in companies
selva anuja selvaraju
selva anuja selvaraju 03754114
in companies
welcome to the box of a
Creative Thinker
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formulating que
scanning news
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What is it?
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What if?
potential topics personal opinion
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estions
empathizing other’s opinion
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What wows?
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What works?
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i scanned the news...
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... overall design has impact on politics,
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history, scientific implications,
environmental consequences, other
ages, cultures and professions.
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What is it?
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potential topics
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some problematic topics where i would like to see a change through design.
Effective Creative Thinking The business practice of brainstorming is considered as waste of time and ineffective. The team believes that this practice leads to production blocking and no one thinks of how to evaluate the generated ideas. I will investigate and explore how to raise a fast, effective and energizing way for any group or team to become more creative and productive using graphic design processes and activities.
Networked Hospital A trip to the hospital can be an intimidating and stressful event for patients and their families. Patients, family caregivers and healthcare providers all play roles in maintaining a patient’s health after or before discharge. I would like to explore the opportunities for improving the process, and provide caregivers with checklists to help ensure the best care for a loved one through creating a system or service design with the help of visual aid.
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Choosing Right Food The Nutrition Facts label was introduced 20 years ago and was not specifically designed to help prevent obesity and chronic disease. FDA researchers say that nutrition facts food labels are too confusing for most people. I would like to explore on how the content and format of the Nutrition Facts can be modernized and be revised to reflect new dietary recommendations and right consumption.
Stimulating Lost Memories Alzheimer’s kills more people each year than breast and prostate cancer combined. More than 15 million Americans care for someone with Alzheimer’s. Most of these caregivers suffer from emotional stress of care-giving and some suffer from depression. I would like to empathize and help these caregivers with visual aid solution which will help simulate memories for the patients and keep them connected.
Being a Linguist Learning a new foreign language is never easy and its even more difficult to learn as an adult even those who may excel in other academic areas. It has been found that people with a low tolerance of ambiguity tend to struggle with language learning and they often treat language like other scholastic subjects. I want to investigate what makes a language difficult to learn and create a fun way of learning through typography.
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on further distillation this topic has the ability to expand or reduce the scope of breadth of my ideas.
science history
politics Effective Creative Thinking art
nature
culture
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overall design has impact on politics,
history, scientific implications,
environmental consequences, other
ages, cultures and professions.
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visual association
What is it?
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Permutation
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A way, especially one of several possible variations, in which a set or number of things can be ordered or arranged.
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Incubation
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To develop under favorable conditions
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The ability to form a picture in your mind of something that you have not seen or experienced.
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Imagination
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Diversity
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The quality or state of having many different forms, types and ideas.
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Cognition
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The activities of thinking, understanding, learning, and remembering.
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how might i express my own personal opinion on the topic based on the research so far?
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What is it?
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i feel these are some problematic areas in creative thinking
Labeling • Letting go the belief you are not the creative type. • Characterizing an individual as left and right brained. • Fixation, being stuck in analytical thinking.
Participation • The speed at what the ideas are generated doesn’t work for all. • Group members need not be experts in the field of discussion. • Some exude spontaneity while other are spontaneous. • Not having diverse groups.
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I feel these a some problem areas in creative Ideation
• Some participants get critical about certain idea.
• Fear of failure, assuming that some ideas are silly.
• No one knows how to evaluate the generated ideas.
Direction
• Lack of direction in the discussion.
• Fear of criticism, assuming their thinking direction is wrong.
• The liability to think creatively is influenced by many things or people.
• Very analytical experience can diminish the creative ability in subsequent task.
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thesis statement
rethinking brainstorming to foster more creativity.
inorder to uncover deeper insights into the topic, a series of questions were developed to critical evaluation
What if?
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formulating questions
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? What’s my intension with topic statement? Creative thinking is A way of looking at problems or situations from a fresh perspective that suggests unorthodox solutions. Creative thinking can be stimulated both by an unstructured process such as brainstorming, and by a structured process such as lateral thinking. Articles argue that brainstorming doesn’t make people more creative. The business practice of brain storming is considered as a waste of time and ineffective. The team believes that this practice leads to production blocking and no one thinks of how to evaluate the generated ideas. So what can I do in order for this process to be effective and so that people can benefit from this.
