WHAT IS DESIGN THINKING?
"Design thinking" may conjure up notions of consumer product design -- but that's just one possible focus of design thinking. As the folks over at IDEO discuss, design thinking is both a mindset and a method that embraces an iterative process of inspiration, ideation, and implementation to foster creative, human-centered solutions to problems. Design thinking can be used for social innovations in service delivery (e.g., water and sanitation, electricity, etc.), education (e.g., culturally relevant pedagogy), or governance (e.g., incentive systems for efficacy and efficiency). Design thinking is inherently collaborative -- and this collaboration should include the core stakeholders who will be impacted by the design outcome.
WHAT IS SOCIAL INNOVATION?
Social innovations are novel ways of addressing sustainability challenges that create positive social impact. As expressed at the Stanford Graduate School of Business:
"Social innovation is the process of developing and deploying effective solutions to challenging and often systemic social and environmental issues in support of social progress. Social innovation is not the prerogative or privilege of any organizational form or legal structure. Solutions often require the active collaboration of constituents across government, business, and the nonprofit world."
--Soule, Malhotra, Clavier |
COLLABORATIVE DESIGN THINKING FOR SOCIAL INNOVATION
Designing social innovations should be a collaborative endeavor that draws on diverse expertise and perspectives. Although some critics have argued that design thinking is too often noninclusive and outsider-driven, it is not inherently so. Nevertheless, in the real world, real power asymmetries can affect who contributes and in what ways. Fortunately, there are emerging organizations and tools to help designers avoid reinforcing existing inequities. By working together in a way that respects diversity, equity, and inclusion, we can develop, test, and revise any solution to get it to the right level of functionality and legitimacy.
DESIGN THINKING FACILITATION
Design thinking is a valuable skill that is best put to use by people with an in-depth understanding of the relevant local systems. This means local experts, including those without formal credentials. Given this, what is often needed more than a design thinker per se is a design thinking facilitator, i.e. someone who can facilitate the development and application of others' capacities for design thinking.
It is with an eye towards "community-based" and "community-driven" design that designers are calling for a re-conceptualization of their roles from external designers to design facilitators, educators, and partners (for a great discussion of this, watch this video).
Certainly design thinking facilitation and capacity strengthening represent a more sustainable route to social impact since no social innovation will be perfect -- and even the best will require refinement, adaptation, and/or replacement over time as lessons are learned and contexts change. Communities with the capacity for self-driven social innovation will be the most resilient in the face of future uncertainties.
It is with an eye towards "community-based" and "community-driven" design that designers are calling for a re-conceptualization of their roles from external designers to design facilitators, educators, and partners (for a great discussion of this, watch this video).
Certainly design thinking facilitation and capacity strengthening represent a more sustainable route to social impact since no social innovation will be perfect -- and even the best will require refinement, adaptation, and/or replacement over time as lessons are learned and contexts change. Communities with the capacity for self-driven social innovation will be the most resilient in the face of future uncertainties.
WANT TO COLLABORATE?
I was doing design thinking before I knew what it was called. This is my passion and I'm keen to collaborate with those who want to implement a community-based, human-centered design approach for sustainable development based upon empathy and cultural relativism. Please feel welcome to reach out.