Introduction to
Design Thinking

Who am I?
Vedran.Antoljak@SENSECONSULTING.eu

What are we planning
to do today?
1.Design Thinking: what? when? how?
2.Design Thinking tools
3.Quick-and-dirty case study.

$?

Design is becoming more important for
creation of profits.
It’s not enough just to be better than our
competitors...
Businesses of today require creative
thinking… thinking as a designer… or
even better: becoming designer.

Why companies have
problems with creativity
and innovation?
1. They didn’t teach us to give a better response to the current
operating changes. It is not allowed to make mistakes in the school,
whereas the wrong answer means lower grade.
2. Majority of people still believe that the creativity can’t be learned,
and that inovation is reserved for geeks and technology.
3. Scepticism towards the cooperation with different people
(designers). Moreover, it leads towards application of both new and
different tools.

What Do Designers Have, But
Managers Do Not Have?
1. Empathy (compassion)
2. Invention (intrapreneurship)
3. Iteration

The left side of brain is responsible for
logic i.e. strategy, while the right side of
brain is responsible for creativity.

Design Thinking
…is the way of resolving of complex problems
which is focused on the understanding of
human being, and which leans on colaboration
and creativity.
… do not resolve design problems, but rather
resolve operating problems using design
processes.

…aims on creation of both appropriate
mentality and development of skills,
leading to the better results.
Design Thinking

BUSINESS
(viability)
TECHNOLOGY
(feasibility)
PEOPLE
(desirability)

users
clients
customers
shareholders
debtors
sponsors
people

„If I had asked
people what they
wanted, they
would have said -
faster horses.”
Henry Ford

Analytical
approach
Intuitive
approach
Design
Thinking
Manager vs. Designer

100% reliability 100% validity
Analytical
thinking
Inutitive
thinking
50/50
Design
Thinking

Business Approach vs. DT Approach
„We have a problem. Let’s meet
together immediately, talk, and
solve the problem.
„We bought a new technology.
What can we use it for?”
„Our competition launched the
product X. //„Naš konkurent je
upravo lansirao proizvod X. Kako
mi možemo brzo izbaciti proizvod
X.”
„We have a problem. Let’s
understand it better by
being in contact with
people, observing them and
being compassionate about
them. This type of approach
will enable us a deeper
insight to their needs, which
will result in our ability to
design the proper solutions
for the problem.

BUSINESS DESIGN
Basic assumption Rational, objective, reality is
fixed and can be quantified
Subjective experience,
reality as socially
constructed
Method Anaysis with an aim to prove
the only one „right” answer
Experimenting with an aim
of repeting in order to find
the „better” solution.
Process Planning Seeming
Drivers of decision Logic, numerical models Insight into feelings,
experimental models
Values Aspiration for both control
and stability, discomfort in
unpredictability
Aspiration for something
new, discomfort in status
quo
Level of focus Apstract or special Questioning both apstract
and special
The Differences Between The Business
and Design Approach

Companies Using
Design Thinking

„Design is not just
what it looks like
and feels like.
Design is how it
works.”

Design Thinking
takes into accunt the
overall experience

Design Thinking Methodology
find define develop deliver
general
problem
Specific problem
or potential
solution

Designing?

Design ThinkingAs promoted by Darden School of Business
What IS? What IF?
What
wows?
What
works?

EMPHATIZE
DEFINE
IDEATE
PROTOTYPE
TEST
Design ThinkingAs promoted by Hasso Platter, Institute for Design at Stanford

EMPHATIZE
DEFINE
IDEATE
PROTOTYPE
TEST
Design Thinking Proces

EMPATIZE
• Empathy is the foundation of
understanding the human being in a
Design Thinking Process
• Observe – observe users and their
behavior
• Engage yourself – establish
interaction and interview users through
both agreed and accitental meetings
and accidental meetings
• Scratch the surface – live out the
experience of people
• Tools: visualisation, journey mapping

DEFINE
• This step implies synthesizing of
information and impressions from the
previous step to concrete needs and
insights. Accordingly, this step
determines specific and meaningful
challenges.
• Aim: to deeply understand the user and the
environment, to define the problem from
your perspective.
• Redefined problem is your design of vision
which stems from collected information and
impression.
• Tools: value-chain analysis, mind-mapping

IDEATE
• You have to be focused on coming up
with various ideas in this step of
Design Thinking Process .
• This is the part of Design Thinking
Process in which you have a wide
acces (first diverge and then converge)
in devising concepts and results.
• The more ideas, the better.
• Aim: to search for various possible
solutions, and to notice the difference
between them
• Tools: visualisation, brainstoming, concept
development

PROTOTYPE
• The method of creating a prototype
implies migration of your selected
ideas.
• Aim: to create a prototype which can
be everytning in the physical form
(including ie. storyboard).
• Prototype can be messy and quickly
made in order to allow us the further
research.
• Tools: assumption testing, rapid
prototyping

TEST
• Testing is the opportunity for
refinement of the prototype and also
for its improvement.
• Testing is one more step which includes
repetition (iteration) in which we test
prototype in the real environment.
• Aim: to find a solution which fits the
best to the needs of users.
• We create prototype with the premise
that we have a final solution, while we
do testing like we do not have a
prototype.
• Tools: customer co-creation, learning
launch

