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10 Successful Design Thinking Case Study

Dive into the realm of Successful Design Thinking Case Studies to explore the power of this innovative problem-solving approach. Begin by understanding What is Design Thinking? and then embark on a journey through real-world success stories. Discover valuable lessons learned from these case studies and gain insights into how Design Thinking can transform your approach.

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Design Thinking has emerged as a powerful problem-solving approach that places empathy, creativity, and innovation at the forefront. However, if you are not aware of the power that this approach holds, a Design Thinking Case Study is often used to help people address the complex challenges of this approach with a human-centred perspective. It allows organisations to unlock new opportunities and drive meaningful change. Read this blog on Design Thinking Case Study to learn how it enhances organisation’s growth and gain valuable insights on creative problem-solving.

Table of Contents

1) What is Design Thinking?

2) Design Thinking process

3) Successful Design Thinking Case Studies

a) Airbnb

b) Apple

c) Netflix

d) UberEats

e) IBM

f) OralB’s electric toothbrush

g) IDEO

h) Tesla

i) GE Healthcare

j) Nike

3) Lessons learned from Design Thinking Case Studies

4) Conclusion

What is Design Thinking ?

Before jumping on Design Thinking Case Study, let’s first understand what it is. Design Thinking is a methodology for problem-solving that prioritises the understanding and addressing of individuals' unique needs.

This human-centric approach is creative and iterative, aiming to find innovative solutions to complex challenges. At its core, Design Thinking fosters empathy, encourages collaboration, and embraces experimentation.

This process revolves around comprehending the world from the user's perspective, identifying problems through this lens, and then generating and refining solutions that cater to these specific needs. Design Thinking places great importance on creativity and out-of-the-box thinking, seeking to break away from conventional problem-solving methods.

It is not confined to the realm of design but can be applied to various domains, from business and technology to healthcare and education. By putting the user or customer at the centre of the problem-solving journey, Design Thinking helps create products, services, and experiences that are more effective, user-friendly, and aligned with the genuine needs of the people they serve.

Design Thinking process

Design Thinking is a problem-solving and innovation framework that helps individuals and teams create user-centred solutions. This process consists of five key phases that are as follows:

To initiate the Design Thinking process, the first step is to practice empathy. In order to create products and services that are appealing, it is essential to comprehend the users and their requirements. What are their anticipations regarding the product you are designing? What issues and difficulties are they encountering within this particular context?

During the empathise phase, you spend time observing and engaging with real users. This might involve conducting interviews and seeing how they interact with an existing product. You should pay attention to facial expressions and body language. During the empathise phase in the Design Thinking Process , it's crucial to set aside assumptions and gain first-hand insights to design with real users in mind. That's the essence of Design Thinking.

During the second stage of the Design Thinking process, the goal is to identify the user’s problem. To accomplish this, collect all your observations from the empathise phase and begin to connect the dots.

Ask yourself: What consistent patterns or themes did you notice? What recurring user needs or challenges were identified? After synthesising your findings, you must create a problem statement, also known as a Point Of View (POV) statement, which outlines the issue or challenge you aim to address. By the end of the define stage, you will be able to craft a clear problem statement that will guide you throughout the design process, forming the basis of your ideas and potential solutions.

After completing the first two stages of the Design Thinking process, which involve defining the target users and identifying the problem statement, it is now time to move on to the third stage - ideation. This stage is all about brainstorming and coming up with various ideas and solutions to solve the problem statement. Through ideation, the team can explore different perspectives and possibilities and select the best ideas to move forward with.

During the ideation phase, it is important to create an environment where everyone feels comfortable sharing their ideas without fear of judgment. This phase is all about generating a large quantity of ideas, regardless of feasibility. This is done by encouraging the team to think outside the box and explore new angles. To maximise creativity, ideation sessions are often held in unconventional locations.

It’s time to transform the ideas from stage three into physical or digital prototypes. A prototype is a miniature model of a product or feature, which can be as simple as a paper model or as complex as an interactive digital representation.

During the Prototyping Stage , the primary objective is to transform your ideas into a tangible product that can be tested by actual users. This is crucial in maintaining a user-centric approach, as it enables you to obtain feedback before proceeding to develop the entire product. By doing so, you can ensure that the final design adequately addresses the user's problem and delivers an enjoyable user experience.

During the Design Thinking process, the fifth step involves testing your prototypes by exposing them to real users and evaluating their performance. Throughout this testing phase, you can observe how your target or prospective users engage with your prototype. Additionally, you can gather valuable feedback from your users about their experiences throughout the process.

Based on the feedback received during user testing, you can go back and make improvements to the design. It is important to remember that the Design Thinking process is iterative and non-linear. After the testing phase, it may be necessary to revisit the empathise stage or conduct additional ideation sessions before creating a successful prototype.

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Successful Design Thinking Case Studies

Now that you have a foundational understanding of Design Thinking, let's explore how some of the world's most successful companies have leveraged this methodology to drive innovation and success:

Case Study 1: Airbnb

Airbnb’s one of the popular Design Thinking Case Studies that you can aspire from. Airbnb disrupted the traditional hotel industry by applying Design Thinking principles to create a platform that connects travellers with unique accommodations worldwide. The founders of Airbnb, Brian Chesky, Joe Gebbia, and Nathan Blecharczyk, started by identifying a problem: the cost and lack of personalisation in traditional lodging.

They conducted in-depth user research by staying in their own listings and collecting feedback from both hosts and guests. This empathetic approach allowed them to design a platform that not only met the needs of travellers but also empowered hosts to provide personalised experiences.

Airbnb's intuitive website and mobile app interface, along with its robust review and rating system, instil trust and transparency, making users feel comfortable choosing from a vast array of properties. Furthermore, the "Experiences" feature reflects Airbnb's commitment to immersive travel, allowing users to book unique activities hosted by locals.

Case Study 2. Apple

Apple Inc. has consistently been a pioneer in Design Thinking, which is evident in its products, such as the iPhone. One of the best Design Thinking Examples from Apple is the development of the iPhone's User Interface (UI). The team at Apple identified the need for a more intuitive and user-friendly smartphone experience. They conducted extensive research and usability testing to understand user behaviours, pain points, and desires.

The result? A revolutionary touch interface that forever changed the smartphone industry. Apple's relentless focus on the user experience, combined with iterative prototyping and user feedback, exemplifies the power of Design Thinking in creating groundbreaking products.

Apple invests heavily in user research to anticipate what customers want before they even realise it themselves. This empathetic approach to design has led to groundbreaking innovations like the iPhone, iPad, and MacBook, which have redefined the entire industry.

Case Study 3. Netflix

Netflix, the global streaming giant, has revolutionised the way people consume entertainment content. A major part of their success can be attributed to their effective use of Design Thinking principles.

What sets Netflix apart is its commitment to understanding its audience on a profound level. Netflix recognised that its success hinged on offering a personalised, enjoyable viewing experience. Through meticulous user research, data analysis, and a culture of innovation, Netflix constantly evolves its platform. Moreover, by gathering insights on viewing habits, content preferences, and even UI, the company tailors its recommendations, search algorithms, and original content to captivate viewers worldwide.

Furthermore, Netflix's iterative approach to Design Thinking allows it to adapt quickly to shifting market dynamics. This agility proved crucial when transitioning from a DVD rental service to a streaming platform. Netflix didn't just lead this revolution; it shaped it by keeping users' desires and behaviours front and centre. Netflix's commitment to Design Thinking has resulted in a highly user-centric platform that keeps subscribers engaged and satisfied, ultimately contributing to its global success.

Case Study 4. Uber Eats

Uber Eats, a subsidiary of Uber, has disrupted the food delivery industry by applying Design Thinking principles to enhance user experiences and create a seamless platform for food lovers and restaurants alike.

One of UberEats' key innovations lies in its user-centric approach. By conducting in-depth research and understanding the pain points of both consumers and restaurant partners, they crafted a solution that addresses real-world challenges. The user-friendly app offers a wide variety of cuisines, personalised recommendations, and real-time tracking, catering to the diverse preferences of customers.

Moreover, UberEats leverages technology and data-driven insights to optimise delivery routes and times, ensuring that hot and fresh food reaches customers promptly. The platform also empowers restaurant owners with tools to efficiently manage orders, track performance, and expand their customer base.

Case Study 5 . IBM

IBM is a prime example of a large corporation successfully adopting Design Thinking to drive innovation and transform its business. Historically known for its hardware and software innovations, IBM recognised the need to evolve its approach to remain competitive in the fast-paced technology landscape.

IBM's Design Thinking journey began with a mission to reinvent its enterprise software solutions. The company transitioned from a product-centric focus to a user-centric one. Instead of solely relying on technical specifications, IBM started by empathising with its customers. They started to understand customer’s pain points, and envisioning solutions that genuinely addressed their needs.

One of the key elements of IBM's Design Thinking success is its multidisciplinary teams. The company brought together designers, engineers, marketers, and end-users to collaborate throughout the product development cycle. This cross-functional approach encouraged diverse perspectives, fostering creativity and innovation.

IBM's commitment to Design Thinking is evident in its flagship projects such as Watson, a cognitive computing system, and IBM Design Studios, where Design Thinking principles are deeply embedded into the company's culture.

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Case Study 6. Oral-B’s electric toothbrush

Oral-B, a prominent brand under the Procter & Gamble umbrella, stands out as a remarkable example of how Design Thinking can be executed in a seemingly everyday product—Electric toothbrushes. By applying the Design Thinking approach, Oral-B has transformed the world of oral hygiene with its electric toothbrushes.

Oral-B's journey with Design Thinking began by placing the user firmly at the centre of their Product Development process. Through extensive research and user feedback, the company gained invaluable insights into oral care habits, preferences, and pain points. This user-centric approach guided Oral-B in designing electric toothbrushes that not only cleaned teeth more effectively but also made the entire oral care routine more engaging and enjoyable.

Another of Oral-B's crucial innovations is the integration of innovative technology into their toothbrushes. These devices now come equipped with features like real-time feedback, brushing timers, and even Bluetooth connectivity to sync with mobile apps. By embracing technology and user-centric design, Oral-B effectively transformed the act of brushing teeth into an interactive and informative experience. This has helped users maintain better oral hygiene.

Oral-B's success story showcases how Design Thinking, combined with a deep understanding of user needs, can lead to significant advancements, ultimately improving both the product and user satisfaction.

Case Study 7. IDEO

IDEO, a Global Design Consultancy, has been at the forefront of Design Thinking for decades. They have worked on diverse projects, from creating innovative medical devices to redesigning public services.

One of their most notable Design Thinking examples is the development of the "DeepDive" shopping cart for a major retailer. IDEO's team spent weeks observing shoppers, talking to store employees, and prototyping various cart designs. The result was a cart that not only improved the shopping experience but also increased sales. IDEO's human-centred approach, emphasis on empathy, and rapid prototyping techniques demonstrate how Design Thinking can drive innovation and solve real-world problems.

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Case Study 8 . Tesla

Tesla, led by Elon Musk, has redefined the automotive industry by applying Design Thinking to Electric Vehicles (EVs). Musk and his team identified the need for EVs to be not just eco-friendly but also desirable. They focused on designing EVs that are stylish, high-performing, and technologically advanced. Tesla's iterative approach, rapid prototyping, and constant refinement have resulted in groundbreaking EVs like the Model S, Model 3, and Model X.

