introduction to design thinking

Design driven innovationIntroduction to an innovation practice

Remy Bourganel | design-driven innovation| introduction | Ensad DGMM | © 2011


Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the

complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity.” Ch. Mingus


Introduction, about design


About design, as an activity

Design is a creative activity whose aim is to establish the multi-faceted qualities of

objects, process, services, and their systems in whole life cycles. Therefore design is

the central factor of innovative humanisation of technologies and the crucial factor

of cultural and economic exchange.

ICSID (International Council Society of Industrial Design)


About design, as an activity

50 design disciplines listed on wikipedia: experience ecosystems

viability

samples of Apple design activities


About design, as a methodology

Design is a creative synthesis activity @ the junction of:

feasibility(technology)/desirability(people & environment)/viability(business)

design

feasibility desirability

viability



Design is a creative synthesis activity @ the junction of:

• top-down approach: a value-led experience system: an ethos, a culture, a zeitgeist,

un imaginaire, encapsulated in a brand.

• bottom-up approach: a usage and people-led experience system: focusing on

people’s needs.



Design is a creative synthesis activity: aiming at balancing 3 values.

design

usable useful

Desirable



Design is a creative synthesis activity: aiming at balancing experiential qualities.

cognitive practical

sensorial emotionnal

experience

Nokia’s DNA experience model Donald Norman’s experience model

bebavioural reflective

viceral

experience

Stephane Vial’s experience model

experiential socioplastic

calimorphic

experience



Design is a creative synthesis activity processing a an abductive thinking: a logic

inference described as ‘guessing’ and ‘projecting’: dessin à dessein.

This approach values:

• rapid iterative trials & errors process: prototyping

• a holistic vision within which the whole is greater than the sum of its parts: gestalt

Ideo medical tool rapid prototype out os stationary features vs gestalt, the CD player feature list vs the Muji CD player list


About design-driven innovation


Important background about innovation

The myth of methodology, in short form, is the belief that a playbook exists

for innovation. Scott Berkun, The myths of innovation.

Without change there is no innovation, creativity or incentive for improvement.

Those who initiate change will have better opportunity to manage the change

that is inevitable. C. William Pollard, the soul of the firm.


About cognition or how people learn and adapt

Piaget: To solve experience B, a child builds on previous experience A... from this

comes the concept of affordances: actions possibilities that are readily perceivable

by an actor from remembered experiences... this is an adbuctive thinking process

therefore...



• There is no such a thing as disruption in usage: disruption is a marketing concept.

• There is a tension for the designer between addressing a marketing need to

value the perception of a disruption / people’s need to capitalise on experience.

• There is a tension between 3 mental models: design/maintenance/use...

• There is no such absolute concept as simplicity without an understanding of what

a user knows from a personal and a cultural point of view. what we think as

natural is to a large extend learnt, then projected on affordances/feedbacks.



For example, the desktop metaphor was purposefully referring to real world

objects as metaphors to help one grasp the abstraction of a digital ‘space’.

And this is not exclusive to digital devices.

original desktop metaphor



Understanding affordances happens everyday. While facing an un-experienced

situation, we will aim at capitalising on our knowledge to speculate how

something works:

door push/pull?door push/pull?


About cognition or how people learn and adapt03/04/2011 12:41BBC NEWS | UK | Magazine | Giving up my iPod for a Walkman

Page 1 of 6http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8117619.stm

LISTEN UP TEENAGERS... THECLASSIC WALKMAN EXPLAINED

1: Clunky buttons

2: Switch to metal (that's a type ofcassette, not heavy rock music)

3: Battery light - usually foundflickering in its death throes

4: Double headphone jack (not tobe found on an iPod)

5: Door ejects - watch out forflying tapes and eye injuries

Walkman v iPod: Scott's verdict

When the Sony Walkman was launched, 30 years agothis week, it started a revolution in portable music. Buthow does it compare with its digital successors? TheMagazine invited 13-year-old Scott Campbell to swaphis iPod for a Walkman for a week.

My dad had told me it was the iPod of its day.

He had told me it was big, but I hadn't realised he meant THAT big.It was the size of a small book.

