Design Thinking - Module 1 - Introduction To Design Thinking - Dr. Rohan Dasgupta

Introduction
to Design
Thinking
Module No. 1
Dr. Rohan Dasgupta

1.1. Deﬁnition and Origin of Design Thinking

What is Design Thinking?
● Design Thinking is a human-centered approach to problem-solving.
● It combines creative and analytical thinking to develop innovative solutions.
● Focuses on empathy, definition, ideation, prototyping, and testing.
● Used to tackle complex, ill-defined, or unknown problems.
● Promotes collaboration across disciplines and user involvement.
● A mindset, not just a method — encourages curiosity and experimentation.

Key Features of Design Thinking
● User-centric: Solutions are designed around real user needs.
● Iterative: Solutions evolve through multiple cycles of feedback.
● Collaborative: Involves diverse perspectives and teamwork.
● Problem reframing: Helps understand the real problem before solving.
● Visual and hands-on: Uses sketches, prototypes, and storytelling.
● Solution-focused: Moves quickly from ideas to actionable outputs.

Historical Origins of Design Thinking
● Traces back to the 1960s–70s in design and architecture disciplines.
● Herbert A. Simon (1969) introduced "The Sciences of the Artificial" — early ideas of
design as a way of thinking.
● Bruce Archer and Horst Rittel contributed to understanding design as a structured
process.
● 1980s: Design thinking began influencing engineering and product design.
● IDEO (founded in 1991) played a major role in popularizing the term.
● Adopted in business, healthcare, education, and social innovation over time.

Evolution and Adoption of Design
Thinking in Modern Times
● 2000s: Stanford d.school formalized design thinking for education.
● Tim Brown (IDEO CEO) helped define design thinking for innovation and leadership.
● Now widely used in engineering, management, and public policy.
● UN, Google, Apple, and NGOs apply it for global problem-solving.
● Design thinking is taught in top institutions worldwide.
● It continues to evolve by blending technology, empathy, and sustainability.

1.2. Design thinking vs
Traditional problem-solving approaches

Design Thinking vs. Traditional Problem Solving Approaches
Aspects Design Thinking Traditional Problem Solving
Focus Human-centered (empathy-driven) Problem-centered (efficiency-driven)
Approach Iterative & non-linear
(explores multiple solutions)
Linear & sequential
(follows fixed steps)
Mindset Open-ended, creative, and
collaborative
Analytical, logical, and structured
Process Empathize → Define → Ideate →
Prototype → Test
Define → Analyze → Solve → Implement
Risk
Handling
Early failure encouraged
(learn fast)
Avoids failure
(risk minimization)

Design Thinking vs. Traditional Problem Solving Approaches
Aspects Design Thinking Traditional Problem Solving
Solution
Type
Innovative, user-friendly, and often
disruptive
Optimized, proven, and incremental
User
Involvement
Continuous feedback from users Limited user input (experts decide)
Flexibility Adapts based on new insights Follows a predetermined plan
Outcome Desirable, feasible, and viable
solutions
Efficient and predictable results
Best For Complex, ambiguous problems Well-defined, routine problems

1.3. Importance of Design Thinking
in Modern Innovation

Importance of Design Thinking in Modern Innovation
● Human-Centered Approach: Prioritizes the needs, desires, and behaviors of users,
leading to more relevant and impactful solutions.
● Encourages Creativity: Fosters out-of-the-box thinking and encourages novel
approaches to solving problems.
● Improves Problem Definition: Helps in deeply understanding and redefining problems
before jumping to solutions, ensuring the right issues are addressed.
● Promotes Rapid Prototyping: Encourages early creation of low-cost prototypes to test
ideas quickly and efficiently.
● Reduces Risk of Failure: Iterative testing and feedback reduce the chances of launching
ineffective or unwanted products or services.

Importance of Design Thinking in Modern Innovation
● Boosts Cross-Disciplinary Collaboration: Brings together people from different fields,
encouraging diverse perspectives and teamwork.
● Accelerates Innovation Cycles: Streamlines the idea-to-product journey by focusing on
quick iterations and continuous user feedback.
● Enhances User Experience: Results in products and services that are more intuitive,
functional, and enjoyable for users.
● Adapts to Uncertainty: Useful in navigating complex and ambiguous challenges through
a flexible and adaptable process.
● Drives Competitive Advantage: Companies that adopt design thinking often deliver
more innovative solutions, differentiating themselves in the market.