From the minimalist interior of their Model S to the autopilot self-driving system, every aspect is meticulously crafted with the end user in mind. The company actively seeks feedback from its user community, often implementing software updates based on customer suggestions. This iterative approach ensures that Tesla vehicles continually evolve to meet and exceed customer expectations .

Moreover, Tesla's bold vision extends to sustainable energy solutions, exemplified by products like the Powerwall and solar roof tiles. These innovations showcase Tesla's holistic approach to Design Thinking, addressing not only the automotive industry's challenges but also contributing to a greener, more sustainable future.

Case Study 9. GE Healthcare

GE Healthcare is a prominent player in the Healthcare industry, renowned for its relentless commitment to innovation and design excellence. Leveraging Design Thinking principles, GE Healthcare has consistently pushed the boundaries of medical technology, making a significant impact on patient care worldwide.

One of the key areas where GE Healthcare has excelled is in the development of cutting-edge medical devices and diagnostic solutions. Their dedication to user-centred design has resulted in devices that are not only highly functional but also incredibly intuitive for healthcare professionals to operate. For example, their advanced Medical Imaging equipment, such as MRI and CT scanners, are designed with a focus on patient comfort, safety, and accurate diagnostics. This device reflects the company's dedication to improving healthcare outcomes.

Moreover, GE Healthcare's commitment to design extends beyond the physical product. They have also ventured into software solutions that facilitate data analysis and Patient Management. Their user-friendly software interfaces and data visualisation tools have empowered healthcare providers to make more informed decisions, enhancing overall patient care and treatment planning.

Case Study 10. Nike

Nike is a global powerhouse in the athletic apparel and Footwear industry. Nike's journey began with a simple running shoe, but its design-thinking approach transformed it into an iconic brand.

Nike's Design Thinking journey started with a deep understanding of athletes' needs and desires. They engaged in extensive user research, often collaborating with top athletes to gain insights that inform their product innovations. This customer-centric approach allowed Nike to develop ground breaking technologies, such as Nike Air and Flyknit, setting new standards in comfort, performance, and style.

Beyond product innovation, Nike's brand identity itself is a testament to Design Thinking. The iconic Swoosh logo, created by Graphic Designer Carolyn Davidson, epitomises simplicity and timelessness, reflecting the brand's ethos.

Nike also excels in creating immersive retail experiences, using Design Thinking to craft spaces that engage and inspire customers. Their flagship stores around the world are showcases of innovative design, enhancing the overall brand perception.

Lessons learned from Design Thinking Case Studies

The Design Thinking process, as exemplified by the success stories of IBM, Netflix, Apple, and Nike, offers valuable takeaways for businesses of all sizes and industries. Here are three key lessons to learn from these Case Studies:

Key takeaways from Design Thinking Case Studies

1) Consider the b ig p icture

Design Thinking encourages organisations to zoom out and view the big picture. It's not just about solving a specific problem but understanding how that problem fits into the broader context of user needs and market dynamics. By taking a holistic approach, you can identify opportunities for innovation that extend beyond immediate challenges. IBM's example, for instance, involved a comprehensive evaluation of their clients' journeys, leading to more impactful solutions.

2) Think t hrough a lternative s olutions

One of the basic principles of Design Thinking is ideation, which emphasises generating a wide range of creative solutions. Netflix's success in content recommendation, for instance, came from exploring multiple strategies to enhance user experience. When brainstorming ideas and solutions, don't limit yourself to the obvious choices. Encourage diverse perspectives and consider unconventional approaches that may lead to breakthrough innovations.

3) Research e ach c ompany’s c ompetitors

Lastly, researching competitors is essential for staying competitive. Analyse what other companies in your industry are doing, both inside and outside the realm of Design Thinking. Learn from their successes and failures. GE Healthcare, for example, leveraged Design Thinking to improve medical equipment usability, giving them a competitive edge. By researching competitors, you can gain insights that inform your own Design Thinking initiatives and help you stand out in the market.

Incorporating these takeaways into your approach to Design Thinking can enhance your problem-solving capabilities, foster innovation, and ultimately lead to more successful results.

Conclusion

Design Thinking is not limited to a specific industry or problem domain; it is a versatile approach that promotes innovation and problem-solving in various contexts. In this blog, we've examined successful Design Thinking Case Studies from industry giants like IBM, Netflix, Apple, Airbnb, Uber Eats, and Nike. These companies have demonstrated that Design Thinking is a powerful methodology that can drive innovation, enhance user experiences, and lead to exceptional business success.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Design Thinking Case Studies align with current market demands and user expectations by showcasing practical applications of user-centric problem-solving. These Studies highlight the success of empathetic approaches in meeting evolving customer needs.

By analysing various real-world examples, businesses can derive vital insights into dynamic market trends, creating innovative solutions, and enhancing user experiences. Design Thinking's emphasis on iterative prototyping and collaboration resonates with the contemporary demand for agility and adaptability.

Real-world examples of successful Design Thinking implementations can be found in various sources. For instance, you can explore several Case Study repositories on Design Thinking platforms like IDEO and Design Thinking Institute. Furthermore, you can also look for business publications, such as the Harvard Business Review as well as Fast Company, which often feature articles on successful Design Thinking applications.

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The Accidental Design Thinker

Bringing Design Thinking to All

40 Design Thinking Success Stories

I’m incredibly optimistic of the power of DT but also always on the lookout for design thinking success stories and examples. As I’ve shared my knowledge of design thinking with others, I’ve frequently been asked how often it delivers demonstrable results and how broadly it can be applied. Below is my collection of design thinking success stories that have helped reinforce my conviction that design thinking can deliver incredibly powerful results and be applicable to everyone.

Consumer Packaged Goods

Designing a Simplified IoT Electric Toothbrush
Indra Nooyi HBR Design Thinking Interview
Using Design Thinking to Guide Product Development for Oil of Olay Brand
Design Thinking for K-12 Educators
Great Fast Co Design Article on Teaching Kids DT
Design Thinking STEAM School Case Study
Awesome Case of Designing an Entire High School Via Design Thinking
Dense but Rich Dissertation of Use of Design Thinking in a School District
The Power of Empathy in the Elementary Classroom

Financial Services

Click Link & Scroll Down for Bank of America Case Profile
How ABN AMRO Leverages Design Thinking
3 Banks Integrating Design Into Customer Experience
Evolution of Design Thinking in Deutsche Bank’s IT Division
Bank of Ireland’s Lesley Tully on the Value of Design Thinking
GE Healthcare – From Terrifying to Terrific
NY Times – Design Thinking for Doctors & Nurses
Design Thinking in Healthcare – Schizophrenia
Design Thinking Lessons from Mayo Clinic
Design Thinking at Stanford University Medicine
Design Thinking Case Studies in Journalism
Why Design Thinking & Journalism Go Together

Non-Profit/NGOs

Design Thinking & Winnebago at GGRC for Better Service
Collection of Design Thinking Case Studies from Museums
Improving Quality of Life for the Elderly Via Better Food Service
Mobisol’s Use of Design Thinking for Solar Energy
Leveraging Design Thinking in Cambodia Video
How Nike Became a Fashion Powerhouse Through Design
Nordstrom Innovation Lab Video Profile
Popular Airbnb Design Thinking Success Story
Innovation at Apple – Design Thinking Case Study
IBMs Design Centered Strategy
Design Thinking at IBM
Google’s 3 Step Process for Generating Innovative Ideas
Intuit’s Designing for Delight
How the Uber Eats Team Designs
Design Thinking in Action at SAP

Transportation

Cool Step by Step Case of Applying DT to a Common Challenge for Travelers
How Makassar Plans To Use Design Thinking to Improve Transport

Self-Improvement

Designing Your Life Through Design Thinking – My Personal Story
NY Times – Design Thinking for a Better You
Stanford professor’s Take on How DT Can Help You Lose Weight, Stop Worrying, & Change Your Life
Designing Your Life – Insight into the Most Popular Class at Stanford!

If you’re at the beach and would rather read an actual book full of design thinking case studies, I’d recommend ‘Solving Problems with Design Thinking: Ten Stories of What Works’ by Jeanne Lietdka.

In summary, there are plenty of available and powerful design thinking success stories, that will hopefully increase your conviction in the strength of DT. I’m always on the lookout for new examples and will continue to add to this list. Please don’t hesitate to share any great examples that I’m missing and continue to check back in as this list grows in size!

Interested in expanding your design thinking mindset and skills? Click here for my collection of design thinking tools and resources!

Category: Design Thinking , Innovation , Marketing & Branding
Tag: Best Practices , Case Studies , Design , Design Thinking , Innovation , Success Stories

Published by accidentaldesignthinker

View all posts by accidentaldesignthinker

accidentalDT- thank you for sharing so much amazing resources on your site.

[…] Be an Advocate for Design Thinking – Know, believe, share, and celebrate the success stories of design thinking. Here are 40 design thinking stories that will help make anyone a believer […]

[…] Check out my collection in the Self-Improvement section of 40 Design Thinking Success Stories! […]

[…] It was wonderful hearing case studies to supplement the research I’ve conducted on design thinking success stories. […]

Thank you for your valuable contribution to Design Thinkers!

My pleasure Denise! Thank you for your kind words and for visiting my site; it means a ton to me!

What is design thinking?

Discover what is design thinking and why it’s important, including the five stages of design thinking. Deep dive into a few case studies and learn how to apply design thinking.

Free course: Introduction to UX Design

What is UX? Why has it become so important? Could it be a career for you? Learn the answers, and more, with a free 7-lesson video course.

Design thinking is a mindset that breeds innovation. While it’s based on the design process, anyone in any profession can use it when they’re trying to come up with creative solutions to a problem.

In this guide, we’ll walk you through what design thinking is and why it’s important, including the five stages of design thinking. Then we’ll present a couple of design thinking case studies and wrap up with a primer on how to apply design thinking. And don’t worry, this guide is broken down into easily digestible chunks, as follows:

Let’s get started!

What is design thinking? A definition

Design thinking is an approach used for problem-solving. Both practical and creative, it’s anchored by human-centred design.

Design thinking is extremely user-centric in that it focuses on your users before it focuses on things like technology or business metrics.

Design thinking is also solution-based, looking for effective solutions to problems, not problem-based, which looks at the problem itself and tends to focus on limitations.

Design thinking is all about getting hands-on with solutions. The aim is to quickly turn your ideas into testable products so you can see what works and what doesn’t.

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Why is design thinking important?

Design thinking is important because it challenges assumptions and fosters innovation. While many ways of thinking rely on the habits and experiences we’ve formed, they can limit us when it comes to thinking of design solutions. Design thinking, however, encourages us to explore new ideas.

It’s an actionable technique that allows us to tackle “wicked problems,” or problems that are ill-defined. For example, achieving sustainable growth or maintaining your competitive edge in business count as wicked problems, and on a broader scale, poverty and climate change are wicked problems too. Design thinking uses empathy and human-centred thinking to tackle these kinds of problems.

Who uses design thinking?

The short answer? Everyone! Design thinking can help you in whatever your role or industry. People in business, government, entertainment, health care, and every other industry can benefit from using design thinking to come up with innovative solutions.