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? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Questions
• How do you define being creative or design?
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• What do you mean by creative thinking or design thinking? • How does being creative relate to thinking?
• Are you assuming that only creative people have the ability to think beyond limitation?
• How do you kick-start creative thinking? What is the main problem with creative thinking?
• Are people assuming that this process is only implied in design practice only?
• Do non designers clearly understand the term design thinking? • What comes to your mind when we say creative thinking? Give me an example.
• Does the word design thinking not communicate as solving problems?
• Can design thinking only performed by designers? • What kills design thinking process?
• How do you think design specific cognitive activities can build a business?
• Do you think design as a way of thinking? Does time limit make you more creative?
• What is design centric culture?
• Do you think design thinking addresses intractable human concerns? • What are the challenges you face while design thinking process? • How effective is design thinking in business model?
• Does creative thinking promise you of a improved future? • Where do you think this activity could be performed?
• What kind of business setups would need design thinking? • Through design thinking what could be discovered? • Is creative thinking only for problem solving?
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? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Questions
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• What is the difference between problem focused solving and solution focused solving?
• Do you solve problems by analysis or synthesis? Are you a divergent or convergent thinker?
• Are you comfortable of participating in brainstorming sessions? Do you fear failure?
• What slows or halts a thinking process? • What does thinking out of the box mean? • What do you think of people who advocate?
• Do you think you need to have knowledge about problems before participating in a brainstorming session?
• Can you always perform the design thinking process in the order of its stages?
• Why cant it be liner? And how effective is it to go back to the initial idea? • Why is this process called the solution based or solution focused thinking?
• What kind of traits does deign thinking method involve?
• How do you have problems in your day to day life or at work? How do you solve it?
• What is wicked problem?
• When do you arrive at the a-ha moment?
• What is the difference between a design method and a design process? • Are you familiar with visual thinking? How does it make you think effectively?
• Is designing an art, a science or a form of mathematics? • Do you think you have the ability to design having no educational background?
• Is observation a part of your thinking process? • Do you believe there is a language for design? • How can one implement design thinking in education?
• Do you feel that companies have to reinvent themselves every few years, that competitive advantage is fleeting?
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Questions
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• Will this process have sustained success? Or lead to epic fail? • Does design thinking lead to collaborative thinking?
• Names some cooperation where they effectively use design thinking?
• Why teach engineering students design thinking as a formal method? • Does looking at visuals lead you to different thoughts?
• There are plenty of variations on what constitutes design thinking. What is your take on it?
• How do design thinking and traditional qualitative market research co-exist? And can they co exist?
• How does design thinking co exist with energy innovation paradigms such as working directly with lead users and crowd-sourcing? • What’s Design Thinking Got to Do With Nonprofits? • What kind of music simulates creative thinking?
• Is creative thinking more important than logical thinking?
• What are some practical ways to encourage creative thinking in a company?
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• How should noise be handled to facilitate creative thinking?
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• Does progress have to be innovative in design thinking?
• Do innovation and design thinking relate to each other?
• Could design thinking provide a framework for social innovation?
• What is wrong with design thinking in regards to innovation? • How might we spread design thinking to business schools and general public?
• What are the types of design thinking for business?
• How to use design thinking to make great things actually happen in your project?
• Does empathy play a major role in design thinking?
• What type of companies are adapting design thinking as a change? • Does design thinking help in creating a sustainable and flexible design organization?
• What problem were you trying to solve with help of design thinking?
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diving back into the research and finding how each component is inter connected with each other...
What wows?
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hidden connections
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while weaving all these components into meaningful experiences... Tim Brown + Improve democracy Personal challenges + Educational system Smart CEO’s + Focus on customers Kidpreneurs + Growth through innovation Pepsi Company + Create new experiences for old brand Sustainability + Focus on customers Collaborative working + Fundamental Investment strategy Personal innovation + Professional challenges Challenging model for cross economic fields + Collaborative Working
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Creative product and services + Start ups Reconstructing urban spaces + Innovation powerhouse Kidpreneurs + Stanford university Preserving & improving ecosystem + Sustainability Design & business skill + Growth through Innovation Engage in national debate + IDEO Technology + Manage complexity Personal Traits + HCD Tool Kit India + Global manufacturing hub
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refined interesting connections associated them with visuals and keyword.