1.4. Design thinking mindsets:
empathy, experimentation, optimism

Design thinking mindset - EMPATHY
● Empathy is central to human-centered design
● Observe behaviors and environments directly
● Engage users through open-ended conversations
● Watch & listen for disconnects between words and actions
● Seek stories to uncover deep needs and values
● Helps overcome biases and see with “fresh eyes”

Design thinking mindset - EXPERIMENTATION
● Transforms ideas into tangible experiences for users through quick, low-fidelity
prototypes
● Encourages a “fail fast, learn faster” mindset by testing assumptions early and often
● Stimulates creative exploration by allowing teams to build, test, and refine multiple
solutions
● Reveals unexpected insights through user interaction with prototypes
● Reduces risk and saves resources by identifying flaws before large-scale implementation
● Promotes iterative learning, where each experiment improves understanding of both user
needs and design effectiveness

Design thinking mindset - OPTIMISATION
● Refines and improves solutions based on continuous feedback and user testing
● Focuses on enhancing user experience by eliminating pain points and inefficiencies
● Encourages iteration to reach better outcomes, not just settling for the first workable
idea
● Aligns the design with practical constraints, such as cost, time, and feasibility
● Balances innovation with functionality to deliver effective, scalable solutions
● Uses insights from testing and prototyping to optimize both the solution and the
process

1.5. Overview of models: Stanford d.school
5-step process, Double Diamond model

Stanford d.school 5-step process of Design Thinking
Stanford d.school, officially known as the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford, is a
hub for innovation and interdisciplinary collaboration at Stanford University, California.
It was founded in 2005 with the support of Hasso Plattner, co-founder of SAP.
Key Features of Stanford d.school:
● Design Thinking Pioneer
● Interdisciplinary Learning
● Experiential Education
● Innovation Ecosystem
● No Formal Degree
● Global Influence
Stanford d.school has provided a 5-step process of Design Thinking; which is an extremely
popular model of design thinking in multiple disciplines and industries.

Step 1: Empathize – Engage with users to deeply understand their experiences, emotions, and
needs.
Use interviews, observation, and immersion to gather meaningful insights.
Step 2: Define – Synthesize the information to clearly frame the core problem to be solved.
Craft a user-centered problem statement that guides focused ideation.
Step 3: Ideate – Brainstorm a broad range of creative solutions without judgment.
Encourage wild ideas and build on others to uncover unexpected directions.
Step 4: Prototype – Create low-fidelity models or mockups of selected ideas quickly.
These tangible versions help test feasibility and spark further thinking.
Step 5: Test – Share prototypes with users to gather feedback and uncover flaws or
improvements.
Use what you learn to iterate, refine, or even redefine the problem.

Double Diamond Model of Design Thinking
Double Diamond is a design process model popularized by the British Design Council in 2005.
The process was adapted from the divergence-convergence model proposed in 1996 by
Hungarian-American linguist Béla H. Bánáthy.
The two diamonds represent a process of exploring an issue more widely or deeply (divergent
thinking) and then taking focused action (convergent thinking).

It suggests that, as a design method, the design process should have four phases:
Discover: Understand the issue rather than merely assuming what it is. This phase involves
speaking to and spending time with people who are affected by the issues.
Define: With insight gathered from the discovery phase, define the challenge in a different
way.
Develop: Give different answers to the clearly defined problem, seeking inspiration from
elsewhere and co-designing with a range of different people.
Deliver: Test different solutions at a small scale. Reject those that will not work and improve
the ones that will.

1.6. Principles of human-centered design

Principles of human-centered design
● Focus on Users and Their Needs: The process starts by understanding the real people
you’re designing for their behaviors, motivations, challenges, and aspirations. Example:
Instead of asking “How do we make this app faster?”, ask “How do we make this app
easier for a busy commuter to use?”.
● Empathy is the Foundation: Deeply immerse yourself in the user’s world — through
interviews, observation, shadowing — to feel what they feel and see what they see. In
design thinking, this aligns with the Empathize stage.
● Involve Users Throughout the Process: Don’t just consult users once at the beginning;
co-create with them at every stage i.e. ideation, prototyping, and testing. This keeps
solutions relevant and grounded in reality.
● Iterative Process: Human-centered design in design thinking is non-linear — you cycle
between empathy, ideation, and prototyping, refining solutions based on feedback. You
learn quickly from low-cost prototypes and improve before final development.

Principles of human-centered design
● Balance Desirability, Feasibility, and Viability: A solution must be:
○ Desirable – People actually want it.
○ Feasible – Technically possible.
○ Viable – Sustainable for the business or organization.
In design thinking, this ensures ideas aren’t just “cool” but practical and sustainable.
● Holistic Understanding of Context: Consider the social, cultural, and environmental
context of the user — not just the product interaction. Example: Designing an e-learning
platform for rural areas requires understanding internet connectivity, device availability,
and language needs.
● Test in Real-Life Conditions: Evaluate prototypes in the actual environment where they
will be used, so you uncover practical issues early. Directly tied to the Test stage in
design thinking.

