SENG 310 - Lecture 8

25 January 2015

Design Thinking

“Design thinking is 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.”
– Tim Brown (President and CEO of IDEO)

Design Thinking vs. User-Centered Design

  • Empathy is a primary lens
  • Walking in "the user's shoes"
  • Tends to involve multidisciplinary teams
  • Less technology driven, more user driven
  • Increased focus creating working prototypes
  • Failure of design is more openly accepted

Design Thinking Toolbox

Instead of making something nicer or better, think: what should we be making?

Sketching
Fast, freeform exploration of many ideas Critical for innovation and conversations

Brainstorming
Ideas come from all members of group, explore otherwise unlikely solutions, approaches, or perspectives.

Designing with others
Paper and pencil
Wireframes
Come up with multiple designs

Prototyping as a form of play

  • Don’t just aim for good (it may be limiting)
  • Study, study, study
  • Imitate (connect old ideas in new ways)
  • Slow down
  • Allow events to change you

Have an iterative process

  • Emphasize
  • Synthesize
  • Ideate / Brainstorm
  • Prototype / Evaluate

How to Begin

Don't wait to be an expert, the process can enable experimatation. Sooner ideas are 'out there', the sooner feedback arives.

Use Minimal Viable Product:

  • Helps to validate ideas with least amount of effort
  • Series of experiments that will help you learn
  • "Fail early, fail often"
  • Help you find out
    • Who may use it?
    • What kind of language do they use?
    • Will they pay for it?

What to Design

Be Creative"

  • Period of "not knowning" leads to great possibilities
  • Set time aside to drift
  • "Harest ideas. Edit applications"

Always ask why:

  • Anti-experts see possibilities others may miss.
  • Ask the 'stupid' questions

Embrace Contraints:

  • Limitations may lead you to creative solutions
  • Simple designs lead to emergent behaviours
  • Keep it small and simple

Balancing Utility and Delight

Levels of Design Appeal:

  1. Visceral (I want it)
  2. Behavioural (I can master it)
  3. Reflective (it completes me)

Prioritizing features

Rather than crossing out features, circle the ones you really want

  • Think in terms of users' goals, not features
  • Where can you have the most impact?
  • What is the core value?
  • What is essential? What is needed everyday?

Displace features to: what, phone, or computer

Misc:

d.school Mindset:

  • Show, Don’t tell
  • Focus on Human Values
  • Craft Clarity
  • Embrace Experimentation
  • Be Mindful of Process
  • Bias toward Action
  • Radical Collaboration

Assignments

None