When I saw it for the first time, its colour also struck me. Nowadaysgadgets come in a rainbow of colours but this was only one shade -a bland grey.

So it's not exactly the mostaesthetically pleasing choice ofmusic player. If I was browsing ina shop maybe I would havechosen something else.

From a practical point of view, theWalkman is rather cumbersome,and it is certainly not pocket-sized, unless you have largepockets. It comes with a handybelt clip screwed on to the back,yet the weight of the unit isenough to haul down a low-slungpair of combats.

When I wore it walking down thestreet or going into shops, I gotstrange looks, a mixture ofsurprise and curiosity, that mademe a little embarrassed.

As I boarded the school bus,where I live in Aberdeenshire, Iwas greeted with laughter. Oneboy said: "No-one uses them anymore." Another said: "Groovy."Yet another one quipped: "Thatwould be hard to lose."

My friends couldn't imagine theirparents using this monstrous box, but there was interest in what thething was and how it worked.

SHARED READ WATCHED/LISTENED

Sheen live show bombs in Detroit

French take over Abidjan airport

Fukushima workers' bodies found

Fighting resumes in Libyan cities

Afghan Koran protests spreading

Transocean executives get bonuses

US jets grounded after hole scare

Thousands are missing in Mexico

UN Gaza report 'should be buried'

Joy and desolation after cricket final

Most popular now, in detail

News Front Page

Africa

Americas

Asia-Pacific

Europe

Middle East

South Asia

UK

England

Northern Ireland

Scotland

Wales

UK Politics

Education

Magazine

Business

Health

Science & Environment

Technology

Entertainment

Also in the news-----------------

Video and Audio-----------------

Programmes

Have Your Say

In Pictures

Country Profiles

Special Reports

Related BBC sites

Sport

Weather

On This Day

Editors' Blog

BBC World Service

Page last updated at 10:10 GMT, Monday, 29 June 2009 11:10 UK

E-mail this to a friend Printable version

Giving up my iPod for a Walkman

In today's Magazine

Big beasts How elephants helped toshape human history, byDavid Cannadine

Change a-coming Justin Webb onAmerica's love affair withprogress

Audience of one Would you watch a playall on your own?

7 days quiz What now for Paul theeight-limbed oracle?

Magazine regulars

Tweetbook Say goodbye toworktime boredom.Follow us on Facebookor Twitter

Magazine Monitor Paper Monitor, Your Letters, Quote of theDay, Caption Competition and more

MOST POPULAR STORIES NOW

03/04/2011 12:41BBC NEWS | UK | Magazine | Giving up my iPod for a Walkman


I managed to create animpromptu shuffle feature simplyby holding down 'rewind' andreleasing it randomly

The Walkman was a nostalgic sight forScott's parents

In some classes in school they let me listen to music and oneteacher recognised it and got nostalgic.

It took me three days to figure out that there was another side tothe tape. That was not the only naive mistake that I made; Imistook the metal/normal switch on the Walkman for a genre-specific equaliser, but later I discovered that it was in fact used toswitch between two different types of cassette.

Another notable feature that theiPod has and the Walkman doesn'tis "shuffle", where the playerselects random tracks to play. Itsa function that, on the face of it,the Walkman lacks. But I managed to create an impromptu shufflefeature simply by holding down "rewind" and releasing it randomly -effective, if a little laboured.

I told my dad about my clever idea. His words of warning broughthome the difference between the portable music players of today,which don't have moving parts, and the mechanical playback of old.In his words, "Walkmans eat tapes". So my clumsy clicking couldhave ended up ruining my favourite tape, leaving me music-less forthe rest of the day.

Digital relief

Throughout my week using the Walkman, I came to realise that Ihave very little knowledge of technology from the past. I made anumber of naive mistakes, but I also learned a lot about thegrandfather of the MP3 Player.

You can almost imagine the excitement about the Walkman comingout 30 years ago, as it was the newest piece of technology at thetime.

Perhaps that kind of anticipationand excitement has beensomewhat lost in the flood of newproducts which now hit ourshelves on a regular basis.

Personally, I'm relieved I live inthe digital age, with biggerchoice, more functions andsmaller devices. I'm relieved thatthe majority of technologicaladvancement happened before Iwas born, as I can't imaginehaving to use such basicequipment every day.