The most important thing design thinking does is help people focus on their customers or end users. Instead of focusing on problems to fix, design thinking keeps things user-centric, which boosts customer engagement.

What are the 5 stages of design thinking?

According to the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford University (known as d-school), the five stages of design thinking are:

Although these stages appear to be linear, following one after the other, design thinking isn’t a linear process. Stages are often run in parallel or out of order, or repeated when necessary.

Phase 1: Empathise

Your goal here is to research your users’ needs to gain an empathic understanding of the problems they face. You’ll get to know your users and their wants and needs so you can make sure your solutions put them front and centre. This means setting aside your own assumptions and getting to know your users on a psychological and emotional level. You’ll observe, engage, watch and listen.

Phase 2: Define

Here you state your users’ needs by compiling the information you gathered during the Empathise phase and then analysing it until you can define the core problem your team has identified.

You do this by asking questions like: what patterns do you see in the data? What user issues need to be resolved? The conclusion of this phase comes when you’ve figured out a clear problem statement that is defined by the users’ needs. For example, “Bank customers in Glasgow need…”

You can learn more about how to write a problem statement in this guide.

Phase 3: Ideate

In this phase, you’ll generate ideas and solutions. You and your team will hold ideation sessions where you can come up with as many ideas as possible. No idea is too silly for this stage. The important thing is getting all ideas out on the table. There are a variety of techniques you can use, like brainstorming and mind mapping, to come up with solutions. This phase ends when you’ve managed to narrow down your ideas to just a few of the best ones.

Phase 4: Prototype

Your goal in this phase is to find the best solution to the problem by prototyping —that is, producing scaled down versions of the product or its features found in the previous phase. You’ll put each solution to the test by improving, redesigning, accepting, or rejecting it.

Phase 5: Test

Here you’ll try out the solutions you arrived at in the previous phases by user testing them. However, while this is the final stage of design thinking in theory, it’s rarely the final stage in reality. Design thinking often includes going back to previous phases to find other solutions or to further iterate or refine your existing solution.

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Design thinking examples and case studies

Now that you understand the theory and process of design thinking, let’s look at some examples in action where design thinking had a real-world impact.

Case Study 1: American Family Insurance’s Moonrise App

American Family Insurance, a company that offers life, business, auto, and home insurance, came to design company IDEO with the goal of innovating in a way that would help working families.

Stages 1 & 2: Empathise and Define

While American Family thought their customers might benefit from budgeting tools, IDEO found from their research in the Empathise phase that, actually, people needed a way to build up their savings against unforeseen needs.

They noticed a lot of people had meticulously planned budgets, which made budgeting tools a moot point. But they were living just within their means and an extra expense, like a doctor’s visit or kid’s basketball uniform, could throw their budget off. These people didn’t want to take on debt though, they wanted extra work so they could have a cushion.

Stages 3 & 4: Ideate and Prototype

IDEO took that idea and ran with it, creating Moonrise, an app that matches people looking for work with extra hours and income. Today’s businesses depend on on-demand work but the temp agencies they work with tend to want permanent placements. Moonrise does things differently. It enables companies to find people who are already employed elsewhere for short-term work through a simple text message interface. The employers can list shifts on the platform and workers are paid as soon as they finish their shifts.

Stage 5: Test

To test the app, 11 Moonrisers, six employers, and a team of designers and programmers were assembled for a one week period to work out the kinks in the platform.

Based on the test’s success, American Family Insurance now owns the startup Moonrise, which launched in Chicago in 2018 and has since expanded to additional states. In 2018, over 7,000 shifts have been fulfilled and over $500,000 has been earned by people on the app.

Case Study 2: GE Healthcare’s Scanning Tools

GE Healthcare has cutting-edge diagnostic imaging tools at its disposal, but for kids they’re an unpleasant experience.

“The room itself is kind of dark and has those flickering fluorescent lights…. That machine that I had designed basically looked like a brick with a hole in it,” explained Doug Dietz , a designer who worked for GE. How could they make the experience better for kids?

The team at GE began by observing and gaining empathy for children at a daycare centre and talking to specialists who knew what paediatric patients went through. The team then recruited experts from a children’s museum and doctors from two hospitals. This gave them a lot of insight into what children went through when they had to sit for these procedures and what could be done to lessen the children’s stress.

Stages 3, 4 & 5: Ideate, Prototype, and Test

The first prototype of the new and improved “Adventure Series” scanner was invented. Through research and pilot programs, the redesign made imaging machines more child-friendly, making sure they have other things to focus on than the scary looks and sounds of the machine. For example, the Coral City Adventure in the emergency room gives children an underwater experience where they get into a yellow submarine and listen to the sound of harps while their procedure takes place.

Patient satisfaction scores increased to 90% and children no longer suffer such anxiety about their scans. The children hold still for their procedures more easily, making repeats of the scans unnecessary. There’s also less need for anesthesiologists, which improved the bottom line for those hospitals that used the scanning machines because more patients could get scanned each day.

How to apply design thinking

If you want to apply design thinking in your own work, follow these steps and best practices:

Improve design thinking skills. Use training to explain, improve, and practically implement the phases of design thinking. You can do this in several ways such as workshops, online courses, or case studies shared with your team.
Identify the correct problem. Listen to users and ask them unbiased questions in order to understand their perspectives. Engage with everyone and stay open-minded, so you can identify the correct problem, not the problem you or your organisation thinks users are having.
Have more debriefs. Be open about what went right and what went wrong in your process. Openly discuss why things succeeded or failed and why. View failure as learning, not as an excuse to give up.
Iterate and iterate some more. The goal of design thinking is finding the best answer possible—and that probably won’t come in the first round of iteration. You’ll need to test and iterate as much as possible with new ways to solve the problem.

Design thinking is so popular—and so effective—because it places the user’s needs front and centre. For more user-centric design tips, learn how to incorporate user feedback in product design , get to grips with user research ethics , and learn how to conduct effective user interviews .

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Break cognitive fixedness and approach problems with a new mindset that integrates creative problem-solving and management

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Assess group dynamics and maximize your team’s potential for developing and iterating prototypes and managing the implementation of new designs

Understand how leaders can create the optimal environment and team dynamics to guide innovation and collaboration

Put design thinking into action by collaborating with peers from a wide range of professional experiences and backgrounds

Course description

Design Thinking and Innovation, through Harvard Business School (HBS) Online, equips current and aspiring innovation managers with the design thinking principles and innovative problem-solving tools to solve business challenges and guide their organization’s strategy. The course features five weeks of course content and two weeks of cohort project work, enabling the opportunity to put learning into practice. Leaders interviewed include Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel, Royal Philips CEO Frans van Houten, and T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert, among others. Participants will walk away with an innovation toolkit of frameworks and exercises for identifying business opportunities and generating possible solutions for their organization’s initiatives.

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Design Thinking Case Study Index

Welcome to the Design Thinking Case Study Index. There are many Design Thinking Case Studies on the internet. Many are retrofitted descriptions of what occurred, rather than evidence of the Design Thinking process in action. In order to bring a higher standard to the practice of Design Thinking, we require stronger evidence and rigor. Only members can post and must provide strong evidence in the Design Thinking Case Study that the Design Thinking process was used to create the original idea for the product or service solution. The criteria that needs to be proved to make your project a Design Thinking Case Study are:

Evidence of an empathic human/user centered approach in the research phase
Evidence of rapid prototyping
Evidence of user testing of early prototypes
Evidence of cross functional collaboration during the process

The Design Thinking Case Study Index is arranged according to market or industry verticals to help you find relevant Case Studies for your industry.

THE DESIGN THINKING CASE STUDY INDEX

Bank of America Helps Customers Keep the Change - IDEO
Bank of America: Keep the Change - an HBR Case Study
Bank of America Keep the Change - thisisdesignthinking.com
How to Use Design Thinking to Make Great Things Actually Happen
Co-designing OTP Bank's Strategic Plan for Success
Société Générale's Time Tracking Nightmare Solved - Design Thinking Society
The Total Economic Impact of IBM's Design Thinking Practice - IBM/Forrester
The Strategic Importance of Design - Fjord
IDEO: Journey to Mastery - IDEO
Improving School Experiences and Helping Teachers
Transforming Constructivist Learning into Action: Design Thinking in Education
Design Thinking in the Classroom: What can we do about Bullying? - Dr. Maureen Carroll
Design Thinking in Education: Perspectives, Opportunities and Challenges - Stefanie Panke
Building Cape Town's Resilience Qualities - GreenCape
Applying Design Thinking Internally - Meredith James

FAST MOVING CONSUMER GOODS (FMCG)

The Features of Design Thinking in Fast Moving Consumer Goods Branding Development
A Chain of Innovation the Creation of Swiffer
Oral B: Putting the User at the Center of Innovation - Future Facility
Design for Action: Mass Mutual and Intercorp Group (Peru) - Tim Brown and Roger Martin
E*Trade: From Idea to Investment in 5 Minutes.

GOVERNMENT/PUBLIC SERVICES

Failure to Launch: Learning About Design the Hard Way - Australian Taxation Office
The US Tax Forms Simplification Project - US Government
Redesigning The Employment Pass Application in Singapore - Government of Singapore
How is Design Thinking Reshaping Singapore - Government of Singapore
Design Thinking in Public Engagement: Two Case Studies in British Columbia - Dave Roberston
India: Using Design Thinking to Enhance Urban Redevelopment - Indian Government
Making Calgary's Downtown a more Welcoming Place - City of Calgary, Canada
Capitalism Needs Design Thinking - Tim Brown and Roger Martin
Making Government Work Better - The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP)
Better Service Faster, a Design Case Study - The Golden Gate Regional Center
Better Foodservice for the Elderly in Denmark - Hatch & Bloom
Applying Design Thinking to Public Service Delivery - IBM
The Lab at US Government, Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Field Guide - US Government
The Right Way to Lead Design Thinking - Denmark
Design Thinking and Participation in Switzerland - Swiss Government
How to Stimulate Innovation in Your Organization with Design Thinking - Municipalities of Aalborg and Rotterdam, Netherlands
How SwipeSense Makes Hand Cleaning Easy - Northwestern University
Using Design Thinking in Healthcare to Create an Emergency Pediatric Department - Philips
Design Thinking can Help Improve Care for the Elderly - IDEO
How can a People Focus Bring Value to Healthcare? - Philips
Philips: Improving the Patient Experience
Developing an App for Diabetes Type II
Developing Environmental Sustainability Strategies
4 Case Studies in Healthcare: Nursing
Mayo Clinic: Design Thinking in Healthcare
The Use of Design Thinking in MNCH Programs in Ghana - Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Tackling the Opioid Crisis at the Human and Systems Level - Stanford Business School

HUMAN RESOURCES

Design thinking disrupts HR, re-defines the HR function
Design Thinking in HR at Deutche Telekom
Transforming Life Insurance: McKinsey
Bringing Design Thinking to the Insurance World

K-12 EDUCATION

Design is to Doing as Learning is to Thinking - Design Learning Network

Following One School District's Approach to Innovation for the 21st Century - Loraine Rossi de Campos

MEDIA & JOURNALISM

The Guardian Using Design to Reaffirming Values
Journalism Case Studies that Apply Design Thinking - Poynter
The Guardian: Benefits of Design Thinking - The Design Council
Selling the 'Smart Home' with an Immersive Retail Experience
Using Design Thinking to help traditional German Butchers
Self-Checkout: Improving Scan Accuracy through Design Thinking
Designing Waste Out of the Food System
Design Thinking in our Digital Product Creation Process
Better Service Faster, A Design Thinking Case Study
How we Design on the UberEATS Team

SOCIAL IMPACT

IMPACT: A case study about Design Thinking for helping who help! - Mattia Tamborini
Clean Team In-Home Toilets for Ghana’s Urban Poor - IDEO
Reinventing Solar Energy Supply for Rural Africa
Asili: Addressing an Entire Ecosystem of Need in a Rural Community - IDEO.org
Saving Product X – A Design Thinking Case Study - Paul Clayton Smith
Scaling Design Thinking in the Enterprise: a 5 Year Case Study at Citrix
B2B Design Thinking: Product Innovation when the User is a Network

TRANSPORTATION

How we Design on the UberEATS Team
Improving UX in Public Transportation
IDEO: Using Design Thinking to Create a Better Car
Design Thinking at Innogy: eCarSharing
The Impact of Design Thinking on Innovation: A Case Studty at Scania IT

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Design Thinking Defined

—tim brown, executive chair of ideo.

