Design thinking is a holistic approach to drive powerful experiences that create real business results.
The most successful organisations know the power of design thinking as a business transformation tool. But - what is it that makes design more critical today than ever before and why is design thinking responsible for building some of the top brands in the world? In this blog, I am looking at what we think about design and designers, what is design and what it is not.
Driver No 1
CONNECTING THE DOTS …
Creative people are better at recognizing these relationships, making associations and links in a unique way. They see things that others cannot see. This means, an idea is nothing more nor less than a new combination of old elements and the capacity to bring old elements into new combinations and relationships that most of us cannot even fathom. Steve Jobs had a lot to say about creativity [excerpt].
“Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while. That’s because they were able to connect experiences they’ve had and synthesize new things. And the reason they were able to do that was that they’ve had more experiences, or they have thought more about their experiences than other people. Unfortunately, that’s too rare a commodity. A lot of people in our industry haven’t had very diverse experiences. So they don’t have enough dots to connect, and they end up with very linear solutions without a broad perspective on the problem. The broader one’s understanding of the human experience, the better design we will have. And they end up with very linear solutions without a broad perspective on the problem. The broader one’s understanding of the human experience, the better design we will have.”
“You can’t connect the dots looking forward. You can only connect them looking backwards. You need to trust in something. Believing that the dots will connect down the road, will gives you the confidence to follow your heart even if it leads you off the well-worn path and this will make all the difference.”
Driver No 2
BROAD LIFE EXPERIENCE
THE BROADER ONE'S UNDERSTANDING OF THE HUMAN EXPERIENCE, THE BETTER DESIGN WE WILL HAVE.
In Steve Jobs 2005 commencement address to the class of Stanford here, Jobs makes the case for learning things that, at the time, may not offer the most practical benefit. Over time, however, these things add up to give you a broader base of knowledge from which to connect ideas. The more you learn about, the more you can connect things. By the way, this becomes an argument for a broad-based education. While education is important for building up a repository for which you can connect things, it’s not enough. You need broad life experiences as well. I, Steve: Steve Jobs in His Own Words is full of things that will make you think.
Driver No 3
THE POWER OF DISRUPTION
Much of our behaviour follows well-trodden patterns and habits. Customers follow patterns when making buying decisions too. The origin of the word “competition” is in the Latin word competere, meaning to “sit together”. That indicates, that competitors are a group that’s agreed to appear at the same time and play by the same rules. Competition leads to incremental change, while real innovation is about 'Disruptive Thinking' that breaks previous patterns of thought, challenges fundamental assumptions – and because of this, earns tremendous success.
HERE'S TO THE CRAZY ONES - Steve Jobs, 1997
"Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can praise them, disagree with them, quote them, disbelieve them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is to ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.”