{"id":775,"date":"2011-05-04T08:50:21","date_gmt":"2011-05-04T12:50:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thinking.is\/?p=775"},"modified":"2024-07-11T10:59:35","modified_gmt":"2024-07-11T14:59:35","slug":"designers-dont-get-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.daed.com\/?p=775","title":{"rendered":"Design Thinking: Designers Don\u2019t Get It"},"content":{"rendered":"

Okay, the title is a gross generalization and should more likely be \u201cDesign Thinking \u2013 Some Designers Get It and Some Don\u2019t.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In May of last year I spoke on Design Thinking at the IDSA Mideast District conference in Grand Rapids MI. The speaker before me was Darrel Rhea from the Cheskin Group. During his presentation, he polled the audience on their thoughts about Design Thinking. His scale went from 0 which meant there is no belief that Design Thinking exists and it is a buzzword only to 10 which meant there was a complete belief that Design Thinking exists and is useable. The audience, of about 150 designers averaged out to between 6 and 7 on Darrell\u2019s scale. His comment that this was rather high compared to his past experience. Shocking? Not really.<\/span><\/p>\n

I have had similar experiences as well. I have had many postings and comments on Design Thinking at Core77, which is the international website for Industrial Designers. At this forum I have received comments such as:<\/span><\/p>\n

“The term feels to me as though it has jumped the shark <\/em>(def. the moment of downturn for a previously successful enterprise) and crossed into the realm of Lingo, and holds no real inherent value to the Industrial Design Industry. It is thrown around by anyone that believes that Industrial Design ‘belongs at the big table’ but has no real clue how to get it there.”<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

“I think of systems engineering leading a design team when I think of design thinking.”<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

“Design Thinking with a capital ‘D’ and ‘T’ is a myth created to impress business leaders.”<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

“You bring up some good points, but I\u2019m sorry, I just think Design Thinking has been over-hyped.\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

I also am a member of the Design Thinking group at LinkedIn. I see the same sort of comments from designers at this location.<\/span><\/p>\n

I think the problem comes from a professional legacy.<\/span><\/p>\n

Many experienced designers have not re-educated themselves in Design Thinking as it has developed. After years of fighting to be heard in the business environment, and often being pushed down by the engineering, marketing, and MBA groups, they see Design Thinking as this \u201cthing\u201d that has snuck up on them using their profession\u2019s name but is being used by people they consider to be non-designers. \u201cIs this another way of taking more control away from the designers of the world! Is this another subterfuge!\u201d might be the typical thought. Also, many of these designers come from a time when their specific discipline was an avocation to a specific skill set(s), i.e. industrial designers loved being in the shop and drawing with markers. It was about doing and less about thinking, at least thinking about thinking.<\/span><\/p>\n

Recently another forum was posted at Core77 entitled \u201cDesign Thinking is Dead\u201d, based on the recent article by Bruce Nussbaum. The conversation moved back and forth and I found that it was almost impossible to get some posters to even consider the idea that Design was beyond the usual professions, in this case, Industrial Design. An example of a response was:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI agree. Wholeheartedly. I’ve thought the whole discussion that is\/was Design Thinking was great Marketing. I have never really thought of it much more than good window dressing. Although I must admit that there was a while where I was being swayed by the strong message and the raising of Design awareness that DT brought to the world.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

So, I am not here saying I told you so. While I never was a proponent of DT, I couldn’t articulate well enough what it was that I thought flawed with the “system” that was DT. I actually bristle at the idea that Nussbaum is the one that may be leading Design into a new direction. But, credit where its due, I think he’s on to something.\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

After many failed postings I finally sat back, and took some time to really understand the direction the forum had been going. Finally, I posted the following:<\/span><\/p>\n

“Let me try this another way:<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

1) Which of the following do you believe?<\/em><\/span>
\na) A deity touched you on the head and gave you designer qualities.<\/em><\/span>
\nb) As a designer you are using a part of the mind that most people have had little training in using.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

If, you answered ‘a’ forget about reading further.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

2) When people create business plans, strategies, policies, services, etc these are things that will impact users and affect the future?<\/em><\/span>
\na) Yes<\/em><\/span>
\nb) No<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

If you say ‘No’ then no reason to read any further.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

3) The items in #2 above are being designed and therefore need to use the mindsets, methods and tools of designers in order to make them the most useful?<\/em><\/span>
\na) Yes<\/em><\/span>
\nb) No<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

If you answer ‘Yes’ then you understand what Design Thinking is about.<\/em>“<\/span><\/p>\n

While this did not sway everyone, a large group felt more comfortable with this framework of Design Thinking. I was fortunate to receive the following responses:<\/span><\/p>\n

“Nice take, Tim. I think you’ve narrowed it down and cut through the smoke and mirrors there.<\/em>“<\/span><\/p>\n

My final response that won over all of the forum posters was:<\/span><\/p>\n

“Yes Design Thinking is a bad term. In fact Chapter 3 of the new US Army Field Manual just calls it Design. I am happy with that but unfortunately most business people think of ‘design’ as a Tactic and not a Strategy. Design Thinking has come in to at least give the ability to discuss Design at a strategic level. I would just prefer that over time we move back to Design as the term, after we move the business community with us.<\/em>“<\/span><\/p>\n

So at the end of the day let us not confuse the goal, which is bringing the Design side of the brain into use in more areas of society in order to improve the future for users. Whether you call it Design Thinking or Design is not the issue.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Featured Photo by<\/span> Diego PH<\/a> on<\/span> Unsplash<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Okay, the title is a gross generalization and should more likely be \u201cDesign Thinking \u2013 Some Designers Get It and Some Don\u2019t.\u201d In May of last year I spoke on …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":3983,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[165],"yoast_head":"\nDesign Thinking: Designers Don\u2019t Get It - daed.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.daed.com\/?p=775\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Design Thinking: Designers Don\u2019t Get It - daed.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Okay, the title is a gross generalization and should more likely be \u201cDesign Thinking \u2013 Some Designers Get It and Some Don\u2019t.\u201d In May of last year I spoke on ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blog.daed.com\/?p=775\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"daed.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-05-04T12:50:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-07-11T14:59:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.daed.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/diego-ph-fIq0tET6llw-unsplash.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"3308\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"4135\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Daedalus Team\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Daedalus Team\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.daed.com\/?p=775#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.daed.com\/?p=775\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Daedalus Team\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.daed.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f08aac4ae63cbed0fffa61088919d15f\"},\"headline\":\"Design Thinking: Designers Don\u2019t Get It\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-05-04T12:50:21+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-07-11T14:59:35+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.daed.com\/?p=775\"},\"wordCount\":1003,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.daed.com\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"design thinking\"],\"articleSection\":[\"design thinking\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.daed.com\/?p=775\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blog.daed.com\/?p=775\",\"name\":\"Design Thinking: Designers Don\u2019t Get It - 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