Design thinking and justification

 

Design Thinking was selected as it provides a solution-based approach to solving problems. Design thinking is a human-centered approach to innovation that draws from the designer’s (or students)toolkit to identify the needs of people, the possibilities of technology, and the requirements for more sustainable business success.
Herbert Simon, in the Sciences of the Artificial has defined "design" as the "transformation of existing conditions into preferred ones". Design thinking is, then, always linked to an improved future. Unlike critical thinking, which is a process of analysis and is associated with the 'breaking down' of ideas, design thinking is a creative process based around the 'building up' of ideas. There are no judgments in design thinking. This eliminates the fear of failure and encourages maximum input and participation. Wild ideas are welcome, since these often lead to the most creative solutions.

Thinking like a designer can transform the way individuals and organisations develop products, services, processes, and strategy. Design thinking, brings together what is desirable from a human point of view with what is technologically feasible and economically viable. It also allows people who are not trained as designers to use creative tools to address a vast range of challenges.

Design Thinking is Not a Cookbook

There IS a notion about design thinking that it’s a cookbook where the answer is easily come too. However, the truth is it more complex than that. As you go progress, even if you’re not getting anywhere with a potentia solution, or unlocked a path that everyone agrees on, you have to stay there. Design thinking is not a linear path. It’s a big mass of looping back to different places in the process. There’s also confusion around knowing how to navigate divergent and convergent thinking. There’s skill in knowing when a team is stuck and that’s a moment to diverge—let’s go out and get inspired, let’s think a little different. When are moments in the process you need to think differently? It takes practice knowing when in this messy process to give yourself permission to diverge and when and how to creatively converge. The bad news is you do actually need to have the insight to make creative leaps to a new place. Every day there are new ways to think about and apply design thinking.

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Advantages of this Elective

Sometimes we try to solve problems without understanding them from the perspective of those experiencing them. Thinking like a designer can transform the way in which we approach complex societal challenges. Design Thinking is a methodology to solve complex problems and find creative, innovative and desirable solutions. It is an iterative process in which we seek to understand the user, challenge any assumptions, and redefine problems in an attempt to identify innovative solutions to complex problems that might not be apparent or obvious.
What will I learn?
You will learn the skills of empathy, problem definition, ideation and prototype development.
You will begin to understand the evolution of creative ideas within a multidisciplinary context
You will be encouraged to reflect on this experience to better understand your own preferred learning environment and team behaviours.
What will I do?
This module will focus of the development of creative, design and critical thinking. It will encompass classroom based and online learning activities. You will:

1. Develop comprehensive skills in empathy, problem definition, idea generation and prototype development.
2. Reflect on how Design Thinking could be applied within a wide variety of contexts (including their own discipline)
3. Work effectively within a multidisciplinary context
4. Appraise the value of Design Thinking to specific complex problems
5. Articulate the value of proposed solutions in a meaningful and concise manner.
How will this be delivered?
6 x 1-hr online sessions;
3 x 4-hr workshops;
1 x 4hrs project work/ presentation
30 hours of independent study (including online engagement and application elements of online sessions)
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