EMPATIZE
DEFINE
IDEATE
PROTOTYPE
TEST

Design Thinking Tools
1. VISUALISATION: usage of visual elements while identifying possibilities and their revival.
2. JOURNEY MAPPING: assessing current experiences of users through their eyes.
3. VALUE CHAIN ANALYSIS: understanding of the existing value chain in a context of the
experience of users.
4. MIND MAPPING: generation of insights through research activities and their usage while
creating criterias for design.
5. BRAINSTROMING: generation of new possibilities and alternative operating models.
6. CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT: composition of innovative elements into alternative solutions
which continue to be in a process of research and assessment.
7. ASSUMPTION TESTING: testing of the key assumptions which will be either drivers of
success or the cause of the concept’s collapse.
8. RAPID PROTOTYPING: transformation of concepts into a physical form which continues
to be investigated, tested, and refined.
9. CUSTOMER CO-CREATION: the process of including users to the creation of solutions
which are the best for them.
10. LEARNING LAUNCH: creation of the economical experiment which temporary enables
user to experience new solution and its testing on the market.

Project Examples
Boston Market applies Design Thinking for redesign of
2000 of their markets. Boston Market introduces a new
scoring of customers, based on results that are gained
by the tool named customer journey, which changes
with the habits of consumers.
eBay, an e-market company, applies Design Thinking
for creation of a digital ecosystem which integrates big
data and the real stories of the customers in iPad app.
Application enables the employees a lot deeper insight
into the reason for people’s usage of the e-bay.
Furthermore, application enables people continuous
improvements.
Bank of America applies Design Thinking for creation
of "Keep the change” campaign, by which they attracted
1.000.000 of new clients in less than one year.

The Rules
Of The Crash Course
having fun encouraging
crazy ideas
revival of
ideas
speed teamwork ending regardless the
perfection

Task: Redesign Of The Gift Giving Experience
• The person next to you is your partner (A and B).
• The task is to design the experience (not a gift) for your
partner, so that it is better for the partner (and, hopefully, for
the person who will recieve the gift).
• The purpose of the task is neither to redesign the gift which
you gave to someone, nor your personal experience. Your
task is to design experience for your selected partner.
• Recall your last gift giving experience. Think of your last
giving and overall experience: from the moment you recalled
that you have to get get/purchase the gift (or you forgot to
purchase it), search, purchase, gift wrapping; gift giving,
reaction,...

Task: Redesign Of the Gift Giving Experience
1. Interview: try to understand the gift giving experience of yout partner. Focus
on the partner’s emotions. Questions: When did you give something to
someone? How did it go? Which is the best part of the gift giving experience
from your point of view? Which is the worst part of it?
2. Dig deeper: focus on the most important for your partner, eg emotional
questions or those that usually stand out. Search for the story, motivation, and
feelings of your partner. Questions: Why? Why? Why?
3. Record the conclusion: synthesize the discovered needs of your partner
and try to give insight into particularities that seem interesting to you. Let the
needs be the verbs.
Example: While gift giving, what does your partner want to achieve? What
does the gift giving mean to your partner? Insights are findings that can be
used while creating solutions, eg your partner prefers handmade gifts.
4. Define the problem: this is your point of view - short, special, and sexy! This
is something that you will try to resolve by your design. Let it be concrete.
Example: perhaps your partner wants to show his/her own creativity during
the gift giving; or the partner wants to get in touch with his/her friend again; or
the partner just wants to fall in love again.

Task: Redesign The Gift Giving Experience
5. Sketch ideas: Write about your problem and try to find solution for it. The
more ideas, the better. Search for as much possibilities as possible and do
not pay attention to their quality. Draw, sketch, color… have fun!
Change the place with your partner, taking into account that your sketches
remain on your table!
6. Share the solutions and ask for feedback: Defend your ideas! This is not
for the purpose of checking if the ideas are good enough, but rather for the
purpose of getting feedback from your partner.
7. Create a new solution: Write down everything you have learned about the
partner, and also about your ideas. Afterwards, sketch one idea that can be
one of the existing sketches, or it can be the wholly new one. Ask yourself:
How can the solution match the life context of your partner?
8. Create your solution: Transform your idea info a physical form! Build
something of aluminium foil , sticks, or tape, so that you can show it to your
partner.
9. Share your solution and ask for feedback: Test your prototype! Observe
the reaction of your partner to your prototype. Also, observe his/her
feedback.

10 lessons
for application of Design Thinkinga

1. Use the design as a process, not as a result.
2. Question what superiors are telling you.
3. Do not rely always on numbers.
4. Do not look at innovations through the prism of efficiency.
5. Stick the design in the business DNA and continue to
build from that.
6. Do not copy or outsorce the vision of your company.
7. Do not follow your clients, guide them.
8. Observe, look for answers after.
9. Focus primarily on the needs of people, and after focus
on solving technical problems.
10. Do not stop with insight results. With big ideas, comes the
great responsibility.

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@senseconsulting
sense@senseconsulting.eu
vedran.antoljak@senseconsulting.eu