Thinking like a designer can transform the way organizations develop products, services, processes, and strategy. This approach, which is known as design thinking, brings together what is desirable from a human point of view with what is technologically feasible and economically viable. It also allows people who aren't trained as designers to use creative tools to address a vast range of challenges.

IDEO did not invent design thinking, but we have become known for practicing it and applying it to solving problems small and large. It’s fair to say that we were in the right place at the right time. When we looked back over our shoulder, we discovered that there was a revolutionary movement behind us.

This design thinking site is just one small part of the IDEO network. There’s much more, including full online courses we've developed on many topics related to design thinking and its applications. We fundamentally believe in the power of design thinking as a methodology for creating positive impact in the world—and we bring that belief into our client engagements as well as into creating open resources such as this.

At IDEO, we’re often asked to share what we know about design thinking. We’ve developed this website in response to that request. Here, we introduce design thinking, how it came to be, how it is being used, and steps and tools for mastering it. You’ll find our particular take on design thinking, as well as the perspectives of others. Everything on this site is free for you to use and share with proper attribution .

(From 2008-2018, designthinking.ideo.com was the home of IDEO's design thinking blog, written by our CEO, Tim Brown . You can find that blog here .)

We live and work in a world of interlocking systems, where many of the problems we face are dynamic, multifaceted, and inherently human. Think of some of the big questions being asked by businesses, government, educational and social organizations: How will we navigate the disruptive forces of the day, including technology and globalism? How will we grow and improve in response to rapid change? How can we effectively support individuals while simultaneously changing big systems? For us, design thinking offers an approach for addressing these and other big questions.

There’s no single definition for design thinking. It’s an idea, a strategy, a method, and a way of seeing the world. It’s grown beyond the confines of any individual person, organization or website. And as it matures, its history deepens and its impact evolves. For IDEO, design thinking is a way to solve problems through creativity. Certainly, it isn’t a fail-safe approach; nor is it the only approach. But based on the impact we are seeing in our work, the relevance of design thinking has never been greater.

Design thinking is maturing. It’s moving from a nascent practice to an established one, and with that comes interest and critique. People are debating its definition, pedigree, and value. As a leading and committed practitioner of design thinking, IDEO has a stake in this conversation—and a responsibility to contextualize its value in the present moment and, importantly, in the future.

We’ve learned a lot over the years, and we’d like to share our insights. We’ve seen design thinking transform lives and organizations, and on occasion we’ve seen it fall short when approached superficially, or without a solid foundation of study. Design thinking takes practice; and as a community of designers, entrepreneurs, engineers, teachers, researchers, and more, we’ve followed the journey to mastery, and developed maps that can guide others.

Designer's mindset

At IDEO, we are a community of designers who naturally share a mindset due to our profession. Our teams include people who've trained in applied fields such as industrial design, environmental architecture, graphic design, and engineering; as well as people from law, psychology, anthropology, and many other areas. Together, we have rallied around design thinking as a way of explaining design's applications and utility so that others can practice it, too. Design thinking uses creative activities to foster collaboration and solve problems in human-centered ways. We adopt a “beginner’s mind,” with the intent to remain open and curious, to assume nothing, and to see ambiguity as an opportunity.

To think like a designer requires dreaming up wild ideas, taking time to tinker and test, and being willing to fail early and often. The designer's mindset embraces empathy, optimism, iteration, creativity, and ambiguity. And most critically, design thinking keeps people at the center of every process. A human-centered designer knows that as long as you stay focused on the people you're designing for—and listen to them directly—you can arrive at optimal solutions that meet their needs.

Anyone can approach the world like a designer. But to unlock greater potential and to learn how to work as a dynamic problem solver, creative confidence is key. For IDEO founder David Kelley, creative confidence is the belief that everyone is creative, and that creativity isn’t the ability to draw or compose or sculpt, but a way of understanding the world.

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Design Thinking Case Study: Innovation at Apple

Apple is one of the leading companies that is renowned for its unique products and brand. A short talk with an Apple user reveals there is an emotional relation between consumers and Apple products , including every “i” product created in the past two decades.

Why are Apple products different from their competitors’ products? How does Apple manage to achieve innovation in its product families? Answering these questions provides interesting insight into Apple’s history and how it survived its most critical time between 1985 and 1997.

When Steve Jobs returned to Apple after being fired, the company share was only worth US $5 and its future was uncertain. Today, in 2016, Apple’s share price is around US $108 and the company achieved revenues of US $233.7 billion in 2015 with net income of US $53.39 billion. This mini case study sheds light on the role that design thinking and innovation played in helping Steve Jobs rescue Apple with his consumer-driven strategy and vision for the company.

The Hard Times at Apple

The early days of Apple (which was cofounded by Steve Jobs on 1976) are characterized by its first personal computer that was delivered with Apple OS. During this time, Apple was dominating the market because there were no other manufacturers of this type of computer as computers were used only by governments or large companies. However, in 1985, Steve Jobs was forced to leave the company. This marked the start of a chaotic era in the company’s strategy and product development.

In the period 1985-1997, Apple struggled to achieve market success, especially after Jobs’s departure and increasing competition from other giants such as IBM, which decided to enter the PC computers market. During this period, Apple faced number of challenges including:

Unstable strategy due to the change of executive teams
Unclear vision about Apple’s competitive strategy, especially after IBM entered the PC market
Unclear vision about selling OS licenses, which would put the company in competition with Windows operating system
Large number of failed products (such as Newton PDA) and few successful ones (such as PowerBook)
Products not unique in the market
Confusion and uncertainty among Apple consumers, resulting from this strategy

Design Thinking to Fuel Innovation

Apple is one of the leading companies in the field of innovation and this couldn’t have happened without the company adopting design thinking . Design thinking is a solution-oriented process that is used to achieve innovation with considerations about the consumer at the heart of all development stages. Tim Brown, president and CEO of IDEO, defines design thinking as follows: “ Design thinking is a human-centered approach to innovation that draws from the designer’s toolkit to integrate the needs of people, the possibilities of technology, and the requirements for business success. ”

“Most people make the mistake of thinking design is what it looks like. People think it’s this veneer — that the designers are handed this box and told, ‘Make it look good!’ That’s not what we think design is. It’s not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.” — Steve Jobs

In previous design thinking articles, we explored the different models of design thinking including the IDEO model, d.school model, and IBM design thinking model. Most of these models share the target of achieving innovation through three main factors:

User Desirability . The product should satisfy the consumer’s needs by solving everyday problems through a user-centered process. This can be achieved through a deep understanding of the user and through an empathic design process, which can only be achieved by putting ourselves in the shoes of our consumers (using tools such as an empathic persona map ).

Market Viability . Successful products require an integrated marketing strategy that identifies the target segment and builds the product brand in accordance with this target segment. Tools such as the business model canvas can help our understanding of the project and create a business strategy for it. Also, tools such as the SWOT analysis allows us to understand the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of the specified product.

Technology Possibility . Technology provides state-of-art tools for designers to innovate and build products that meet today’s needs. Technology should be adopted through the development process, including the prototyping stage where a visual presentation of the product is made to the team.

Think Different!

After Steve Jobs returned to Apple in 1997 (upon Apple’s acquisition NeXT), he started to apply the design thinking characteristics discussed above, which reflected his vision for Apple products. The vision discussed below was used to form Apple’s strategy from 1997 until today. Steve Jobs applied design thinking by focusing on:

People’s needs and desires, rather than only the needs of the business
Building empathy by helping people to love Apple products
The design rather than the engineering work; designers consider both the form and the function of the product
Building simple yet user-friendly products rather than complex hard-to-use products

The vision characterized above can be clearly identified in modern Apple products. Although other competitors focus on the features and product capabilities, Apple focuses on a holistic user experience. For example, the iMac is renowned for being quiet, having a quick wake-up, better sound, and a high-quality display. This vision was formed in Apple’s development strategy that includes:

Excellence in Execution

In this part, Steve tended to improve the execution process by closing 2 divisions, eliminating 70% of the new products and focusing on the higher potential products, reducing the product lines from 15 to just 3, and shutting facilities to move manufacturing outside the company. Apple also launched a website for direct sale of its products and started to take an interest in materials and how products are manufactured within a consumer-driven culture.

Platform Strategy

Apple streamlined their product portfolio to a family of products that can be produced much more quickly while keeping the existing design elements. Also, the company targeted product that require less repair and maintenance.

Iterative Customer Involvement

The consumer experience should be integrated into the design and development stages through participating in usability testing. Also, the design for interfaces should focus on the user experience.

Beautiful Products

In addition to the function of the product, the form should beautiful, which can be achieved through continuous innovation and development. Apple also focused on the materials and manufacturing process and took a bold approach to trying new ideas rather than sticking with the ordinary design forms.

Apple’s history with innovation provides a clear lesson about how design and innovation can turn company failure to market success and a leading position in a competitive market. Design thinking helped Apple to innovate while placing their consumers at the heart of the process. The period that Steve Jobs was absent from Apple demonstrates that copying others and lacking a clear innovation strategy can lead companies directly from success to failure. On the other hand, innovation can definitely help build a successful business.

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Dr Rafiq Elmansy

As an academic and author, I've had the privilege of shaping the design landscape. I teach design at the University of Leeds and am the Programme Leader for the MA Design, focusing on design thinking, design for health, and behavioural design. I've developed and taught several innovative programmes at Wrexham Glyndwr University, Northumbria University, and The American University in Cairo. I'm also a published book author and the proud founder of Designorate.com, a platform that has been instrumental in fostering design innovation. My expertise in design has been recognised by prestigious organizations. I'm a fellow of the Higher Education Academy (HEA), the Design Research Society (FDRS), and an Adobe Education Leader. Over the course of 20 years, I've had the privilege of working with esteemed clients such as the UN, World Bank, Adobe, and Schneider, contributing to their design strategies. For more than 12 years, I collaborated closely with the Adobe team, playing a key role in the development of many Adobe applications.

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2 thoughts on “ design thinking case study: innovation at apple ”.

these things is very useful and motivation and thinking about ideas to solve the problems

Thanks Ram!

Design Thinking (DT)

What is design thinking (dt).

