Tag: design thinking tools

  • Setting the stage for creative freedom

    Setting the stage for creative freedom

    By Heidi Aho, Shahida Parvin, & Eduardo Solorzano Tejeda. Design Thinking (DT) and Innovation require a lot of creativity. Creativity is often described as a spark of inspiration, but it is far more complex and deeply human. It happens at the intersection of emotions, environments, and culture. To truly nurture creativity, we need to look…

  • All of us are smarter than any of us: The power of Design Thinking 

    by Mallika Kauppinen and Valeria Mäkinen  “All of us are smarter than any of us.” This simple phrase, often heard at IDEO, captures the heart of Design Thinking. Innovation today is not just a few “creative geniuses”. It is an effort of a multidisciplinary team coming together to solve complex problems by applying the three…

  • Who can be a designer?

    Who can be a designer?

    Reflections on empathy and inclusion in the design field By Rosa Yang and Stinne Vognæs Neither of us are designers, so what does it mean to do a part-time service design degree as an adult? Will we ever be able to claim the “title” or “identity” of a Designer? After our first two-day workshop on…

  • “Train Your Empathy Muscle”: A Crucial Skill in Service Design

    “Train Your Empathy Muscle”: A Crucial Skill in Service Design

    How often have you thought of empathy as a skill which can be trained? During the Design Thinking class, we found out that empathy is an important characteristic for a service designer to have, but it is also a quality and a tool which can be improved. Empathy is a prolific discussion point in Design…

  • Empathy in action – how to protect toddler naps in extreme circumstances

    You know the Fazer chocolates, right? You have seen them at the airports at least.   Some years ago, a construction company called NCC in Finland had to renovate an office above a nursery at the Fazer chocolate factory. This created a challenge: how to keep the noisy construction from waking up the toddlers during their…

  • We all just love problems, don’t we?

    We all just love problems, don’t we?

    Today we have all kinds of complex problems that need holistic solutions. Sometimes we do not even know what the problem is – so how can we ideate solutions then? A non-linear and iterative approach, Design Thinking, has offered a choice for solving complex problems – and impacted extensively the modern world’s innovations in business…

  • Empathy is the superpower you need to design truly innovative services

    In today’s world of complex systems and processes, people seek simplicity and real value. At the same time, companies’ competition for people’s attention is fiercer than ever. They face the challenge to differentiate themselves from competitors to gain the loyalty of their customers. Design Thinking might be the way we can add real and lasting…

  • Unleashing your creativity – find your inner child

    The myth about creativity The common misconception about creativity is that only some people are (or can be) creative. This is a myth and simply not true; everybody can be creative. Look at children! They have endless creativity and fun, why don’t we as adults? So, the question is, how do we get it back? As…

  • Service Design Capabilities

    Does possessing service design tools make you automatically a service designer? Or does a person need to have special capabilities in order to be a service designer? This question was examined by Nicola Morelli, Professor of university of Aalborg, Denmark, and co-writer of a recently published book called “Service Design capabilities” in a workshop that…

  • Design thinking tools to make meaning from the mess

    Design thinking tools to make meaning from the mess

    More and more non-designers know at least some design thinking tools when different organizations commonly use them. Design thinking helps make sense of complex problems, and what is most important, it helps people create new ideas that fit better consumer needs and desires. (Kolko, 2015) Design thinking is not an exceptional talent or a skill…