Case Studies: IDEO, Apple, Airbnb

IDEO
● design and consulting firm
● founded in Palo Alto, California, in 1991
● offices in the U.S., England, and China
● design products, services, environments, brands, and digital experiences
● uses a design thinking approach
● ideo.com

● IDEO worked with LEGO to create
MINDSTORMS
● educational kits
● for building programmable robots
● based on Lego bricks
● introduced on 1 September 1998
● discontinued on 31 December 2022
LEGO mindstorms

● Empathy: IDEO worked with children, teachers, and parents to understand how kids
interacted with toys, as well as how they could be introduced to technology and
robotics.
● Define: The team recognized that there was a need for a fun, hands-on, and educational
toy that could teach kids about robotics, coding, and problem-solving.
● Ideation: IDEO brainstormed how to combine Lego's iconic building blocks with robotic
elements to create an engaging experience for kids.
● Prototype: Various prototypes were built, and they experimented how well kids
understood and engaged with the product.
● Test: Feedback helped refine the design, especially in terms of user-friendliness and
interactivity.
LEGO mindstorms - Design Thinking

● Lego Mindstorms became a popular educational tool that sparks interest in STEM for kids
and remains a great example of gamifying education.
● It’s been used worldwide in schools and has inspired young minds to learn robotics and
programming.
● With more than 2 million units sold, at an average price of $250 to $350 per kit, the total
revenue from Lego Mindstorms likely exceeds $500 million (i.e. almost ₹ 4,400 crores)
LEGO mindstorms - Success Story

● Before the iPhone, smartphones were
mostly utilitarian devices with physical
keyboards.
● Under the leadership of CEO Steve
Jobs, Apple wanted to create a device
that was intuitive, beautiful, and
user-focused.
Apple iPhone

Apple iPhone - Design Thinking
● Empathy: Apple deeply studied how people interacted with technology. They noticed
that users were frustrated by complex phones and stylus-based touch screens..
● Define: The team identified the need for an intuitive, all-in-one device for calls,
messaging, internet, and entertainment, with seamless usability.
● Ideation: Ideas included full touch-screen interfaces, gesture controls, a music player
integration, and camera functionalities.
● Prototype: Multiple prototypes were built. Apple famously iterated on hundreds of
models of the iPhone interface, testing things like button sizes, screen responsiveness,
and swipe gestures.
● Test: Through internal and user testing, Apple refined gestures like pinch-to-zoom,
touch-to-type, and swiping.

Apple iPhone - Success Story
● more than 2.2 billion iPhones sold
● earned $ 1.75 trillion
● currently in its 16th generation
● Accessory & Service Revenue: Apple also makes significant revenue from accessories
(e.g., AirPods, chargers, cases) and services (like iCloud, Apple Music, App Store), all of
which are tied to the iPhone ecosystem
● iPhone sales made up around 50-60% of Apple’s total revenue

● online marketplace
● facilitates short-and-long-term homestays
● acts as a broker; charges a commission from each booking
● founded in 2008 by Brian Chesky, Nathan Blecharczyk & Joe
Gebbia at California
● in 2009, Airbnb was struggling - users weren’t booking rooms,
and hosts weren’t getting traction
● earning merely $200 per month
Airbnb

Airbnb - Design Thinking
● Empathy: The founders visited hosts in New York to understand their challenges. They
found that poor-quality photos were a major reason for lack of bookings.
● Define: They reframed the problem—not as a tech problem but a user experience issue:
"How might we improve trust and attractiveness of listings?"
● Ideation: A simple idea emerged: send professional photographers to hosts’ homes to
take better photos.
● Prototype: They manually photographed listings in New York and updated them on the
platform.
● Test: The updated listings saw instant increases in bookings, validating the solution.

Airbnb - Success Story
● This small change led to a huge business turnaround. Airbnb continued to apply Design
Thinking—creating intuitive interfaces, flexible search options, and user-friendly host
experiences—making it one of the world's leading travel platforms
● more than 1 billion downloads
● available over 220 countries worldwide
● 8.1 million properties listed globally
● $80.19 billion valuation (about ₹7.05 trillion)

Other Design Thinking Success Stories…
● Uber
● Nike FlyEase Shoes
● GE Healthcare’s Adventure Series (MRI machines for children)
● Oral-B Smart Toothbrush (by Braun & IDEO)
● Google Nest Thermostat
● PepsiCo's redesign of Tropicana packaging (initial failure → redesign using Design
Thinking)
● Samsung Smart TVs
● Netflix user experience revamp
● Ford Fusion (car design improvements)
● Starbucks store redesign and customer experience enhancement

CREDITS: This presentation template was created by Slidesgo, and
includes icons by Flaticon, and infographics & images by Freepik
Thanks!
Do you have any questions?
rohan.dasgupta@aiktc.ac.in
9967569336
https://www.linkedin.com/in/drrohandasgupta/

Design Thinking - Module 1 - Introduction To Design Thinking - Dr. Rohan Dasgupta

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