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creating empathy by narrowing audience to find insights about their relationship to the topic...
What wows?
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empathizing
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Archetypes
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Archetypes
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at this point the topic was actually put to test with people to know more about what they actually know about creative thinking...
What works?
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other’s opinion
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thinking on the type of activities i should focus on and the kind of people should i invite to the event...
Invitations Invitations were created in both the medium, digital and print. The invitation was designed as ‘Thinking Hat’ to give a feel of activity they would be doing at the event. And had a detailed itinerary. The idea was to think out loud with others and be transparent with the activity and the process of thinking. I managed the activities where it was made fun and people could relate to their everyday life activities.
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Electronic Invite
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Assignments Along with the electronic invitation, a small fun assignment was sent as an attachment, where the had to design a bike of their dreams and how might it be useful in their everyday lifestyle. This assignment was intended to evaluate their creative thinking prior to the event.
Invitation & Assignment
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i designed few activities which wouldn’t be a serious discussion but a playful act on how they work or think...
Planning Guide The planning guide is designed as a ‘Note Pad’ so that is handy form me to use during the event. The planning guide included the to do list of activities, guest list, guidance for photography and other arrangements for the event. I had few blank sheets at the last so that I can make notes, while the activities are taking place.
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Guest list
i handpicked my participants for the event, based on their work lifestyle... Praneetha Vajjha iOS App Developer at Snapfish Expectation: To share her experience of continuity of work development from other department (designers).
Gabriella Sudjono Graphic Design Graduate Student Expectation: To share her experience as student of how she initiates various projects with no prior subject knowledge.
Santosh Shirahatti Software Engineer at a Startup Expectation: How can a small group work efficiently towards the success of a service or product?
Jae Gibson Property Manager Expectation: To share how he fixes his tenants problems within limited period of time. Does he sympathize or empathize?
Karan Motwani Web New Media Graduate Student/ Photography Freelancer Expectation: Wingman (documentation). To give more insights on design thinking and how it is different from field to field.
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Sahil Rawool Product Engineer at Tesla Expectation: To gain knowledge on his work culture and some engineering processes.
Marina Rumyantseva Digital Marketer Expectation: To gain marketing insights for design developments.
Nimisha Doongarwal Software Engineer at Philips Healthcare \ Fine Art Graduate Student Expectation: To share her experience as being creative at work and as an art student.
Farshard Irani C.E.O at Sorrento Catering Expectation: To share his experience of starting up a business and understanding needs of his costumer.
Ashok Varma Financial Analyst at Google Expectation: To help think the complexity of applying design to financial systems.
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At the event The participants were all from different working field and different work lifestyle. They were excited to design their own beautiful thinking hats, some labeling themselves as not creative. New teams were formed after every activity. None of them had the same partners in each activity, which made the activities more fun and they could learn from each other’s skills.
70% thought they were creative in some way.
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Environment has impact on their thin
s an nking.
They use some process at work but don’t test it with end user or re visit it.
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the event turned out to be fun and full of discussion about how creative they can get...
Report The report was designed as a form of ‘Sorting Cards’, where some cards could be stacked under other cards to get a different meaning or understanding. It could either be paired with people who had similar thoughts on the process or activity. The graphic on the report and the system as a whole is the Bike pattern, because the assignment which was given to them prior to the event was to design their own bikes, were to evaluate their personal creative thinking. And when these participants took part in the event, they felt more creative and would relate to how much effort & time they took and narrow their thoughts were while designing alone. And this provided a clear understanding of what is wrong in the current thinking processes at work.
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at this point all the insights from the event and other research were clubbed together to elevate the topic in some direction...
What works?
