Design Thinking is a human-centric, interdisciplinary approach towards innovation that aims to help companies and startups change and innovate. This course introduces Design Thinking (similar to the IDEO approach – www.ideo.com) and its application to developing new “things” (i.e. products, services, experiences and business models). The course is divided into four main aspects, all interconnected but separately emphasized: (1) design methodologies (e.g. ethnographic research, brainstorming, prototyping), (2) the “thing” to be designed (3) attitudes and behaviors and (4) design contexts. Design contexts refer to the broader emerging context for designs and business, specifically, society (including different cultures and the poor), and the physical environment. Learning will be primarily experiential in nature – through class discussion, group exercises, and a team project. Guest speakers with practical experience in Design Thinking may be invited as well.
By the end of this course, students will be able to:
• Apply design methodologies to designs “things”.
• Develop an understanding of how businesses can be “designed” using the same design methodologies in order to implement the designed “things”.
• Develop an appreciation of how to create designs for broader and varying contexts, that is, to be sensitive to human, societal needs and the physical environment.