How I found my inner spark of Services Innovation and Design Thinking? I was one of the lucky ones who got in to Services Innovation and Design (SID) Programme at Laurea University of Applied Sciences. We newcomers met for the first time during our 3-day kick-off session in September 2014. I had high expectations for the class but I also kept my mind open because I didn’t know if my expectations were fair.

I think Design Thinking was a good subject to start with. We had workshops during the study days and we got to know each others. I learnt a lot from my group but also of myself. For example I noticed that the passed working years in the traditional business life had moulded the standards and rules around me. And now it was time to let them go and start to think about services and business in a new and innovative way.. in a SID way.

We had inspiring lecturers leading our workshop; Gijs van Wulfen, the founder of FORTH Innovation method, and Katja Tschimmel, a researcher, coach and a famous Design Thinker.

What is Design Thinking?

Design Thinking (DT)

• brings new ways of managing business and a creative design approach to traditional business thinking.
• offers new models of processes and toolkits to visualise creative processes, not carried out only by Designers but by all kinds of professionals.
• gives a visual perception to business thinking; the act of visualising is used to clarify ideas and to support the dialogue between the problem and the solution.
• is done with the users, not for the users (human-centered approach to design work).

Design Thinking models and tools – how to choose the proper one?

There are several Design Thinking models and tools where you can choose from; IDEO’s 3 1 Model (Inspiration, Ideation, Implementation), IDEO’s HCD Model (Hearing, Creating, Delivering), The model of the Hasso-Plattner Institute (developed in an educational context), The 4 D or Double Diamond model of the British Council (Discover, Define, Develop, Deliver) and the Service Design Thinking (SDT) model. At the moment Katja Tschimmer is working on her own Design Thinking model called E.volution 4². But which one is the best? Criteria used to choose the more appropriate process model depends on the innovation task, its context, the number and composition of the team and its dynamic, and also the time available for the innovation process.

Tools for Design Thinking can be brainstorming, brainwriting and brainsketching, sketching, storyboard, rapid prototyping, storytelling, audience observation, empathy maps, mind maps, focus group, ethnography, personas etc. To get an idea of the potential Design Thinking tools, Managers could little by little introduce tools into the existing stages of their innovation processes, without being attached to a specific DT process model.

Written by Anne Hirvonen (1st year SID Student)

References:

1. Contact sessions Sept 12-13th, 2014
2. Tschimmel, K. 2012. Design Thinking as an Effective Toolkit for Innovation. In: Proceedings of the XXIII ISPIM Conference: Action for Innovation: Innovating from Experience. Barcelona. ISBN 978-952-265-243-0.
3. Cross, Nigel. 2011. Design Thinking. UK. ISBN 978-1-8478-8637-8

Pictures:

1. Jaakko Porokuokka
2. http://www.forth-innovation.com/home/
3. http://katjatschimmel.com/