Design thinking is a systematic method of innovation for solving complex problems. With the help of design thinking, you come up with specific ideas for innovation in a co-creative team process with people from different fields and disciplines. Design thinking is a user-centred method for creating ideas that integrate the consumer’s needs, the opportunity for technology and the requirements for a successful company.
Habit is the enemy of progress!
In order to develop new ideas, you have to go off the beaten track. The design thinking method is a tried and tested way to unlock new regions of creativity, which are normally undeveloped in daily life.
How does the design thinking workshop work?
Entirely based on the project needs, a group of participants from different disciplines and specialisations (interdisciplinary) can be put together alongside your employees. That’s how designers, potential customers, suppliers come together in an environment that encourages creativity to question the familiar and to develop new ideas.
Design thinking is mainly about understanding people’s needs and finding the best solution through creative means in order to respond to these needs. The focus of design thinking is not concentrating on the technical feasibility and company profitability, but to draw on the bigger picture, the culture, behaviour, attitudes and the customer’s needs.
What methods is the design thinking workshop based on?
Design thinking is orientated around the work of designers, which is seen as a combination of observing, understanding developing ideas, trying things out, fine tuning and learning. Innovative, radical, 100% user and experience orientated.
#create thinking
A process that provides confidence and orientation when you enter unfamiliar territory.
With design thinking, we are developing user-centred products or services.
The design thinking methods can be divided up into 6 phases:
Within these phases there is a repeated processing and reflection of certain process steps based on the newly-acquired knowledge (iteration), in order to achieve the best result.
Design thinking is useful for real consumer research, which comes from direct observation and in-depth interviews, in order to produce qualitative data and consumer stories. After the research the design thinking team can define the actual problem.
After this has been carried out, the design thinking team develops new ideas for possible solutions. A partial aspect of design thinking is learning by doing, which is why initial ideas are transformed into rough prototypes (e.g. 3D models made out of lego, posters…). You can learn so much more about the quality of the ideas when they are tested with real users in the real world. Based on the user feedback, the prototypes are tested repeatedly until the design thinking team is certain that a solution (this could be a product, a service or a concept) has been developed, that makes sense and is meaningful for the user.
In the last stage the ideas and concepts are transferred to actual prototypes. Critical functions and hypotheses can be tested by observing and questioning the interaction of potential users with the prototype. The user feedback and new ideas help us to optimise the solution further.
Depending on how complex the problem is, design thinking can be applied over one or more day-long workshops, or in shorter processes.
#100% user orientated
»We develop innovative solutions together to make the most of the future’s potential.«
What do you gain from the design thinking workshop?
New perspectives for familiar situations & problems. Innovative ideas and approaches to develop concepts further. And of course, specific solutions that are extremely valuable as a basis for optimising the concept with the target group in mind. Companies and communities can develop innovative products and services from the point of view of the customer in this way. The process of the design thinking workshop gives you confidence and orientation when you enter unfamiliar territory.
With design thinking, we are always developing user-centred products or services.
Furthermore, structures, processes and ways of thinking in companies can be changed at the same time, in order to establish a new, innovative working culture.
Advantages:
• User-centred way of thinking
• Creative solutions for problems
• Practice-orientated methods
• Empathy & inspiration for user needs
• New ways to develop ideas
• Rapid prototype development and idea testing
• Combining feedback and repeated reworking
• interdisciplinary teamwork and close cooperation