Having said all that, portablemusic is better than no music.

Now, for technically curious readers, I've directly compared theportable cassette player with its latter-day successor. Here are themain cons, and even a pro, I found with this piece of antiquetechnology.

SOUND

This is the function that matters most. To make the music play, youpush the large play button. It engages with a satisfying clunk, unlikethe finger tip tap for the iPod.

When playing, it is clearly evident that the music sounds significantlydifferent than when played on an MP3 player, mainly because of thehissy backtrack and odd warbly noises on the Walkman.

The warbling is probably because of the horrifically short battery life;it is nearly completely dead within three hours of firing it up. Notlong after the music warbled into life, it abruptly ended.

CONVENIENCE

With the plethora of MP3 players available on the market nowadays,

03/04/2011 12:41BBC NEWS | UK | Magazine | Giving up my iPod for a Walkman


Music on the move

each boasting bigger and better features than its predecessor, it ishard to imagine the prospect of purchasing and using a bulkycassette player instead of a digital device.

Furthermore, there were anumber of buttons protrudingfrom the top and sides of thisdevice to provide functions suchas "rewinding" and "fast-forwarding" (remember those?),which added even more bulk.

As well as this, the need forchanging tapes is bothersome initself. The tapes which I hadcould only hold around 12 trackseach, a fraction of the capacity of the smallest iPod.

Did my dad, Alan, really ever think this was a credible piece oftechnology?

"I remembered it fondly as a way to enjoy what music I liked, whereI liked," he said. "But when I see it now, I wonder how I carried it!"

WALKMAN 1, MP3 PLAYER 0

But it's not all a one-way street when you line up a Walkman againstan iPod. The Walkman actually has two headphone sockets, labelledA and B, meaning the little music that I have, I can share withfriends. To plug two pairs of headphones in to an iPod, you have tobuy a special adapter.

Another useful feature is the power socket on the side, so that youcan plug the Walkman into the wall when you're not on the move.But given the dreadful battery life, I guess this was an outrightnecessity rather than an extra function.

Scott Campbell co-edits his own news website, Net News Daily.

Return to link

A selection of your comments appears below.

Oh, I remember being so jealous of my classmates who hadWalkmans. When they first came out, they were over $200. Such joywhen the cheap electronics brands started making them! Every longtrip, I carried a big bag full of tapes and extra batteries. When theiPod came out, I was in awe at the idea of being able to carry myentire music collection in one small device that would fit in mypocket. I'd never trade my iPod for a Walkman, of course, but thisbrought back some great memories, and I really enjoyed the article.Maybe next you should try out a Commodore 64 for a week? Michelle, Portland, Oregon, USA

The one he is using now should be the earliest stage of Walkmanhistory. I still remember my last walkman 8 years ago was actuallypowered by a single AAA battery only and can last for few hours. Iagree perfectly to what he said about '.... with a satisfying clunk " omen... this was absolutely a SATISFACTION !! Chester Kev, Malaysia

You mention the lack of capacity and the limited number of tracksyou could carry around, I seem to quite merrily recall ALSO carryingaround a slick over the shoulder carry case for up to 20 cassettesshould my friends and I be heading out. And all the song lyrics werehandily printed out on the inside of the cassette cover, how ingeniuswas that!Andrew McCreath, Wateringbury, Kent

Memories! I still have exactly the same model that Scott used for hisreview - brought back floods of memories from the 80s - especiallyusing the double headphone socket so my girlfriend (now wife) and Icould share Phil Collins (!?). Between myself and my 3 kids I've nowbought every model of iPod/Phone, but I doubt I'll have thosememories again.Jim Mantle, Melbourne, Australia

BBC experiment on simplicity: asking an iPod’s generation teenager to play a walkman... http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8117619.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8117619.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8117619.stm


...therefore...

• design builds on empathy: put your feet in user’s shoes, learn what they know.

• design focuses on people, not users, neither customers: people do connect or

adapt things to fit their life in ways you don’t think of, they hack.

• field observation, and role play in context are fundamental to help one discover

practices, routines, patterns, by nature not verbalised, but grounding innovation.

