Design thinking is an approach to problem-solving that uses iterative cycles of empathising, defining, ideating, prototyping, and testing to develop user-centred solutions. It emerged from product and service innovation, emphasising empathy with users, iterative prototyping, and creative problem-solving. The approach encourages teams to explore problems from the perspective of those affected and to test ideas through rapid cycles of experimentation and learning.
Co-design, often referred to as participatory design, extends these ideas by actively involving the people affected by decisions in shaping solutions. Rather than designing for users, co-design works with them. This collaborative approach helps ensure that solutions reflect local knowledge, practical experience, and shared priorities.
As design thinking has been applied to broader social and environmental challenges, it has increasingly intersected with systems thinking. This has led to more integrated approaches such as systemic design, which seek to address complex issues by linking creative design processes with a deeper understanding of interconnected systems. A new blog post on co-design in complex settings shares practitioner reflections on how co-design processes unfold in real-world, multi-stakeholder initiatives. It highlights six key elements that support grounded, inclusive, and adaptive collaboration – complementing the more technical tools and examples featured below.
Foundations of design thinking
Design Thinking as a Strategy for Innovation
This page by Linda Naiman shows how design thinking is at the core of effective strategy development and organizational change. It is shown as a methodology used by designers to solve complex problems, and find desirable solutions for clients. Design thinking minimizes the uncertainty and risk of innovation by engaging customers or users through a series of prototypes to learn, test and refine concepts.
5 stages in the design thinking process
This post by Rikke Dam and Teo Siang highlights that design thinking is extremely useful in tackling complex problems that are ill-defined or unknown, by understanding the human needs involved, by re-framing the problem in human-centric ways, by creating many ideas in brainstorming sessions, and by adopting a hands-on approach in prototyping and testing. Understanding these five stages of Design Thinking (Empathise, Define – the problem, Ideate, Prototype, and Test)will empower anyone to apply the Design Thinking methods in order to solve complex problems that occur around us — in our companies, our countries, and even our planet.
What is Design Thinking, Really?
This 2010 blog post by Venessa Miemis expands on the concept of design thinking as a set of principles, from mindset to process, that can be applied to solve complex problems. It does this through a review of Change by Design, written by IDEO’s CEO Tim Brown.
Design thinking diagrams.
A 2017 slideshare presentation by Gena Drahun. Provides a wide collection of diagrams illustrating the concept of Design Thinking.
Human-centred design and practical guides
The field guide to human-centred design
This IDEO.org publication reveals their process with the key mindsets that underpin how and why we think about design for the social sector, 57 clear-to-use design methods for new and experienced practitioners, and from-the-field case studies of human-centered design in action.
Co-design resources: techniques and methods
This useful page by Penny Hagen points to a range of industry articles and academic papers that describe, discuss or demonstrate various co-design and collaborative workshop techniques.
Design Thinking: A Unified Framework For Innovation
This Forbes article by Reuven Cohen provides his reflections of the Stanford University “Design Thinking Boot Camp: From Insights to Innovation”course. As he notes, one example of a design thinking process could have several stages: Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype and Test. Within these steps, problems can be framed, the right questions can be asked, more ideas can be created, and the best answers can be chosen. The steps aren’t linear; they can occur simultaneously and can be repeated.
Design thinking and systems approaches
Systems thinking and design thinking: complimentary approaches?
This 2015 paper by Grace Mugadza points out that Design Thinking(DT) and Systems Thinking (ST) came about through totally different and unrelated processes. The philosophies of both can be traced back hundreds of years but there has been a recent resurgence in their application. DT as popularized today has its initial roots in business, especially in product design. More recently it has been extended and applied to management where it assumed many of the concepts of Systems Thinking, which, can be seen to have been developed over a longer period of time.
You may also find related material on this site in the sections on systems thinking, systemic design, and facilitation guides and frameworks, which explore complementary approaches for working with complexity and collaborative problem-solving. The complicated or complex page also provides useful background on choosing appropriate approaches for different types of challenges.
[* Photo: Vaeenma / Deposit Photos]