Demystifying design thinking

21 May
2021

Demystifying design thinking

By Staff Writer

Demystifying design thinking

The term “design thinking” has certainly become a buzzword with many people using it and promoting this methodology as an innovative new way of thinking. Whilst it is becoming widely accepted by many corporate companies it is certainly by no means new.

Design thinking has, however, been an intuitive process that has actually been around for centuries. Design thinking is solution-based thinking and is a method for the practical, creative resolution of problems and the creation of solutions. The core of design thinking is centered around empathy and really trying to understand the client’s/project’s current needs and well future needs. It relies heavily on prototyping and testing ideas and analyzing the feedback of these tests so that this cycle can continue until a suitable solution is established.

Design-focused institutions worldwide, and including Africa and South Africa, have employed the methodologies and pedagogic to support design thinking for some time now. It is also important to note that design thinking may also be referred to as service design as well as ideation and one shouldn’t get stuck on the word but rather the process of design thinking. Even the process is pliable and depends on the task and problem at hand. One version of the design-thinking process has seven stages: define, research, ideate, prototype, choose, execute, and learn, the process is then repeated until the best solution is formulated.

Having been involved in using the design-thinking methodology in consulting to companies for the past six years has exposed us to a host of other companies and organizations who employ the methodology. Institutions like Inscape Education Group have intentionally taught critical thinking coupled with business strategy for over 30 years. What many people and companies don’t know is that Inscape started offering a Bachelor of Design specializing in Ideation in 2015. This three-year accredited degree program will realize its first cohort of graduates in December 2017. The qualification addresses the very exciting concept of bringing design thinking to the business. Similarly, the UCT School for Innovation applies this thinking.

I caught up with Helen Buhrs, the CEO and owner of Inscape, who feels that: "It is not enough to tack design thinking onto existing business approaches. Design thinking is an intuitive process embedded in each and every facet of the learning process. Innovation and design thinking are often confused. Design thinking is a way of life, not a tool that can be applied as a solution."

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