Design thinking is a non-linear, iterative process that teams use to understand users, challenge assumptions, redefine problems and create innovative solutions to prototype and test. It is most useful to tackle ill-defined or unknown problems and involves five phases: Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype and Test.

Transcript loading…

Why Is Design Thinking so Important?

“Design thinking is a human-centered approach to innovation that draws from the designer's toolkit to integrate the needs of people, the possibilities of technology, and the requirements for business success.”

— Tim Brown, CEO of IDEO

Design thinking fosters innovation . Companies must innovate to survive and remain competitive in a rapidly changing environment. In design thinking, cross-functional teams work together to understand user needs and create solutions that address those needs. Moreover, the design thinking process helps unearth creative solutions.

Design teams use design thinking to tackle ill-defined/unknown problems (aka wicked problems ). Alan Dix, Professor of Human-Computer Interaction, explains what wicked problems are in this video.

Wicked problems demand teams to think outside the box, take action immediately, and constantly iterate—all hallmarks of design thinking.

Don Norman, a pioneer of user experience design, explains why the designer’s way of thinking is so powerful when it comes to such complex problems.

Design thinking offers practical methods and tools that major companies like Google, Apple and Airbnb use to drive innovation. From architecture and engineering to technology and services, companies across industries have embraced the methodology to drive innovation and address complex problems.

The End Goal of Design Thinking: Be Desirable, Feasible and Viable

The design thinking process aims to satisfy three criteria: desirability (what do people desire?), feasibility (is it technically possible to build the solution?) and viability (can the company profit from the solution?). Teams begin with desirability and then bring in the other two lenses.

Desirability: Meet People’s Needs

The design thinking process starts by looking at the needs, dreams and behaviors of people—the end users. The team listens with empathy to understand what people want, not what the organization thinks they want or need. The team then thinks about solutions to satisfy these needs from the end user’s point of view.

Feasibility: Be Technologically Possible

Once the team identifies one or more solutions, they determine whether the organization can implement them. In theory, any solution is feasible if the organization has infinite resources and time to develop the solution. However, given the team’s current (or future resources), the team evaluates if the solution is worth pursuing. The team may iterate on the solution to make it more feasible or plan to increase its resources (say, hire more people or acquire specialized machinery).

At the beginning of the design thinking process, teams should not get too caught up in the technical implementation. If teams begin with technical constraints, they might restrict innovation.

Viability: Generate Profits

A desirable and technically feasible product isn’t enough. The organization must be able to generate revenues and profits from the solution. The viability lens is essential not only for commercial organizations but also for non-profits.

Traditionally, companies begin with feasibility or viability and then try to find a problem to fit the solution and push it to the market. Design thinking reverses this process and advocates that teams begin with desirability and bring in the other two lenses later.

The Five Stages of Design Thinking

Stanford University’s Hasso Plattner Institute of Design, commonly known as the d.school, is renowned for its pioneering approach to design thinking. Their design process has five phases: Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, and Test. These stages are not always sequential. Teams often run them in parallel, out of order, and repeat them as needed.

Stage 1: Empathize —Research Users' Needs

The team aims to understand the problem, typically through user research. Empathy is crucial to design thinking because it allows designers to set aside your assumptions about the world and gain insight into users and their needs.

Stage 2: Define—State Users' Needs and Problems

Once the team accumulates the information, they analyze the observations and synthesize them to define the core problems. These definitions are called problem statements . The team may create personas to help keep efforts human-centered.

Stage 3: Ideate—Challenge Assumptions and Create Ideas

With the foundation ready, teams gear up to “think outside the box.” They brainstorm alternative ways to view the problem and identify innovative solutions to the problem statement.

Stage 4: Prototype—Start to Create Solutions

This is an experimental phase. The aim is to identify the best possible solution for each problem. The team produces inexpensive, scaled-down versions of the product (or specific features found within the product) to investigate the ideas. This may be as simple as paper prototypes .

Stage 5: Test—Try the Solutions Out

The team tests these prototypes with real users to evaluate if they solve the problem. The test might throw up new insights, based on which the team might refine the prototype or even go back to the Define stage to revisit the problem.

These stages are different modes that contribute to the entire design project rather than sequential steps. The goal is to gain a deep understanding of the users and their ideal solution/product.

Design Thinking Frameworks

There is no single definition or process for design thinking. The five-stage design thinking methodology described above is just one of several frameworks.

Hasso-Platner Institute Panorama

Ludwig Wilhelm Wall, CC BY-SA 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Innovation doesn’t follow a linear path or have a clear-cut formula. Global design leaders and consultants have interpreted the abstract design process in different ways and have proposed other frameworks of design thinking.

Head, Heart and Hand by the American Institution of Graphic Arts (AIGA)

The Head, Heart, and Hand approach by AIGA (American Institute of Graphic Arts) is a holistic perspective on design. It integrates the intellectual, emotional, and practical aspects of the creative process.

More than a process, the Head, Heart and Hand framework outlines the different roles that designers must perform to create great results.

“ Head ” symbolizes the intellectual component. The team focuses on strategic thinking, problem-solving and the cognitive aspects of design. It involves research and analytical thinking to ensure that design decisions are purposeful.

“ Heart ” represents the emotional dimension. It emphasizes empathy, passion, and human-centeredness. This aspect is crucial in understanding the users’ needs, desires, and experiences to ensure that designs resonate on a deeper, more personal level.

“ Hand ” signifies the practical execution of ideas, the craftsmanship, and the skills necessary to turn concepts into tangible solutions. This includes the mastery of tools, techniques, and materials, as well as the ability to implement and execute design ideas effectively.

Inspire, Ideate, Implement by IDEO

IDEO is a leading design consultancy and has developed its own version of the design thinking framework.

The 3 core activities of deisgn thinking, by IDEO.

IDEO’s design thinking process is a cyclical three-step process that involves Inspiration, Ideation and Implementation.

In the “ Inspire ” phase, the team focuses on understanding users’ needs, behaviors, and motivations. The team empathizes with people through observation and user interviews to gather deep insights.

In the “ Ideate ” phase, the team synthesizes the insights gained to brainstorm a wide array of creative solutions. This stage encourages divergent thinking, where teams focus on quantity and variety of ideas over immediate practicality. The goal is to explore as many possibilities as possible without constraints.

In the “ Implement ” phase, the team brings these ideas to life through prototypes. The team tests, iterates and refines these ideas based on user feedback. This stage is crucial for translating abstract concepts into tangible, viable products, services, or experiences.

The methodology emphasizes collaboration and a multidisciplinary approach throughout each phase to ensure solutions are innovative and deeply rooted in real human needs and contexts.

The Double Diamond by the Design Council

In the book Designing Social Systems in a Changing World , Béla Heinrich Bánáthy, Professor at San Jose State University and UC Berkeley, created a “divergence-convergence model” diagram. The British Design Council interpreted this diagram to create the Double Diamond design process model.

As the name suggests, the double diamond model consists of two diamonds—one for the problem space and the other for the solution space. The model uses diamonds to represent the alternating diverging and converging activities.

In the diverging “ Discover ” phase, designers gather insights and empathize with users’ needs. The team then converges in the “ Define ” phase to identify the problem.

The second, solution-related diamond, begins with “ Develop ,” where the team brainstorms ideas. The final stage is “ Deliver ,” where the team tests the concepts and implements the most viable solution.

This model balances expansive thinking with focused execution to ensure that design solutions are both creative and practical. It underscores the importance of understanding the problem thoroughly and carefully crafting the solution, making it a staple in many design and innovation processes.

With the widespread adoption of the double diamond framework, Design Council’s simple visual evolved.

In this expanded and annotated version, the framework emphasizes four design principles:

Be people-centered.

Communicate (visually and inclusively).

Collaborate and co-create.

Iterate, iterate, iterate!

The updated version also highlights the importance of leadership (to create an environment that allows innovation) and engagement (to connect with different stakeholders and involve them in the design process).

Common Elements of Design Thinking Frameworks

On the surface, design thinking frameworks look very different—they use alternative names and have different numbers of steps. However, at a fundamental level, they share several common traits.

Start with empathy . Focus on the people to come up with solutions that work best for individuals, business, and society.

Reframe the problem or challenge at hand . Don’t rush into a solution. Explore the problem space and look at the issue through multiple perspectives to gain a more holistic, nuanced understanding.

Initially, employ a divergent style of thinking (analyze) . In the problem space, gather as many insights as possible. In the solution space, encourage team members to generate and explore as many solutions as possible in an open, judgment-free ideation space.

Later, employ a convergent style of thinking (synthesize) . In the problem space, synthesize all data points to define the problem. In the solution space, whittle down all the ideas—isolate, combine and refine potential solutions to create more mature ideas.

Create and test prototypes . Solutions that make it through the previous stages get tested further to remove potential issues.

Iterate . As the team progresses through the various stages, they revisit different stages and may redefine the challenge based on new insights.

Five stages in the design thinking process.

Design thinking is a non-linear process. For example, teams may jump from the test stage to the define stage if the tests reveal insights that redefine the problem. Or, a prototype might spark a new idea, prompting the team to step back into the ideate stage. Tests may also create new ideas for projects or reveal insights about users.

Design Thinking Mindsets: More than a Process

A mindset is a characteristic mental attitude that determines how one interprets and responds to situations . Design thinking mindsets are how individuals think , feel and express themselves during design thinking activities. It includes people’s expectations and orientations during a design project.

Without the right mindset, it can be very challenging to change how we work and think.

The key mindsets that ensure a team can successfully implement design thinking are.

Be empathetic: Empathy is the ability to place yourself, your thinking and feelings in another person’s shoes. Design thinking begins from a deep understanding of the needs and motivations of people—the parents, neighbors, children, colleagues, and strangers who make up a community.

Be collaborative: No one person is responsible for the outcome when you work in a team. Several great minds are always stronger than just one. Design thinking benefits from the views of multiple perspectives and lets others’ creativity bolster your own.

Be optimistic: Be confident about achieving favorable outcomes. Design thinking is the fundamental belief that we can all create change—no matter how big a problem, how little time, or how small a budget. Designing can be a powerful process no matter what constraints exist around you.

Embrace ambiguity: Get comfortable with ambiguous and complex situations. If you expect perfection, it is difficult to take risks, which limits your ability to create radical change. Design thinking is all about experimenting and learning by doing. It gives you the confidence to believe that new, better things are possible and that you can help make them a reality.

Be curious: Be open to different ideas. Recognize that you are not the user.

Reframe: Challenge and reframe assumptions associated with a given situation or problem. Don’t take problems at face value. Humans are primed to look for patterns. The unfortunate side effect of these patterns is that we form (often false and sometimes dangerous) stereotypes and assumptions. Design thinking aims to help you break through any preconceived notions and biases and reframe challenges.

Embrace diversity: Work with and engage people with different cultural backgrounds, experiences, and ways of thinking and working. Everyone brings a unique perspective to the team. When you include diverse voices in a team, you learn from each other’s experiences, further helping you break through your assumptions.

Make tangible: When you make ideas tangible, it is faster and easier for everyone on the team to be on the same page. For example, sketching an idea or enacting a scenario is far more convenient and easy to interpret than an elaborate presentation or document.

Take action: Run experiments and learn from them.

