Design thinking is a creative approach for resolving complex problems or challenges and finding creative solutions. Using activities such as gathering information from user groups, framing and reframing the problem, unconstrained ideation, prototyping, and iterative testing, the process aims to arrive at a solution that is innovative and meets the needs of the community.

The methodology was introduced in the 1950s by Stanford Engineering Professor John E. Arnold and later popularized in the 1980s by the design and consulting firm IDEO.

To learn more about the Design Thinking process please see,
Luchs, M. G., Swan, K. S., & Griffin, A. (2016). Design Thinking: New Product Development Essentials from the PDMA. John Wiley & Sons.

UTL Permalink: https://books-scholarsportal-info.myaccess.library.utoronto.ca/uri/ebooks/ebooks3/wiley/2015-11-17/1/9781119154273

When is it appropriate to use a Design Thinking approach?

A design thinking process is useful in situations where the goals are:

  • To facilitate problem-solving, where the problem is complex or not easily defined (so called “wicked problems”)
  • To empathize with the user and develop solutions grounded on a deep understanding of user needs
  • To work across traditional silos and co-create with a diverse team
  • To focus on continuous learning, being comfortable with failure and applying learning to inform future ideas and decisions

What are the typical stages of Design Thinking?

While there are many different ways to engage in Design Thinking. One common method involves 4 interdependent stages that build on each other. These are:

  1. DISCOVER: Exploration of your audience. Iteration of data collection and synthesis.
  2. DEFINE: Based on audience insights, clearly articulate a problem statement.
  3. CREATE: Brainstorm solutions, create lo-fi prototypes to test. Dream big and get creative!
  4. EVALUATE: Put your ideas in front of real users, get feedback and iterate.
graphic describing discover, define, explore in designing

A framework for design thinking. From Design Thinking: New Product Development Essentials from the PDMA (p. 4), by M.G. Luchs, K.S. Swan, & A. Griffin, 2016, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Why use Design Thinking at the TLS?

For the 2022 Teaching & Learning Symposium we chose the theme “Designing for the Future” inviting participants to come together to reflect – not only on everything learned during the pandemic, but also on how experiences and strengths throughout our careers have helped us through this period.

Given the complexity of where we are coming from and uncertainty of what lies ahead, we decided to leverage Design Thinking, a process that would enable us to collectively take stock of what we have learned to inform how we might reimagine our future. Driven by inquiry and empathy, our goal is to work towards progress not perfection.

How will the Design Thinking be used during the TLS?

Given the time constraints of the Teaching & Learning Symposium, participants will engage in a shortened version of the design thinking process. Leveraging the power of our interdisciplinary community and using several effective design thinking methods, participants will work across various stages of the traditional design thinking process over the course of the Symposium.

  • Day one of the Symposium with feature an opening Design Thinking Plenary providing the opportunity for a large-scale collaboration – unpacking the challenge of “Designing for the Future” from the perspective of various campus stakeholders.
  • A subsequent Design Thinking concurrent session will build upon work from the opening plenary, with participants going deeper into the problem to ideate and examine possible “Big Ideas” that might inform a strategy for the future.
  • Finally, the Design Thinking theme will close this year’s Symposium with final playback presentations of the work that was generated over the course of the various design thinking activities.

What is a Design Thinking mindset?

Design thinking is more than just a process, it is a way of thinking. Some beliefs and attitudes that coincide with a design thinking mindset are:

  • People-centric with a focus on the experiences, thoughts, needs, and values of the people within the communities you are engaging with and whose problems you are looking to address.
  • Cross-disciplinary and collaborative teams with the understanding that being open to a diversity of backgrounds and perspectives in the problem-solving process will add to the richness of solutions developed during the design process.
  • Holistic and integrative perspectives with the ability to consider relationships, interactions, and the connections between disparate ideas throughout the process.
  • Flexibility and comfort with ambiguity with respect to content and process. Understanding the value of iteration and working on a problem from a variety of angles and perspectives.
  • Multimodal communication skills and valuing a range of communication modalities such as verbal, visual, and tactile regardless of ability or skill.
  • Growth mindset and being open to testing ideas and concepts guided by the collective goal of continuous learning and uninhibited by the fear of failure.

References

Luchs, M. G. (2015). A brief introduction to design thinking. Design Thinking, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119154273.ch1

Mari, S. (2018, August 14). The 5 stages of design thinking and specific techniques. Medium. Retrieved February 2, 2022, from https://medium.com/intive-developers/the-5-stages-of-design-thinking-and-specific-techniques-da26f82e80bf

IDEO design thinking. IDEO. (n.d.). Retrieved February 7, 2022, from https://designthinking.ideo.com/