Innovative Design Thinking
Marion Kumar
Based on

a flash of inspiration?

a repeatable process to
make better products?

Innovative Ideas from (just a sample)

Collaborative Thinking
Technology
Feasibility
Human
Business
Values
Viability Usability &
Desirability

Design Thinking Design Thinking Design Thinking
Expertise
Expertise
Expertise
Design thinking bridges the disciplines in a cross-functional
team, and helps to fill in the unexplored innovation spaces
which don’t fall neatly into a particular discipline...

Design Mindsets

Show, Don’t Tell
Communicate your vision in an impactful and
meaningful way by creating experiences, using
illustrative visuals, and telling good stories.

Embrace Experimentation
Prototyping is not simply a way to validate your
idea; it is an integral part of your innovation
process. We build to think and learn.

Be Mindful Of Process
Know where you are in the design
process, what methods to use in that
stage, and what your goals are.

Radical Collaboration
Bring together innovators with varied backgrounds
and viewpoints. Enable breakthrough insights and
solutions to emerge from the diversity.

Focus on Human Values
Empathy for the people you are designing for
and feedback from these users is fundamental
to good design.

Bias Toward Action
Design thinking is a misnomer; it is more about
doing than thinking. Bias toward doing and
making, over thinking and meeting.

Design Process

Point of View
POV = user + need + insight

Design Modes

Empathize Define Ideate Prototype Test
Empathize
Empathy is the foundation of a human-centered design process. To
empathize, we:
- Observe. View users and their behavior in the context of their lives.
- Engage. Interact with and interview users through both scheduled
and short ‘intercept’ encounters. Encourage stories.
- Immerse. Experience what your user experiences.

Empathize Define Ideate Prototype Test
Define
Definition provides a Point of View:
• Provides focus and frames the problem in an actionable way
• Inspires your team
• Provides a reference for evaluating competing ideas
• Empowers your team to make decisions independently in parallel
• Captures the hearts and minds of people you meet
• Is something you revisit and reformulate as you learn by doing
• Guides your innovation efforts.

Empathize Define Ideate Prototype Test
Ideate
This mode transitions from identifying problems into exploring
solutions. This is a mode of “flaring” rather than “focus” to broaden
the solution set.

Empathize Define Ideate Prototype Test
Prototype
Prototyping goes beyond merely testing functionality:
• Empathy gaining: Prototyping is a tool to deepen understanding of
the design space and user, even at a pre-solution phase of a project.
• Exploration: Build to think. Develop multiple solution options.
• Testing: Create prototypes (and develop the context) to test and
refine solutions with users.
• Inspiration: Inspire others
(teammates, clients, customers, investors) by showing your vision.

Empathize Define Ideate Prototype Test
Test
To refine our prototypes and solutions. Testing informs the next
iterations of prototypes. Sometimes this means going back to the
drawing board.
To learn more about our user. Testing is another opportunity to
build empathy through observation and engagement—it often yields
unexpected insights.
To test and refine our POV. Sometimes testing reveals that not only
did we not get the solution right, but also that we failed to frame the
problem correctly.

References
Design & innovation guide from Stanford d.School
http://dschool.typepad.com/files/bootcampbootleg2010.pdf
Harvard Business Review article reprint
http://www.ideo.com/images/uploads/thoughts/IDEO_HBR_De
sign_Thinking.pdf
Stanford d.School workshop guide
https://dschool.stanford.edu/groups/k12/wiki/ae1bc/attachme
nts/1e5f4/Wallet%20Facilitators%20Guide.pdf
Article on design workspaces
http://www.fastcompany.com/1638692/11-ways-you-can-make-
your-space-as-collaborative-as-the-dschool