Design Thinking vs Agile Methodology

Teams often use design thinking and agile methodologies in project management, product development, and software development. These methodologies have distinct approaches but share some common principles.

Similarities between Design Thinking and Agile

Iterative process.

Both methodologies emphasize iterative development. In design thinking, teams may jump from one phase to another, not necessarily in a set cyclical or linear order. For example, on testing a prototype, teams may discover something new about their users and realize that they must redefine the problem. Agile teams iterate through development sprints.

User-Centered

The agile and design thinking methodologies focus on the end user. All design thinking activities—from empathizing to prototyping and testing—keep the end users front and center. Agile teams continually integrate user feedback into development cycles.

Collaboration and Teamwork

Both methodologies rely heavily on collaboration among cross-functional teams and encourage diverse perspectives and expertise.

Flexibility and Adaptability

With its focus on user research, prototyping and testing, design thinking ensures teams remain in touch with users and get continuous feedback. Similarly, agile teams monitor user feedback and refine the product in a reasonably quick time.

In this video, Laura Klein, author of Build Better Products , describes a typical challenge designers face on agile teams. She encourages designers to get comfortable with the idea of a design not being perfect. Notice the many parallels between Laura’s advice for designers on agile teams and the mindsets of design thinking.

Differences between Design Thinking and Agile

While design thinking and agile teams share principles like iteration, user focus, and collaboration, they are neither interchangeable nor mutually exclusive. A team can apply both methodologies without any conflict.

From a user experience design perspective, design thinking applies to the more abstract elements of strategy and scope. At the same time, agile is more relevant to the more concrete elements of UX: structure, skeleton and surface. For quick reference, here’s an overview of the five elements of user experience.

Design thinking is more about exploring and defining the right problem and solution, whereas agile is about efficiently executing and delivering a product.

Here are the key differences between design thinking and agile.

Design Sprint: A Condensed Version of Design Thinking

A design sprint is a 5-day intensive workshop where cross-functional teams aim to develop innovative solutions.

The design sprint is a very structured version of design thinking that fits into the timeline of a sprint (a sprint is a short timeframe in which agile teams work to produce deliverables). Developed by Google Ventures, the design sprint seeks to fast-track innovation.

In this video, user researcher Ditte Hvas Mortensen explains the design sprint in detail.

Learn More about Design Thinking

Design consultancy IDEO’s designkit is an excellent repository of design thinking tools and case studies.

To keep up with recent developments in design thinking, read IDEO CEO Tim Brown’s blog .

Enroll in our course Design Thinking: The Ultimate Guide —an excellent guide to get you started on your design thinking projects.

Questions related to Design Thinking

You don’t need any certification to practice design thinking. However, learning about the nuances of the methodology can help you:

Pick the appropriate methods and tailor the process to suit the unique needs of your project.

Avoid common pitfalls when you apply the methods.

Better lead a team and facilitate workshops.

Increase the chances of coming up with innovative solutions.

IxDF has a comprehensive course to help you gain the most from the methodology: Design Thinking: The Ultimate Guide .

Anyone can apply design thinking to solve problems. Despite what the name suggests, non-designers can use the methodology in non-design-related scenarios. The methodology helps you think about problems from the end user’s perspective. Some areas where you can apply this process:

Develop new products with greater chances of success.

Address community-related issues (such as education, healthcare and environment) to improve society and living standards.

Innovate/enhance existing products to gain an advantage over the competition.

Achieve greater efficiencies in operations and reduce costs.

Use the Design Thinking: The Ultimate Guide course to apply design thinking to your context today.

A framework is the basic structure underlying a system, concept, or text. There are several design thinking frameworks with slight differences. However, all the frameworks share some traits. Each framework:

Begins with empathy.

Reframes the problem or challenge at hand.

Initially employs divergent styles of thinking to generate ideas.

Later, it employs convergent styles of thinking to narrow down the best ideas,

Creates and tests prototypes.

Iterates based on the tests.

Some of the design thinking frameworks are:

5-stage design process by d.school

7-step early traditional design process by Herbert Simon

The 5-Stage DeepDive™ by IDEO

The “Double Diamond” Design Process Model by the Design Council

Collective Action Toolkit (CAT) by Frog Design

The LUMA System of Innovation by LUMA Institute

For details about each of these frameworks, see 10 Insightful Design Thinking Frameworks: A Quick Overview .

IDEO’s 3-Stage Design Thinking Process consists of inspiration, ideation and implementation:

Inspire : The problem or opportunity inspires and motivates the search for a solution.

Ideate : A process of synthesis distills insights which can lead to solutions or opportunities for change.

Implement : The best ideas are turned into a concrete, fully conceived action plan.

IDEO is a leader in applying design thinking and has developed many frameworks. Find out more in 10 Insightful Design Thinking Frameworks: A Quick Overview .

Design Council's Double Diamond diagram depicts the divergent and convergent stages of the design process.

Béla H. Bánáthy, founder of the White Stag Leadership Development Program, created the “divergence-convergence” model in 1996. In the mid-2000s, the British Design Council made this famous as the Double Diamond model.

The Double Diamond diagram graphically represents a design thinking process. It highlights the divergent and convergent styles of thinking in the design process. It has four distinct phases:

Discover: Initial idea or inspiration based on user needs.

Define: Interpret user needs and align them with business objectives.

Develop: Develop, iterate and test design-led solutions.

Deliver: Finalize and launch the end product into the market.

Double Diamond is one of several design thinking frameworks. Find out more in 10 Insightful Design Thinking Frameworks: A Quick Overview .

There are several design thinking methods that you can choose from, depending on what stage of the process you’re in. Here are a few common design thinking methods:

User Interviews: to understand user needs, pain points, attitudes and behaviors.

5 Whys Method: to dig deeper into problems to diagnose the root cause.

User Observations: to understand how users behave in real life (as opposed to what they say they do).

Affinity Diagramming: to organize research findings.

Empathy Mapping: to empathize with users based on research insights.

Journey Mapping: to visualize a user’s experience as they solve a problem.

6 Thinking Hats: to encourage a group to think about a problem or solution from multiple perspectives.

Brainstorming: to generate ideas.

Prototyping: to make abstract ideas more tangible and test them.

Dot Voting: to select ideas.

Start applying these methods to your work today with the Design Thinking template bundle .

For most of the design thinking process, you will need basic office stationery:

Pen and paper

Sticky notes

Whiteboard and markers

Print-outs of templates and canvases as needed (such as empathy maps, journey maps, feedback capture grid etc.) You can also draw these out manually.

Prototyping materials such as UI stencils, string, clay, Lego bricks, sticky tapes, scissors and glue.

A space to work in.

You can conduct design thinking workshops remotely by:

Using collaborative software to simulate the whiteboard and sticky notes.

Using digital templates instead of printed canvases.

Download print-ready templates you can share with your team to practice design thinking today.

Design thinking is a problem-solving methodology that helps teams better identify, understand, and solve business and customer problems.

When businesses prioritize and empathize with customers, they can create solutions catering to their needs. Happier customers are more likely to be loyal and organically advocate for the product.

Design thinking helps businesses develop innovative solutions that give them a competitive advantage.

Gain a competitive advantage in your business with Design Thinking: The Ultimate Guide .

The evolution of Design Thinking can be summarised in 8 key events from the 1960s to 2004.

Herbert Simon’s 1969 book, "The Sciences of the Artificial," has one of the earliest references to design thinking. David Kelley, founder of the design consultancy IDEO, coined the term “design thinking” and helped make it popular.

For a more comprehensive discussion on the origins of design thinking, see The History of Design Thinking .

Some organizations that have employed design thinking successfully are:

Airbnb: Airbnb used design thinking to create a platform for people to rent out their homes to travelers. The company focused on the needs of both hosts and guests . The result was a user-friendly platform to help people find and book accommodations.

PillPack: PillPack is a prescription home-delivery system. The company focused on the needs of people who take multiple medications and created a system that organizes pills by date and time. Amazon bought PillPack in 2018 for $1 billion .

Google Creative Lab: Google Creative Lab collaborated with IDEO to discover how kids physically play and learn. The team used design thinking to create Project Bloks . The project helps children develop foundational problem-solving skills "through coding experiences that are playful, tactile and collaborative.”

See more examples of design thinking and learn practical methods in Design Thinking: The Ultimate Guide .

Innovation essentially means a new idea. Design thinking is a problem-solving methodology that helps teams develop new ideas. In other words, design thinking can lead to innovation.

Human-Centered Design is a newer term for User-Centered Design

“Human-centred design is an approach to interactive systems development that aims to make systems usable and useful by focusing on the users, their needs and requirements, and by applying human factors/ergonomics, and usability knowledge and techniques. This approach enhances effectiveness and efficiency, improves human well-being, user satisfaction, accessibility and sustainability; and counteracts possible adverse effects of use on human health, safety and performance.”

— ISO 9241-210:2019(en), ISO (the International Organization for Standardization)

User experience expert Don Norman describes human-centered design (HCD) as a more evolved form of user-centered design (UCD). The word "users" removes their importance and treats them more like objects than people. By replacing “user” with “human,” designers can empathize better with the people for whom they are designing. Don Norman takes HCD a step further and prefers the term People-Centered Design.

Design thinking has a broader scope and takes HCD beyond the design discipline to drive innovation.

People sometimes use design thinking and human-centered design to mean the same thing. However, they are not the same. HCD is a formal discipline with a specific process used only by designers and usability engineers to design products. Design thinking borrows the design methods and applies them to problems in general.

Design Sprint condenses design thinking into a 1-week structured workshop

Google Ventures condensed the design thinking framework into a time-constrained 5-day workshop format called the Design Sprint. The sprint follows one step per day of the week:

Monday: Unpack

Tuesday: Sketch

Wednesday: Decide

Thursday: Prototype

Friday: Test

Learn more about the design sprint in Make Your UX Design Process Agile Using Google’s Methodology .

Systems Thinking is a distinct discipline with a broader approach to problem-solving

“Systems thinking is a way of exploring and developing effective action by looking at connected wholes rather than separate parts.”

— Introduction to Systems thinking, Report of GSE and GORS seminar, Civil Service Live

Both HCD and Systems Thinking are formal disciplines. Designers and usability engineers primarily use HCD. Systems thinking has applications in various fields, such as medical, environmental, political, economic, human resources, and educational systems.

HCD has a much narrower focus and aims to create and improve products. Systems thinking looks at the larger picture and aims to change entire systems.

Don Norman encourages designers to incorporate systems thinking in their work. Instead of looking at people and problems in isolation, designers must look at them from a systems point of view.

In summary, UCD and HCD refer to the same field, with the latter being a preferred phrase.

Design thinking is a broader framework that borrows methods from human-centered design to approach problems beyond the design discipline. It encourages people with different backgrounds and expertise to work together and apply the designer’s way of thinking to generate innovative solutions to problems.

Systems thinking is another approach to problem-solving that looks at the big picture instead of specific problems in isolation.

The design sprint is Google Ventures’ version of the design thinking process, structured to fit the design process in 1 week.

There are multiple design thinking frameworks, each with a different number of steps and phase names. One of the most popular frameworks is the Stanford d.School 5-stage process.

Design Thinking: A Non-Linear process. Empathy helps define problem, Prototype sparks a new idea, tests reveal insights that redefine the problem, tests create new ideas for project, learn about users (empathize) through testing.