• iterations, prototyping and testing are key to avoid conceptual speculations.

• design is relevant in context: time, cultural, religious, political, economical, social.

• it is an iterative & collaborative approach.

• it is a holistic vision: the hole is bigger than the sum of its parts: gestalt


Why is the design-driven innovation now popular?


Failed futures

Deductive practices are failing to predict future.

Future forecast are only 20-25% right (Steven Schnaars).

Zeitgeist (60’s: space race, 80’s: virtuality, now UGC: ‘we are the media’) mis-lead us.

Change is not linear and very slow.

Interaction among the various trends are commonly ignored, and unexpected.

Development is by definition not taken into account (John Paulos).

Bad understanding of ‘users’: abstracted, isolated and sillowed target.

The average human myth & modernity: tati’s play time...

... Exceptions always kill modern automations myths.

Making things more natural: mapping reality into artificial intelligence: always fails.

Modernity & utilitarian fallacy.


Failed futures

Over-optimism, people smile on pics.

Recurring re-invention of the wheel.

Little knowledge of similar attempts (conviction a new project is totally different).

Persuasion this proximal future is the holy grail.

Sincerity!


Failed futures

Innovation is not linear, Gartner hype cycle.

Gartner technology adoption/hype curve


Failed futures

Moore’s chasm, a modernist approach versus lifestyle segments, post-modernist.

post-modern vision of adoptionmodern vision of adoption


Failed futures

We are designing semi-finished products, open to appropriation.

Hacking and appropriation happen...

Innovation always bring with them un-intended consequences:

• Railways invention have lead the genesis of time zone.

• Transferable communication credit in Africa have lead to the genesis of a parallel

banking system.


A new renaissance period

We are entering a new renaissance period led by digital technologies

which started to deeply transform our society:

• Less dependance on established forms of authorities.

• Convergence of business (example: media/telecom/web).

• Opening bottom-up innovation.

• Accelerating innovation cycles.

• Enabling co-creation, adaptation, diversion, hacking.

• Provide power to doers.


‘Sociologie de l’imaginaire’: now in a post-modern period

This renaissance develops as modern myths die. We are in a post-modern period

with specific myths.

People are more complex, and less predictable than expected during modernist

period, exposing faceted identities rather than unity.

Most research labs, and to some extend marketing, tend to live on modernist myths

which ‘imaginaire’ is now ‘passé’.


From Apollon’s myth to Dyonisos myth...

Apollon’s myth: rational persona, autonomous, independant, knowing.

Key values in identity building: ‘emancipation’, control, ‘domestication’, liberation,

intellectualisation.

Temporality: future, long-term, identity formed on ‘conditionnel’, expectation.

Mai 68: ‘le bourgeois ne jouit pas, il thésaurise.’

‘Sociologie de l’imaginaire’: a post-modern period


Dionysos’ myth: relational experience, in situ, here and now, avatar, pseudo, friends’

network, tribes, group’s narcissism, from identity to identification dynamic.

Key values in identity building:

Dependancy, sociability, adaptability, connexion,

Temporality: hic & nunc (here & now), ‘utopies interstitielles’.

Mysticism.

Such cultural context is the ground for new innovation practices.

‘Sociologie de l’imaginaire’: a post-modern period


What is design-driven innovation or design-thinking?


Design thinking, definition, wikipedia

Design thinking is a process for practical creative resolution of problems or issues

that looks for an improved future result. It is the essential ability to combine

empathy, creativity and rationality to meet user needs and drive business success.

Unlike analytical thinking, design thinking is a creative process based around the

"building up" of ideas. There are no judgments early on in design thinking. This

eliminates the fear of failure and encourages maximum input and participation in

the ideation and prototype phases. Out-of-the box thinking is encouraged in these

earlier processes since this can often lead to creative solutions.


Design thinking, definition, wikipedia

In organisation and management theory, design thinking forms part of the

Architecture/Design/Anthropology (A/D/A) paradigm, which characterises

innovative, human-centered enterprises.

This paradigm also focuses on a collaborative and iterative style of work and an

abductive mode of thinking, compared to practices associated with the more

traditional Mathematics/Economics/Psychology (M/E/P) management paradigm.

