Design Thinking

Hey guys, week before last we attended a workshop at the Think Center, I got my posts mixed up so I'm doing the post this week instead. The purpose of the workshop was to help us improve our skills in the Design Thinking process!!

The workshop with Ms. Sayger helped me to gain a better understanding of the Design Thinking process (define, research, brainstorm, prototype, choose, learn), and it helped to have her input on how we would come to our conclusions in each step. By giving us the appropriate questions to ask ourselves and each other for each step, we were able to concentrate our ideas and extend off those main ideas. I also liked that she came around to each group, listened to our ideas, and then asked more tailored questions to help guide the conversation into a particular direction.

My favorite step in the Design Thinking process would have to be brainstorming, because I love using creativity to help spark an idea that inspires someone else’s thought process, which could possible lead to even better ideas. Being able to sit in a group of people who all feel comfortable sharing their ideas is way better than just one person, and having other people to brainstorm with brings an array of experiences together that influence each person differently.

I would have to say the step I struggle with the most is research; I find it hard to focus on where to start when doing research. Research is usually so broad in the beginning that focusing in on the proper keywords can be somewhat challenging. It’s also not always the most exciting part of the process for me, so that’s part of why it is not my favorite step, but certainly I have researched topics before and become completely engrossed in researched it, particularly history. So if I was given more direction in this area it might help me have a better understanding of this step, and allow me to attack other research topics more easily.

I think just being able to confidently go through each step of the Design Thinking process could help improve how I approach marketing plans in general. It’s so important to have an effective social media marketing plan in any company, that being able to find a plan that retains current consumers and attracts new customers could make a huge impact in the success of a company.

Using this process is going to be the most effective way for our class to address the issues we are being presented and how to come up with solutions in our final project. By using the define step we can determine what things need to be addressed to reach our goal, research can give us insight into what has already been done or is currently in place so that we can come up with an effective prototype. After choosing a plan to implement, maybe this will pave the way for change and improvements, and hopefully others can learn from our ideas.