Design thinking is an iterative and non-linear process. It contains five phases: 1. Empathize, 2. Define, 3. Ideate, 4. Prototype and 5. Test. It is important to note the five stages of design thinking are not always sequential. They do not have to follow a specific order, and they can often occur in parallel or be repeated iteratively. The stages should be understood as different modes which contribute to the entire design project, rather than sequential steps.

For more details, see The 5 Stages in the Design Thinking Process .

IDEO is a leading design consultancy and has developed its own version of the design thinking framework and adds the dimension of implementation in the process.

IDEO’s framework uses slightly different terms than d.school’s design thinking process and adds an extra dimension of implementation. The steps in the DeepDive™ Methodology are: Understand, Observe, Visualize, Evaluate and Implement.

IDEO’s DeepDive™ Methodology includes the following steps:

Understand: Conduct research and identify what the client needs and the market landscape

Observe: Similar to the Empathize step, teams observe people in live scenarios and conduct user research to identify their needs and pain points.

Visualize: In this step, the team visualizes new concepts. Similar to the Ideate phase, teams focus on creative, out-of-the-box and novel ideas.

Evaluate: The team prototypes ideas and evaluates them. After refining the prototypes, the team picks the most suitable one.

Implement: The team then sets about to develop the new concept for commercial use.

IDEO’s DeepDive™ is one of several design thinking frameworks. Find out more in 10 Insightful Design Thinking Frameworks: A Quick Overview .

Answer a Short Quiz to Earn a Gift

What are the stages in the design thinking process?

Brainstorm, Prototype, Design, Launch, Test
Define, Ideate, Research, Design, Test
Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, Test

Why is empathy critical in the design thinking process?

It allows designers to understand and address the real needs of users.
It helps designers maintain control over the creative process.
It makes sure the solution is inexpensive and easy to create.

What is the primary purpose of the prototyping phase in design thinking?

To explore potential solutions and how they might work in real-world situations
To finalize the product design for mass production
To sell the idea to stakeholders with a high-fidelity (hi-fi) demonstration

What is a "wicked problem" in design thinking?

Problems that are complex, ill-defined and have no single correct answer.
Problems that are straightforward and have a clear, single solution.
Problems that are tricky, but can be solved quickly with conventional methods.

Why is the iterative process important in design thinking?

It allows design teams to use up all available resources.
It allows for the improvement of solutions based on user feedback and testing.
It makes sure the solution remains unchanged throughout development.

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Literature on Design Thinking (DT)

Here’s the entire UX literature on Design Thinking (DT) by the Interaction Design Foundation, collated in one place:

Learn more about Design Thinking (DT)

Take a deep dive into Design Thinking (DT) with our course Design Thinking: The Ultimate Guide .

Some of the world’s leading brands, such as Apple, Google, Samsung, and General Electric, have rapidly adopted the design thinking approach, and design thinking is being taught at leading universities around the world, including Stanford d.school, Harvard, and MIT. What is design thinking, and why is it so popular and effective?

Design Thinking is not exclusive to designers —all great innovators in literature, art, music, science, engineering and business have practiced it. So, why call it Design Thinking? Well, that’s because design work processes help us systematically extract, teach, learn and apply human-centered techniques to solve problems in a creative and innovative way—in our designs, businesses, countries and lives. And that’s what makes it so special.

The overall goal of this design thinking course is to help you design better products, services, processes, strategies, spaces, architecture, and experiences. Design thinking helps you and your team develop practical and innovative solutions for your problems. It is a human-focused , prototype-driven , innovative design process . Through this course, you will develop a solid understanding of the fundamental phases and methods in design thinking, and you will learn how to implement your newfound knowledge in your professional work life. We will give you lots of examples; we will go into case studies, videos, and other useful material, all of which will help you dive further into design thinking. In fact, this course also includes exclusive video content that we've produced in partnership with design leaders like Alan Dix, William Hudson and Frank Spillers!

This course contains a series of practical exercises that build on one another to create a complete design thinking project. The exercises are optional, but you’ll get invaluable hands-on experience with the methods you encounter in this course if you complete them, because they will teach you to take your first steps as a design thinking practitioner. What’s equally important is you can use your work as a case study for your portfolio to showcase your abilities to future employers! A portfolio is essential if you want to step into or move ahead in a career in the world of human-centered design.

Design thinking methods and strategies belong at every level of the design process . However, design thinking is not an exclusive property of designers—all great innovators in literature, art, music, science, engineering, and business have practiced it. What’s special about design thinking is that designers and designers’ work processes can help us systematically extract, teach, learn, and apply these human-centered techniques in solving problems in a creative and innovative way—in our designs, in our businesses, in our countries, and in our lives.

That means that design thinking is not only for designers but also for creative employees , freelancers , and business leaders . It’s for anyone who seeks to infuse an approach to innovation that is powerful, effective and broadly accessible, one that can be integrated into every level of an organization, product, or service so as to drive new alternatives for businesses and society.

You earn a verifiable and industry-trusted Course Certificate once you complete the course. You can highlight them on your resume, CV, LinkedIn profile or your website .

All open-source articles on Design Thinking (DT)

What is design thinking and why is it so popular.

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Stage 2 in the Design Thinking Process: Define the Problem and Interpret the Results

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What is Ideation – and How to Prepare for Ideation Sessions

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Affinity Diagrams: How to Cluster Your Ideas and Reveal Insights

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Stage 4 in the Design Thinking Process: Prototype

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Stage 3 in the Design Thinking Process: Ideate

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Stage 1 in the Design Thinking Process: Empathise with Your Users

Empathy Map – Why and How to Use It

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10 Insightful Design Thinking Frameworks: A Quick Overview

Define and Frame Your Design Challenge by Creating Your Point Of View and Ask “How Might We”

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Design Thinking: Get Started with Prototyping

5 Common Low-Fidelity Prototypes and Their Best Practices

Design Thinking: New Innovative Thinking for New Problems

Test Your Prototypes: How to Gather Feedback and Maximize Learning

The History of Design Thinking

The Ultimate Guide to Understanding UX Roles and Which One You Should Go For

Stage 5 in the Design Thinking Process: Test

What Are Wicked Problems and How Might We Solve Them?

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http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2759-8036 Mariana Oliveira ,
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8361-0637 Eduardo Zancul ,
http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4937-0339 André Leme Fleury
School of Engineering, Industrial Engineering Department , Universidade de São Paulo (USP) , Sao Paulo , Brazil
Correspondence to Dr Eduardo Zancul, School of Engineering, Industrial Engineering Department, Universidade de São Paulo (USP), Sao Paulo, Brazil; ezancul{at}usp.br

Design thinking has been increasingly adopted as an approach to support innovation in healthcare. Recent publications report design thinking application to various innovation projects, across medical specialties, including paediatrics, psychiatry, radiology, gastroenterology, oncology, orthopaedics and surgery, as well as to innovation in hospital operations and healthcare management. Current literature in the area typically focuses on single case descriptions. With the recent increase in the number of cases, there is an opportunity to assess multiple cases to identify patterns and avenues for further research. This study provides a systematic review of published design thinking projects in healthcare. The aim of the study is to provide an overview of how design thinking has been applied in the healthcare sector. Data collection was based on Institute of Scientific Information (ISI) Web of Science, PubMed and Scopus databases. The systematic review followed Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. A total of 32 original pieces of research was selected for analysis, being classified and assessed. The paper presents current status of research and practice from various perspectives, including the design thinking progression phase—inspiration, ideation, implementation—and the prevalence of design thinking tools. Avenues for further research include the need to increase focus on the inspiration phase, the opportunity for platforms for leveraging the integration of individuals in innovation projects, and the opportunity to enhance the role of lead users in healthcare innovation.

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All data relevant to the study are included in the article or uploaded as supplemental information. Data reuse is permitted.

https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjinnov-2020-000428

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Summary box

What is already known.

Design thinking has been adopted in healthcare innovation projects in several domains, with reports of positive outcomes.

What are the new findings?

The research details the design thinking processes and tools applied in healthcare based on multiple case reports.

Design thinking provides a frame for addressing the development of healthcare innovation by balancing contextual factors (eg, users, stakeholders, resources) and clinical evidence.

Design thinking is an ally for democratising access to healthcare through innovative solutions in low-resource settings.

Opportunities for further research include: (a) increased focus on the inspiration stage, (b) creation of platforms for leveraging the integration of individuals in health innovation projects, (c) e-health focused user research and (d) lead user involvement.

Introduction

Healthcare is increasingly applying design knowledge and competence to deal with challenges, 1 as design provides a frame for understanding and developing a subject or business and its related policies, products, resources and services. 2 As a matter of fact, innovation is required to address the changing environments (eg, ageing of the population) and guarantee the financial sustainability of health services; 3 this may be achieved by improving health outcomes at a good value, reducing cost for care or tracking health outcomes. 4 In this scenario, design thinking emerges as an approach for incorporating innovation in medical practice in public and private sectors. 5 Clinical outcomes of healthcare interventions that claim to have employed design thinking have proven to be positive. 6 Design thinking application may potentially benefit the design of new health devices, products and processes, and the implementation of evidence-based practices. 7

Brown 8 popularised the term design thinking and promoted a significant increase in its published research literature. Despite the increase in research, there is still a lack of standardisation regarding the definition and understanding of what is design thinking. 9–11 In convergence with trends in the literature, we define design thinking as a human-centred approach for solving complex problems employing attributes such as creativity, user involvement, multidisciplinary teamwork, iteration, prototyping and user centredness. 9–11 Many toolkits 12 13 and practical guides 14 presenting design thinking processes have been published; despite of using different terms to refer to the design thinking phases, they follow the same overall logic for problem-solving. 9–11 15 16 Practically, design thinking may be portrayed in three iterative phases: inspiration, ideation and implementation.

Inspiration is the first phase and it is based on need-finding: understanding the core issue of the problem by empathising with the user and discovering their explicit and non-explicit needs. Users and stakeholders identification is critical for innovation success; 17 18 in healthcare, this task has an increased complexity due to the various paying systems structures. 4 Ethnographic research techniques, such as observation and interviewing, are recommended at the inspiration phase. 16 After the need is defined, data analysis and solution conceptualisation start at the second phase, ideation; many strategies may be used to foster concept generation and free-of-judgement creativity at this second phase. 10 Studies acknowledge the positive effects of a visually stimulating environment on problem-solving; 19 low-fidelity prototyping is used as a source of ideas and a tool for concept validation; 15 sensemaking tools, like mind-mapping, are used to support brainstorming. 16 The aims of the third and final phase, implementation, are to refine and build the concept validated during the second phase and draw a marketing strategy for the final product. Prototyping is again required at this phase, but with higher fidelity as testing will also be required. 16

Previous works have analysed the impacts of solutions developed using a design thinking approach on health outcomes both in broad 1 and deep 6 accounts. However, rigorous evaluations on how design thinking is operationalised in the health sector from a process perspective remain an opportunity for further integrating design knowledge into health research. 1 This article aims to appraise the final results of solutions developed using design thinking in healthcare and the course of actions and tools that took place throughout development. As the enactment of the design thinking approach is context-dependent, 10 20 the format of a systematic literature search and review are aligned with the aim of this research; 21 22 an exhaustive search allows for an aggregate appreciation of the literature, and capturing several configurations in which design thinking is adopted.