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based on the feedback provided i looked for more inspiration in order to simplify the visual system
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existing toolkit for thinking creatively
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riddle
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synergy
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How might I engage viewer to my topic? Rethinking Brainstorming To Foster Creative Thinking
Background :
Wicked problems and complex data are constantly emerging. Over the decade, the classic methods of Creative Thinking is overpowered by the recently hyped term
known as Design Thinking. It has come to notice through News articles that, this
term is frequently misunderstood and confused with it’s props and artifacts in the
fields apart from design field. Also there are prevailing arguments about the practice of creative thinking, considering it as a waste of time and in-effective on people’s productivity. Problems:
Few key reasons to why Design thinking is ineffective in some fields of work, is that many have jumped on to the process without really knowing what it means or how to equip this in their existing processes. Some assume that, it has to be dealt with
aesthetics, creative concepts or graphical outputs. There is still a huge opportunity to tap into when it comes to converting design thinking into actual business results.
People, working in complex systems like Companies, Healthcare, Bank, Government
and School. These people are practicing this method without an understanding, that solutions are rooted in the needs and desires of the community or end users. Opportunity:
I propose to design a Divergent Thinking Tool Kit, that is inclusive of a introductory
guide, intuitive cards system and a role play guide book. This kit acts as a promotional system and will help educate the importance of Design thinking in their system. It
will also help them practice or think in alternative ways. The Role play guide book (for every individuals in the practice) will help to identify their roles in this process and
participate effectively. I would also leverage this system to other mediums like phones and Ipad. The application can be an alternative system for the physical tool kit. This application will stimulate divergent thinking and allow the participants to record or
upload their thoughts or ideas when away from the desk or team. This leads to another design direction of environmental branding in complex systems, where I would be
designing the interiors, installations and some events which will gamify their process of everyday learning or practice.
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Story boarding
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Effective Creative Thinking
Businesses today are the crossroads of commerce and creativity. It is the perfect place and time to leverage design for innovation and growth.
Designers are aware of the ubiquitous presence of design and its burgeoning mainstream influence.
A new analysis by the Design Management Institute shows that design-driven companies are succeeding by retaining the best talent and outperforming the competition in revenue growth.
Such companies have outperformed the Standards & Poors index by 219% over 10 years. ( http://www.dmi.org/?DesignValue)
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Why do 95% of new products introduced, fail every year?
Because Design Thinking and Business Processes are considered to be opposing models. Instead, successful companies have embraced Integrative Thinking.
This has helped them discover and address user needs.
Whereas other companies with limited budgets and time are:
-efficient at analyzing their business goals, -accessing their technological capabilities and, -actualizing products by combining the two, (according to Cincinnati research agency AcuPoll, www.forbes.com)
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but lack the key element “Empathy�.
Modern cooperation business models like Uber, Airbnb, Pepsi, Amazon and Apple have challenged the status quo.
They are investing in design to disrupt the existing markets by creating user needs.
Recent examples of IBM and Infosys have proven that by using Integrative thinking,
companies can combine design, technology, complex data and media
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to create memorable experiences for customers.
People assume that design thinking is equivalent to visual design
and often confuse its props and artifacts.
Employees tag themselves either as analytical or creative thinkers,
resulting in some failing to participate in the joint business processes.
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Even though a company understands the value of Integrative thinking it struggles with the way to incorporate it.
What can I do as a designer in order to...
encourage effective creative thinking in companies?
I would like to focus on C-suites, directors responsible for business strategy, product development and marketing and, team leaders.
I will help them understand the importance of a strong and healthy design centric culture and incorporate this approach into their organization.
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Helping the employees to incorporate diverse thinking through cross-functional teams, taking ownership of their work and nurture problem solving abilities.
Some design opportunities could be to build an incubator boot camp service that would train companies on how to induce design thinking in their business using:
Jump start kit which offers guidance on transforming one’s business through design thinking.
Divergent Thinking tool kit assisting in thinking out of the box and exploring various possibilities.
Role Play Guide book enabling employees to identify their roles and efficiently contribute their opinions.
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And Later create environmental design liberating a strong design centric culture and possessing excellent problem solving skills on daily basis.
And interactive Application which will leverage the brainstorming process, helping employees in contributing their views, irrespective of their presence in the meetings.
Everyone can improve their company by being a design thinker.
Now, businesses need design. And design needs to be about business now.
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so through these research, i would like to align businesses to design and design to businesses by encouraging effective creative thinking in the companies
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ope nin g t he box of a
Creative Thinker
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guided by: prof. phill hamlet class: visual communications lab