By: Bill Heinrich, Director of Mindset
Design thinking is a powerful tool for solving problems and creating solutions for two reasons:
1. deeper empathy, and,
2. a shared method & mindset.
Empathy
Design thinking is empowered by empathy for the end-user — the person or people who have a problem or suboptimal experience. When using design thinking, we seek to solve problems with our constituents, rather than for them.
Shared Method & Mindset
Design thinking is both a method and a mindset. The method is a five-step process consisting of empathy, problem definition, ideation, prototype, and solution. This method can be applied to many kinds of problems. When users of design thinking begin to see more of their daily tasks as problems (and solutions) of design, the method becomes a mindset. When longer range planning occurs with design in mind, each step of the method informs plans along the way.
As you explore the topic of design thinking, you’ll see us zoom in on elements of ‘DT’ methods and zoom out on elements of a ‘DT’ mindset, all to better help our end users, that is, you. In these podcasts, we investigate tried and tested application of Design Thinking in post-secondary and its array of benefits.
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