How do you go from an idea to an innovation? What process do you need to go through to develop a product? What skills and which people do you need to help in that process? In this lecture, we'll look at design thinking, a particular strategy that's used to help go from an idea to a solution. It's very useful and commonly used in healthcare innovations as well as in many other industries. You're probably quite familiar with the scientific method. This requires the upfront stipulation of all procedures and processes, the methods before the study starts and deviation from the methods frowned upon. But this wouldn't work very well for innovation or for designing new technologies, because you need to build in some trial and error. Design thinking is different, but it's very important in ensuring that any product or technology that is developed is useful, effective, and needed by the end-user. Unlike the scientific method, design thinking embraces variation. Although there's still an overarching linear approach, it permits and indeed encourages deviation along the way, although still in a controlled documented and constructive manner. It's fundamentally human-centered, participatory and involves users from the very beginning. This approach is very important, as it ensures that any developed product or technology is useful, effective, and needed by the end-user. As explained by Tim Brown, Founder of IDEO, design thinking is a methodology that's driven by the understanding through observation of what people want and need in their lives, and what they like or dislike about the way particular products are made, packaged, marketed, sold, and supported. It features the constant trial and error required to arrive at the ideal type of product or design. As this will ensure the customer engages with and enjoys the use of the product. As Thomas Edison famously quoted, "Genius is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration." Design thinking is the perspiration. Is the important step of learning something new from each iteration. This approach matches people's needs with technological and business solutions that can be converted into market opportunities. But it's more than just making something look good or developing an effective advertising campaign, is the human-centered, creative, iterative, and practical approach to finding the best ideas and ultimate solutions. Design thinking is often conceptualized through the double diamond illustrated here by the UK Design Council. It starts with the discovery phase. This is when you take the time to really understand the problem through observation of people in their real-world contexts. What do people do? How do they think? What do they need? What are the constraints? The defining phase is the moment where these insights are refined and conclusions reached based on collected data. It's important to use people from different disciplines such as designers, clinicians, patients, and managers to really understand what the problem is and how technology can help. The develop phase is where ideas are trialled and tested through prototyping. It's often called ideation. This is achieved through brainstorming, comparing early solutions to the core of the problem to see what works and what does not. There'll be lots of sketches, prototypes, testing with users, lots of repeating of this cycle to get close to designing something that works. The final phase is the deliver phase, which focuses on the adjustments and refinements needed to produce better developed or mature prototypes for use in the medium or long-term. Here a communication strategy will be developed. Questions like why is this the solution? How can we spread the word to the outside world? According to Tim Brown, there are key characteristics and competencies that you need to incorporate to think in a design way. You need empathy and the ability to see the world from different perspectives. You need integrative thinking, the ability to see all of the salient and sometimes contradictory aspects of a problem and create novel solutions. You need optimism to believe that at least one potential solution is better than the existing alternatives. You need experimentalism, an ability to pose questions and explore constraints, and finally, you need collaboration, an ability to work alongside engineers, anthropologists, industrial designers, architects, and psychologists. Innovative solutions do not happen just by accident nor is it sufficient to dream up an idea and think that that's enough. Innovation happens through the tenacious, iterative, and collaborative creative cycles of design. What are your thoughts on design thinking? Do you think it sounds effective? You'll be hearing from a design expert in this specialization, and this will teach you to see in more detail, what's involved and the potential of design.
