Design Thinking: Definition, Value, Risks And Business Issues

Introduction- Insanely Great

Give a definition of design tinking.

Design Thinking focuses on the solution with certain characteristics as an innovative effort from the designer, which he tries to achieve by keeping those characteristics uncompromised.

Introduction- Insanely Great

This specific task is an exploration of the work by Alice Rawsthorn (2014) titled, “Hello World: Where Design Meets Life”. The article majorly revolves around the innovative design thinking which helped Apple to become the market leader across multiple industries in 21st centuries, with the benchmarks set on its design aspects so high which rivals found hard to beat. However, the article is invaluable in providing the insight into from where Apple received its inspiration. This article covers the design aspects of products and the contribution they made even in the times as early as mid 19^th century, when the technology was confined to switching on and off of machines and graphics in industries was unheard of. Much before Apple, there were innovators like Josiah Wedgwood, Michael Thonet and Erwin Braun who amazed the world by bringing intricate designs in their ‘alpha products’ with commendable affordability and authenticity available to the common men.

The section below is related to this notion of design which has inspired the biggest entrepreneurs of their times to offer their products with ‘design’ redefined as usable, appraisable, affordable and pleasantly memorable. It concentrates on the various issues that these businesses faced as they turned their ‘design thinking’ to reality.

Design Thinking and the Inevitable Business Issues

Acceptance on ‘Design Thinking’

Helen Walters (2011) during her compilation on Design Thinking Conference held at Seattle observed the first and foremost problem with modern businesses, which has always stopped the businesses from thinking innovatively. It is associated with the normal understanding of the term ‘Design’ which in practical sense is linked to mere appearance of the product, helping it with sales. Business executives as per McCullagh (2013) find the concept of design thinking a hurdle in their management practices because the concept works towards bringing ‘innovative’ attempts across management functions, while the executives strive for a routine standardized approach to management practice.

Alice Rawsthorn suggested the similar notion of acceptance conflict faced by Steve Jobs when he wanted the interior machinery of his iMac to be appealing to the users and remained rigid with his intention on offering translucent frame to the iMac consumers to allow them see inside. This was against the conventional engineering practices where businesses focussed on manufacturing a product that satisfied both the financial targets of the company as well as the usability aspects for the consumers. Steve Jobs on the other hand worked on satisfying ‘design’ on the priority with the belief that a great design would finally lead to satisfied customers and remarkable sales. Michael Thonet faced the similar situation when he tried to realize his passion through solid bentwood chair in the form of Model No. 14. In 1861, when the industries were eager to get benefitted by industrial revolution and at the same time customers expected high quality and yet affordable products, Thonet was quick to mix the best of both worlds by offering a high precision and mechanically rounded-edged chairs to consumers, while retaining the hand-picked selection of raw materials and manual cushioning of the chair, offered at as low as three florins. Thonet’s consumer’s chair thus overcame two huge conflicting design acceptances of affordability and style expected by consumers and low cost of manufacturing expect by the business.

Design Thinking and the Inevitable Business Issues

Value of Design Thinking

Alice Rawsthorn (2014) described the different manners in which the term ‘design’ is perceive by the different individuals. Steve Jobs mentioned design as the quality of product which is associated to its ‘working’ and in essence the core of any product. For the designers engineers employed with modern businesses, design is about innovative aspect of the product that can result in leading sales. For consumers, design is often understood as the aesthetics and look-and-feel of the product while for the researchers in manufacturing it is about improved usability. Rawsthorn observed different values of design perceived by different individuals for a single product. For businesses, this results in clash of ideas and objectives.

One of the examples mentioned in the chapter is about Steve Job’s most cherished designer Jonathan Ive’s interview in which Ive admitted to the rapidly changing perspective on values which were non-existent during Job’s regime earlier. One of the major concerns is on manufacturing techniques which industries regulators as well as consumers expect to be ergonomic and environment friendly with great deal of emphasis exhibited towards CSR aspects. These considerations were largely overlooked by Steve Jobs for the sake of realizing his design thoughts. Ive also mentioned the transformed nature of global businesses which is different from how it used to be a decade ago, when the design thinking could be monitored by the innovator behind original design throughout. Outsourcing of functions and the huge dependency on understanding of the various units established globally apart has massively changed the manner in which ‘design’ finally realizes its value. With reference to alpha products including Wedgwood’s ceramic ware, Thonet’s bentwood chair, Braun’s electronics and Apple’s innovative devices, the author Alice Rawsthorn (2014) concluded the chapter by insisting that these products with their potential to combine desirability and usability though surpass their contemporaries, still face the challenge of perceived value by different entities in view of their expectations from the businesses.

Risks with Design Thinking

Lockwood (2009) in his work on frameworks on design thinking based his study on the assumption that designers or innovators behind the new designs are individuals who are prone to risks of varying nature, seldom unknown to the world. One of the common risks is about arranging the technology necessary for realizing design thinking, which may be rare, expensive and hard to find. West (2008) reflected similar views in his work earlier by observing that financial stability for businesses becomes a critical factor in favouring the extent and nature of design thinking which can be realized. This is also evident from Rawsthorn’s chapter which separates Josiah Wedgwood and Michael Thonet as the designers who realized their design thinking attributed to their own little innovations on design, as against Erwin Braun and Steve Jobs who could realize their design thinking by risking the responsibilities with domain experts as both Braun and Jobs could not suffice the realization on their own. The part on Thonet’s consumer chair elaborates the risk in its utter sincerity and depth considering the low financial standing of Michael Thonet as he struggled hard to patent his innovative products while risking the efforts and limited resources into making a new product when the industry was facing intense competition.

