Reflections by Nayoma Hiruni Peiris and Juha Takanen
…. Moving “Beyond the Lone Genius,” Design Thinking transforms ambiguity into opportunity by applying “hive intelligence” to tackle the emotional core of human needs and navigate the complexity of “wicked problems” …….
The Emotional Core of Design: Head, Heart, and Gut
The experience with design thinking started with mixed feelings: a healthy dose of doubt on day one, but also curiosity and relief. Our initial comprehension of the program was very limited, but through Professor Katja Tschimmel’s guidance, the outlook soon changed. We came to understand that design thinking is so much more than just a surface-level framework; it is a human-cantered methodology grounded in empathy and collaboration. The initial sessions, an icebreaker and “Deep Interviews,” were my first forays into learning how to approach real-world, complex problems using design. Katja’s workshop felt like an invitation to be just the way we were, busy bees, as we later realized, and not to pretend otherwise – just to be ourselves and be active. Our individual uniqueness and professions are crucial elements in the Design Thinking process, as it’s best when it is multifunctional (Lockwood 2010, 51), including and integrating many parts of any business.
Recognizing our mixed feelings was important, as emotions are at the core of design, both on the designer and customer side. A designer must have empathy (Brown 2008, 87), the ability to step into the customer’s shoes to truly understand what people want and gain new insights to innovate new products and services that resonate. For the customer to really commit to any brand or product, the emotional component must be there; otherwise, the relationship is short-lived. Designing holistically, or activating emotional intelligence by connecting the head, the heart, and the gut, as Clark and Smith (Lockwood 2010, 49) propose, allows us to design innovations that resonate with both the customer’s emotion and logic.
The essence of the collaborative process….
Bridging Theory and Practice: Tackling Wicked Problems
Day two, we bridged theory and practice with a hands-on innovation exercise. This experience confirmed that service is a different discipline that needs to be addressed with new languages and instruments. Service design applies features like co-creation, cross-disciplinary collaboration, and relentless reframing (Lockwood 2010, 160). In the workshop, we transitioned from brainstorming our ideas to reframing challenges as “How Might We” questions, and then to a quick prototyping session.
The article, “Wicked Problems in Design Thinking,” revealed that design is more than a simple craft. We found out that design is a “new liberal art of technological culture” (Buchanan 1992, 5), a discipline for addressing problems that are ill-defined and resistant to analysis. These “wicked problems” cannot be solved with a simple “yes or no,” but rather through solutions that are “good or bad” in context (Buchanan 1992, 16). This approach highlights the value of ambiguity and complexity.
The Power of Hive Intelligence
The biggest takeaway for us from the workshop was the fundamental shift in the innovation process: the move away from the myth of the “lone genius.” We noted how design thinking moves away from the traditional business model, which can feel trapped in the “cold mechanics of the assembly line” and relies on a single “creative genius” (Lockwood 2010, 40). Design thinking invites a co-creative process that feels like an act of “hive intelligence,” where everyone’s unique ideas build on others (Lockwood 2010, 51).
“Hive intelligence,” showing many individuals contributing to a larger
What began for us with doubt and curiosity has ended with a fundamental shift in perspective.
References:
Brown, Tim (2008) Design Thinking. Harvard Business Review, June, 84-95.
Buchanan, R., 1992. Wicked problems in design thinking. Design issues, 8(2), pp.5-21.
Lockwood, Thomas (ed. by) (2010) Design thinking: integrating innovation, customer experience and brand value. New York: Allworth Press.
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