Hasso Plattner Institute resources
  http://thisisdesignthinking.net/on-design-thinking/design-thinking-resources/

Key Takeaways for Exam Preparation

• Memorize the 5 DT stages and their objectives.
• Understand WHY empathy is foundational and HOW to conduct effective interviews.
• Practice crafting POV statements and linking them to ideation.
• Be able to discuss real-world cases (Embrace, BioLite) and map DT stages to their solutions.
• Recognize the viability–feasibility–desirability triad and be ready to evaluate an idea through these lenses.
• Know the limitations: DT is not one-size-fits-all; choose it when human desirability and experience innovation are paramount.