Acceptance on ‘Design Thinking’

Rawsthorn (2014) further elaborated the risk with innovative designs through the explicit example of Mac Cube G4, which was the product most cherished and personally valued by Jonathan Ive as well as Steve Jobs. In-spite of qualifying for something which was exclusive, one-of-its-kind, modern, stylish and easy to use, the product did not fare well in the global market. Financially, it cost Apple a fortune which fortunately the company was in a position to sustain. Another example was iPhone 4 casing that Steve Jobs and Jonathan Ive insisted on keeping in aluminium against the product engineer’s warnings about overheating. The outcome was disastrous and de-famed Apple for a while till the firm rectified the problem in its next product version. Martyn Perks (2009) mentioned about risks leading to success or failures with the hidden yet sure potential of breaking the convention, which is closely associated to creativity.

Objective of ‘Alpha Products’

Alice Rawsthorn (2014) focussed on the pioneering of alpha products, which were the ones that made way into common men’s world by achieving economy of scale simultaneously retaining their best parts like high quality, design and usability. The examples of Josiah Wedgwood’s ceramic ware, Thonet’s consumer chair, Braun’s electronics and Steve Job’s gadgets have the common aspect of breaking confinement to become usable to more and more people over the time, owing to the sheer excellence in design that compelled the rest of the business functions to adjust themselves. All of these entrepreneurs and innovators made no compromise on their design thinking, they instead adjusted the remaining elements to make sure that the design was achieved, which most of the times involves conflicting ideas, resource consideration and effort and time invested on making these adjustments. Despite of all these similarities, the finally innovated design led to the unique product with the features completely original.

In short, the objective of alpha products which make them special is a hard milestone to be achieved in terms of centring design thinking and making several adjustments to feed this thinking without it being compromised. These are also the products which made an entry into the respective markets when the times were odd, thereby turning the tide to their favour when the rivals were taking cautious steps while strategizing any new move. Inspired by the objective, these entrepreneurs left the mark on time, however with the high likelihood of failure owing to massive risks. The associated risks and problems seldom cause concerns for the businesses, which is the major reason that there are very few innovative design thinkers who succeed in their efforts.

Based on the issues and manner in which the four companies covered in Rawsthorn’s chapter succeeded in realizing their design thinking forms the basis of the following section which is about checklist for businesses to become competitive in their respective domains:

Design Thinking and Competitiveness: Checklist for Businesses

Issues in Design Thinking	How to Overcome?
Acceptance on design thinking	-Keep focus on the design rigid -Detail strong features of design -Make arrangements to support design realization -Promote the usability aspects of product
Value of design thinking	-Identify the stakeholders throughout design stages -Analyse the usability of product for each stakeholder -Analyse concerns about product for each stakeholder -Work on eliminating concerns without disturbing the focus on design
Risks on design thinking	-Identify the risks involved in realizing design thinking -Identify the potential available to deal with the risks -Think on ways to minimize the risk as much as possible
Objective of design thinking	-Design thinking originates with an objective of its own. It should be the focus of design strategy -Identify the resource availability necessary to fulfil the objective -Identify the skills necessary to fulfil the objective -Make arrangements on those skills -Monitor the progress on design thinking realization

Conclusion

Rawsthorn (2014) in her chapter emphasized on the entrepreneurs who against all odds realized their design thinking to present the world with ‘alpha products’, the products which combined the desirability of high quality, product usefulness and affordability that allowed the common men desire and own them. Realization of this design thinking however translates to multiple opinion conflicts, breaking of conventional practices as well as risking tangible and intangible resources. Under the high likelihood of risks, the individuals who have succeeded in realizing their design thinking through out-of-the-box usable products have revolutionized their respective industries significantly.

References

Bennett, K. (2013). Forbes Welcome. [online] Forbes.com. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/darden/2013/08/29/design-thinking-creating-a-better-understanding-of-today-to-get-to-a-better-tomorrow/#6adc87985790 [Accessed 14 Jun. 2016].

Lawson, S. (2014). The Trouble With Design Thinking. [online] Co.Design. Available at: https://www.fastcodesign.com/3036888/innovation-by-design/the-trouble-with-design-thinking [Accessed 14 Jun. 2016].

Lockwood, T. (2009). Frameworks of Design Thinking. Design Management Journal, 4(1), pp.3-3.

McCullagh, K. (2013). Stepping Up: Beyond Design Thinking. Design Management Review, 24(2), pp.32-34.

Perks, M. (2009). Why designers should take more risks. [online] Spiked-online.com. Available at: https://www.spiked-online.com/newsite/article/7815#.V1-6CDWGPIU [Accessed 14 Jun. 2016].

Rawsthorn, A. (2014). Hello world.

Walters, H. (2011). The Real Problems with Design Thinking. [online] Helen Walters: Writer, Editor. Available at: https://helenwalters.com/2011/07/22/the-real-problems-with-design-thinking/ [Accessed 14 Jun. 2016].

West, M. (2008). Thinking with Matter. Architectural Design, 78(4), pp.50-55.