Design is a creative synthesis building on Gestalt’s theory:

the whole is bigger than the sum of it’s parts.


Innovation & design

Roberto Vergnanti/Donald Norman

meaning

incremental change radical change

tech

nolo

gy

incr

emen

tal c

hang

era

dica

l cha

nge

technology

push

technology

epiphany

design

market pull

(user centred)

design

time

prod

uct

Human

Centred

Design

technology change

or meaning change


Design thinking, a definition, the double diamond model

Design thinking is a creative problem solving process.

As such, it distances design from being reduced to a function in a process.

It encompasses 2 key phases: what is to be design & how to design it well:

Observe

Observations

Source: Design council/Design Management in 11 companies

Define

Insights

divergence convergence

Develop

Concepts

Deliver

Prototypes


Design the right thing Design the thing right


Design thinking, a definition, the double diamond model

But way too often, I contemplate the ‘concours Lepine’ syndrome: jumping right

from 1 to 3, from a non digested observation to design. Each phase delivers

prototypes to animate debate and decision making.

Observe

Observations

Source: Design council/Design Management in 11 companies

Define

Insights


Develop

Concepts

Deliver

Prototypes


Design the right thing Design the thing right


Design, a facilitation skill

Prototyping to animate debate, decision making, to build knowledge, to engage...


Design, a change managment skill

A good product needs the right culture and the right organisation to exist:

Without change there is no innovation, creativity or incentive for improvement.

Those who initiate change will have better opportunity to manage the change

that is inevitable. C. William Pollard, the soul of the firm.


Appendix


References

ideo, the art of innovation,

ideo, the 10 faces of innovation,

ideo, innovation by design

ideo cards,

change by design

m kuniavski, observing the user

d norman, the design of every day things

d norman, emotional design

d norman, designing complexiy

r vergnanti, design driven innovation,

s berkun, the myths of innovation,

designing the perfect design brief,

b borja, design management,

nicolas nova,

stephane hugon.


Design thinking, the double diamond model, tools, samples

ObserveEthnographyJournal studyVideo-online diaryCultural inventoryLuckingShadowingIn home interviewsAEIOUTrend analysisCard sortingContextual inquiryExperts interviewsWhat/How/WhyUser camera study

Visual story telling, scenariosBenchmarkingHeuristic evaluationsPeriodical reviews

OutputsTest plan and screenerParticipant boardUser patterns, modelsUser segmentationFeature/function mapPersonasOpportunities report

DefineCluster insights, paterns, needsEmpathy mapCluster user archetypesCluster scenarios archetypesJourney mapPower of ten2X2 matrixMetaphors matrixlow ladderingpoint of view madlibpoint of view metaphorPoint of view want addBrainstormingBodyStormingConceptual modelsBrainstormingReverse-brainstormingDesign principles

OutputsDesign brief-2InsightsModelsCompetitive auditNeed analysis

DeveloppSketchesWireframesTask analysisTask flowUser scenarioComicsStoryboardNavigation conceptsParticipatory designIA mappingPaper prototypesDigital prototypesDesign sprintsIterative designUsability test

Defining statementsPostion mappingValue curveMental modelsCard sortingCollaborative ideationMarket differentiationArtifact from the futureAffinity diagramsGraphic facilitationBackcastingEvolution modelImprtance vs feasibility

priorization

OutputsUI guidelinesDesign principlesAnnotated wireframesPresentationDigital prototypesPhysical prototypes

ImplementationTechnical feasibilitySW architectureHW limitationsUser ecceptance test

OutputsCollaborative design sessions

with engineers

Briefing-1Stakeholder interviewOrganizational structure

Current state analysisUnderstand objectivesQuantitative studiesUser gegmentation

Trends (tech, social, business)

OutputsTranscriptsObjectives, constraints,

conditionsScheduleValue proposition

Briefing-2

OutputsInsightsModelsCompetitive auditNeed analysis

introduction to design thinking

Design

myths of innovation

activity50 design disciplines

playbook existsfor innovation

experience system

creative activity

creative synthesis activity

previous experience

approach values