Method 1. Design Thinking
Design thinking gained wide recognition in many industries as well as the social and NGO sectors. It is also present in the processes of designing ecological solutions. There are thick lectures describing the methodology of DT. Below we provide a concise explanation with further reading recommendations.
The first step of DT is to empathize, which means understanding the problem from the perspective of the people who are experiencing it. We talk to them, observe their behaviour, and try to put ourselves in their shoes to gain a deeper understanding of their needs and challenges. Second, we define the problem we want to solve. We use the information we gathered during the empathy stage to clearly articulate the problem and make sure we're addressing the right issue.
After that, we move on to ideation, where we generate a lot of different ideas to solve the problem. We encourage wild and creative thinking, without worrying about practicality at this stage.
Next comes prototyping. We select the best ideas from the ideation stage and create simple, low-cost prototypes or models to bring those ideas to life. These prototypes help us test and refine our ideas before investing more time and resources.
Finally, we test the prototypes with the people we're designing them for. We gather feedback, learn from their experiences, and make any necessary improvements. This iterative process continues until we find a solution that works well and meets the needs of those involved in the process
In summary, design thinking is a human-centred approach that involves understanding people, defining problems, generating ideas, building prototypes, and testing them to create innovative and effective solutions.
Objectives of Design Thinking:
- a better understanding of network participants and potential members
- new insights and possibilities
- convergence around what matters to members
- a limited but diverse set of potential new solutions
- clarity on make-or-break assumptions that enable the design of meaningful experiments
- a shared commitment and confidence in the new policy or strategy
ORIGINS
The origins of design thinking lie in the development of psychological studies on creativity in the 1940s and the development of creativity techniques in the 1950s. The first notable books on methods of creativity were published by William J. J. Gordon (1961) and Alex Faickney Osborn (1963).
SOME TOOLS WITHIN THE METHOD:
Additional resources:
https://hbr.org/2018/09/why-design-thinking-works
https://www.ideou.com/blogs/inspiration/what-is-design-thinking
https://web.stanford.edu/~mshanks/MichaelShanks/files/509554.pdf