Design ... Design Thinking

After reading (and I did a lot of it), in simple terms it is defined as the designer's approach to solving a problem using an integrative way of thinking and problem solving that can be applied to all components of business. (A lot like IMC maybe!) According to Wikipedia, "The process is more focused on building ideas than analyzing them. The process therefore looks to maximize out of the box thinking by eliminating fear of failure." 

It might not sound like anything new, but after going through many of the articles I got lost in thoughts of creative briefs where I was told to do something different and went and sat in my cubicle for hours or took long walks (not all of us are Don Draper... duh) and now am just utterly curious if things would be different if I approached work another way. So, how I see it, design thinking is more of a culture that a company adopts rather than a methodology. (Collaboration is big part of it, so everybody needs to be in on it). I read that GE is big on it, P&G are restructuring their company, and this was the last resort for Apple. After a company has competed on price, delivery, systems, etc., and they find their business is totally commoditized and they have no other choice, THEN they turn to design.)

SO DOES IT HAVE A LOT TO DO WITH DESIGN/ART

Well, design and design thinking have a common ground. They are both transformative in nature. Design thinking has become popular because it helps to do what marketers seem to have a problem with: visual thinking. I understand designers create strategy by experiencing it rather than keeping it as an intellectual exercise, and as a way of creating and capturing value. The process of design thinking has two main components, in the words of Tim Brown.

1. It is a series of divergent and convergent steps. During divergence we are creating choices and during convergence we are making choices. It almost feels like you are going backwards and getting further away from the answer but this is the essence of creativity.
• Collaborative, especially with others having different and complimentary experience, to generate better work and form agreement
• Invent (a radical term, I know, but I think it's time we get radical in marketing) new options to find new and better solutions to new problems
• Experimental, building prototypes and posing hypotheses, testing them, and iterating this activity to find what works and what doesn't work to manage risk

2. The second difference is that design thinking relies on interplay between analysis and synthesis, breaking problems apart and putting ideas together. Synthesis is hard because we are trying to put things together which are often in tension. Less expensive vs. higher quality, for instance.
• Personal, considering the unique context of each problem and the people involved
• Integrative, perceiving an entire system and its linkages
• Interpretive, devising how to frame the problem and judge the possible solutions

"A sketch of a new product is a piece of synthesis. So is a scenario that tells a story about an experience. A framework is a tool for synthesis and design thinkers create visual frameworks that in themselves describe spaces for further creative thinking."

A friend of mine (who is an engineer) says this: "The problem with marketing is you have set steps and you follow them all the time and then you cry out that there are no original ideas. We engineers we live with our design, it becomes a part of a life till we get it right cause a simple misstep might lead to wasting the huge investments made in the research etc. We are about the next best thing ... you are about what is plan B." A lot of people might not agree with his statement but somehow I find myself agreeing with him. We need some kind of revolution, a new era in marketing. Maybe we are moving towards it, maybe design thinking will fit into that puzzle. I don't have all the answers but I will write part 2 of design in the weeks to come.