Design Thinking

* tâpiskohc aya, iyiniw kesiwâpahtahk, ayisiyiniw anima namoy wiya tâwâyihk ehapit nehiyaw nistaweyihtam ehisiwâhkomâcik newikâtêw ayisiyin, kâpimihâcik, nipiy. kâyehyehtamihk, ekwa askiy ohci nîsokâtak (ayisiyiniwak).

We are all designers. When we try to figure out solutions to challenges that pop up personally, at an organizational level, or at the community level, we enter a mode of problemsolving where we design solutions. But we too often design solutions based on our own experiences. This is a problem when we are trying to find solutions for other people who live on the margins or experience a system differently. Human-Centred Design (HCD) or Design Thinking is a creative process to problem solving that starts with striving to deeply listen, see and empathize with what people/systems need. It is a highly experimental, thought-provoking, and action orientated approach.

Why Design Thinking?

Design Thinking emphasizes the good over the perfect and allows for rapid iterations of a prototype to be possible through quick edits and changes on the fly. From different ways of listening and learning, sense-making insights are generated that identify these needs as well as challenges, and key things to consider when designing a potential solution. A design approach strives to co-create tangible prototypes that can be tested by its users to ensure the proposed solutions will actually work in the real world.

What Design Thinking Looks Like in Action

Design thinkers:

• take “deep dives” into what motivates people to use a product or service • use ethnography or field studies of people using the product or service • brainstorm ideas that may be unconventional, unorthodox and radical • make sense from personal and sometimes emotional insights • react quickly and use a rapid iteration process to develop prototypes rather than get bogged down in details

Questions design thinkers ask:

• How does this idea make people feel and think? • What is deeply needed and why? • Is there an analogous situation that we can learn from? • How would this work if we changed a key assumption about the people who might use it? • How will this impact users on the margins of this service? • Are people reacting differently to this solution than what they are telling us? • What if we work backwards from the solution to the problem?