Design Thinking is not exclusive to designers. Any innovator whether in arts, literature , music, engineering have practiced it. So what exactly is design thinking?
|Design Thinking
Design thinking refers to the set of cognitive, strategic and practical procedures used by designers in the process of designing. It is used to understand users, challenge assumptions, redefine problems and create innovative solutions.
Design thinking is an iterative and non-linear process that contains five phases:
1. Empathize: Research Your Users’ Needs
2. Define: State Your Users’ Needs and Problems
3. Ideate: Challenge Assumptions and Create Ideas
4. Prototype: Start to Create Solutions
5. Test: Try Your Solutions Out
Why is Design Thinking Important?
Design thinking will help you to understand problem-solving on a slightly deeper level. It creates solutions in a less disruptive, yet creative way. Design thinking is important for future designers because it allows them to think about the user’s needs and how to design for them.
Mind-Blowing Stats About Design Thinking
Let’s dwelve into a set of statistics about design thinking that will assure you why design thinking is right for your organization.
- 75% of organizations self-report that they are engaged in design thinking.
- 71% of companies say design thinking has improved the working culture at their organizations.
- 10% of the Fortune 500 has stated that design is their No. 1 priority.
- 50% of design-led companies report more loyal customers as a benefit to having advanced design practices.
- Companies that integrate industrial designers into their teams have a 9.1% higher employment growth rate than companies that don’t.
- Small manufacturers saw a 17.5% increase in average sales on improved goods and services when they invested in design.
- Companies that foster creativity enjoy 1.5 times greater market share.
- 71% of companies report creating 10 times the number of assets today than just a few years ago.
- 82% of companies believe there is a strong connection between creativity and business results.
- 60% of creatives said they are most creative in private environments.
- 78% of design-led companies have defined a process for coming up with new digital customer experience ideas.
- 50% of design-led companies report more loyal customers as a benefit to having advanced design practices.
- Almost half (46%) of companies that don’t embed design in digital CX strategy reported that their digital CX is on par or weaker than competitors.
Final Thoughts
Is design thinking still relevant today? The answer to this question is ‘Yes’. Design thinking will continue to grow in popularity as more people realize its potential. This methodology provides a solution-based approach to solving problems.