Design Thinking: introduction to a methodology on the rise

Design Thinking aims to harness the train of thought used by designers and apply this to general problems. Empathy represents the cornerstone for this extrapolation, so says Adam Royalty, professor at Stanford University, where this particular methodology is taught.
2 min reading
User Experience / 27 November 2019
Design Thinking: introduction to a methodology on the rise
Design Thinking: introduction to a methodology on the rise

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Design Thinking aims to harness the train of thought used by designers and apply this to general problems. Empathy represents the cornerstone for this extrapolation, so says Adam Royalty, professor at Stanford University, where this particular methodology is taught.

What is Design Thinking?

Design Thinking (DT) essentially aims to harness the train of thought used by designers and apply this to general problems.

Empathy represents the cornerstone for this extrapolation. So says Adam Royalty, professor at Stanford University, where this particular methodology is taught and developed. Focusing on a problem can actually render the solution more elusive. The idea is to pursue empathy on a small scale, which should lead the same question to be raised in all industries; how do our clients feel?

According to Daniel Stringer and Hannah Lippe, also professors at Stanford, the Design Thinking methodology combines the experience of a designer with that of a product consumer, all processed via this course of thinking. This necessitates unconventional thinking that is stripped of all our deeply-rooted social beliefs, such as a fear of failure or the relationship between puerility and creativity.

In which fields may it be used?

Practically any. Harry West is CEO of Frog. His company was responsible for designing the first Apple computers. In this video, recorded at the BBVA Innovation Center in Madrid, he discusses how the challenges and opportunities for harnessing Design Thinking have changed.

From hardware to user experience, the benefits of DT and its applications seem limitless. While 20 or 30 years ago design was focused on products, now, says West, the emphasis is “on the major pillars of our economies: finances, health and education”.

From design to heaven

Oyer Corazón, son of renowned designer Alberto Corazon, has already made the transition from product design to strategic design. This he discussed in a speech at the BBVA Innovation Center in Calle Santa Barbara, Madrid.

“Beyond posters”, said Corazon’s son, his first memory of graphic design was the power for everything surrounding a project to change, which is exactly what his father experienced during Spain’s democratic transition. If you can design the poster, why not design all the rest too? Today he uses this approach via the Strategy Tree methodology, as he explains in the video below.

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