We contribute to the literature by consolidating previous reports on how design thinking has been applied in the healthcare sector and drawing conclusions from these reports. This article is also directed to practitioners as it presents tools used when applying design thinking. We will analyse articles reporting solutions ranging from the early stages of their development to solutions that are available to the market. By reviewing articles that report developing solutions, we aim to capture perspectives on every phase in the development process and avoid publication bias. We will review and tabulate aspects of each study, such as the nature of the innovation intervention, which design thinking tools were employed, team multidisciplinarity and stakeholder involvement. Finally, we will discuss the contents of the studies analysed and possible avenues for research. We aim to provide an overview of the best practices on design thinking in healthcare.

Data collection began with a search in Institute of Scientific Information (ISI) Web of Science, PubMed and Scopus databases without start date constraint (ie, from their inception) until October 2019; the earliest publication record found dated from February 2003. The three databases were chosen to provide a comprehensive search on journals focused on the disciplines of interest of this paper (eg, design, business, engineering, health sciences). The search strings used were ‘“design think*” or “user-cent* design” or “user cent* design” or “human-cent* design” or “human cent* design”’ + ‘innovation’ + ‘“health*” or “medical”’ included on title, abstract or keywords. In spite of subtle differences among the terms user-centred design, human-centred design and design thinking, 1 there is a conceptual overlap between these terms. In accordance with previous works, we will use them as synonyms. 1 6

The systematic review followed Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines (see online supplemental file exhibit A1 ). 23 Only primary peer-reviewed studies were eligible for the study. Search was restricted to papers published in English. A total of 224 articles and reviews were identified in database search, of which 150 came to be non-duplicate documents. Scopus yielded 89 unique results to our search, the Web of Science (WoS) database yielded 32 non-duplicate results when compared with Scopus results, and the PubMed database yielded 29 non-duplicate results when compared with Scopus and WoS results.

Supplemental material

An initial selection process was conducted aiming to filter documents that were not aligned with the research scope through title and abstract analysis, followed by a full-text review of the selected articles. Our research targets articles describing experiences, perceptions and assessment on the development of innovative health-related solutions, specifically on medical devices, products and processes following a design thinking approach. In this review, medical devices refer to hardware solutions, medical products refer to innovative treatments or service offerings solutions (eg, mobile health (m-health) solutions), and processes refer to untangible routines, whether these routines are visible to the patients or not. 24 25 Articles unrelated were discarded. Most articles discarded in title and abstract review regarded pharmaceutical solutions and health aids to be used by the patients without an interface to a health professional. In full-text review, the articles discarded included theoretical reports without an associated solution development, literature reviews, event descriptions, and articles that were not focused on the solution development (eg, design theory, design teaching, testing routines).

After title and abstract review, 65 articles were selected for full-text review. This sample was submitted to bibliometric analysis to identify the main references in their cocitation network, which resulted in the addition of eight references. Finally, following a full-text review, 32 references were selected for analysis. Selection process is made available ( online supplemental file exhibit A2 ).

Literature review results

The final 32 studies were reviewed and summarised ( online supplemental file exhibits A3 and A4 ). As design thinking has no unique coded language, 9 some of the objects of interest in this review were coded for analysis and comparison purposes ( online supplemental file exhibit A5 presents our codes and their correspondance with each of the papers in our sample). A few codes (eg, prototyping) are present in more than one design thinking phase; when evaluating the papers, we took into consideration reports given by the authors to assess the maturity of the activities and whether these activities would fall into one phase or another (eg, cardboard prototypes were considered an ideation phase activity, while functional prototypes were considered implementation phase activities).

Solution status was classified according to what is reported in their studies; due to design thinking’s iterative nature, it is possible that one intervention has performed an ‘implementation’ phase activity, but its status is still at the ideation stage. At the time of publishing, five of the solutions were at the inspiration stage of design thinking and had finalised their need assessments, 26–29 or had study protocols established. 30 Eighteen of the 32 solutions were at the ideation stage, having either a visual prototype, 31 a design concept 32–35 or a functional prototype 36–48 finalised. Regarding the implementation stage, out of eight solutions, one had a final product developed but not implemented, 3 six were fully implemented, 49–54 and one had been implemented and failed. 55 One solution was discontinued due to resource limitations. 56

Regarding medical specialty, of the 32 studies, 10 discussed initiatives to manage chronic disease, 3 32 35 37 38 40 41 46 50 55 4 brought solutions for hospital management, 26 34 47 49 4 on paediatrics, 43 44 51 53 3 on psychiatry, 30 31 48 2 on radiology, 27 39 2 on geriatrics, 29 43 and single articles pulverised in multiple areas, such as addiction, 36 family health, 28 gastroenterology, 52 general practice, 42 oncology, 54 orthopaedics 33 and surgery. 45

A noteworthy theme across our sample is the creation and use of cloud-based multipurpose digital platforms. 35 38 41 43 46 This type of intervention aims to provide an actionable use of information by patients, health professionals and providers while optimising resource allocation (eg, one of the papers presents two solutions for medication management targetting two different populations using a shared architecture for personal health record systems). 43

Four of the papers in our sample provide solutions that aim to address more than one target condition; 28 31 50 51 these works elicited from both user and desk research that these conditions were intertwined and could benefit from being treated as a whole rather than as separate parts. For example, one of the solutions developed a clinical decision support for addressing tuberculosis prevention and treatment considering the high prevalence of HIV infection among the local population. 50

Another recurring theme is the systematisation of stakeholder involvement across various specialties and target conditions, such as orthopaedics, 33 surgical rounds 26 and pharmacy management. 34 One of the papers even reported an increase in its engagement metrics after the refinement of the intervention based on stakeholder feedback. 48

The vast majority of the papers in our sample report interventions in the form of software tools. Only six of the papers report the development of medical devices; we assume this happens due to resource constraints and a longer time to market of medical devices when compared with other types of interventions (eg, one of the papers reported a 48-month project duration). 39 Isolated papers report the creation of events (eg, creation of a seasonal community market to generate income aiming to address social determinants of health inequities), 53 timetables (eg, collaborative creation of a timetable balancing employees’ preferences and nursing home needs), 49 toolkits and decision support systems. The following sections present the main elucidations resulting from the systematic review.

Tools employed

Each phase of the design thinking approach and their objectives is presented in figure 1 ; for each phase, we listed the five most reported tools in our sample and their prevalence rate.

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Three phases of the design thinking approach, objectives for each phase and main tools employed.

As for the tools employed in the inspiration stage by the authors in our sample, they emphasise the bystander roles of the researchers or individuals when first starting a new project applying design thinking. At this stage, the designer—or any professional acting as a designer—must put aside his/her convictions about the problem addressed. Only then he/she is ready to effectively absorb relevant information regarding the context in which the solution is going to be developed. It is fundamental to consider this context as broadly as possible (considering time and resource limitations) to visualise the actors impacted, possible side problems that could interfere, previous documentation to improve the understanding of the situation, and any other relevant information.

Interview is the most employed tool in the inspiration stage. We assume this happens because an introductory interview is easy to perform, easy to gain access to, may have multiple formats (eg, by telephone, 33 semistructured, 27 28 30 34 39 40 unstructured 26 ) and are greatly clarifying. Observations 26 29 53 and reviews of various sorts (eg, clinical practice review, 28 32 54 literature review 30 51 ) are also clarifying and, after the initial contact is made, require little effort from the user involved in the research. Focus groups 31 36 56 and user empathy tools (eg, clinical immersion, 54 experience maps 31 ) could bring substantial information to the project but have the downside of requiring significant time and effort from both the research team and possible users or stakeholders of the intervention. Tools that do not rely solely on spoken accounts of the users or stakeholders, such as observations, do have the advantage of allowing the research team to uncover opportunities for innovation that the users or stakeholders do not perceive as valuable or achievable; we refer to these opportunities as the user’s unspoken needs.

The ideation phase gathers data collected at the immersion phase and makes sense of it by creating inputs and specifications for the solution. In other words, the users’ spoken and unspoken needs will be translated into the solution’s technical requirements. However, this ‘translation’ and data analysis is not always obvious. 34 39 50 To initialise the design of a solution, conceptualisation 40 43 45 and correlated tools such as brainstorming 27 33 49 are strongly recommended to keep the ideas as broad and fluid as possible. Other user empathy tools (eg, personas, 29 36 45 experience maps 33 47 ) may be used to support this stage. After this initial wave of ideas, the most promising ones are selected for prototyping, 36 37 40 48 which is used as a tool for concept visualisation. Design thinking postulates that prototyping helps the design team to perceive the strengths and weaknesses of their solution early in the design process and even get feedback 3 34 37 40 42 43 from the users. Anchoring the conceptualisation activities in low-fidelity prototypes promotes a quick escalation in the attributes of the concept and smart allocation of resources in ideas that are worth pursuing.

The implementation phase, which aims to refine the ideated concept into a viable solution, was the least reported among our sample, as a significant portion of the articles did not report reaching this phase. Some of those who had reached it focused their reports on assessing the intervention and not describing their development process, 51–53 and a couple of articles reported that they would not disclose these issues due to commercial confidentiality. 27 39 Among the references that did report tools employed in the implementation stage, testing was the most mentioned tool (eg, user testing, 37 42 44 requirements testing 34 45 ), followed by prototyping, 31 34 36 38 40 45 47 53 interviews, 33 36 42 50 54 55 solution evaluation, 36 44 46 50 and solution feedback. 3 34 38 44 It caught our attention that commercial analysis was reported by only three articles in our sample. 33 53 54 If the solution is meant to be commercially viable, this aspect must be addressed in a diligent manner.

Disciplines and stakeholders involved

Although combining different competences and backgrounds is a best practice for design thinking, 8 more than half of the articles in our sample did not report multidisciplinarity in their design thinking teams. This is problematic as diverse teams are more likely to promote relevant innovative solutions. 10 Among the literature that mentioned disciplines and areas involved in their teams, the most cited were health-related disciplines, 3 27 30 32 37 38 49 50 54 design, 30 33 38 49 53 54 Information Technology (IT), 38 50 55 56 Research and Development (R&D) 32 33 37 50 and engineering. 27 32 54

Besides congregating multiple areas of knowledge, it is necessary to gather different perspectives. Managing stakeholders in the healthcare sector is not trivial as healthcare users vary in their roles as device operators, patients or decision-makers. 29 Understanding who the stakeholders are and their roles is a key factor for achieving relevant results and requires an understanding of the business model around the product. 29 33 A solution development focused on technical issues and neglecting stakeholders' perspectives is susceptible to barriers in implementation. 39 55 Stakeholder participation assessment tools 57 and frameworks for listening to the voices of the customer, business and technology 33 are strategies to promote effective stakeholder involvement.

Developing medical devices and products must follow regulatory requirements. In the USA, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is the main body of regulation for medical devices. 58

Even though regulatory issues are inherently critical to the implementation of medical devices and products, only 12% of the articles in our sample mention the FDA or another regulator, 27 33 54 56 with only one of them stating the class their devices were fitted in. 33 Our attempt to stratify the findings in our sample according to regulation status or classification was not successful, as we found that a number of our references did not address regulatory issues. This might indicate a lack of maturity of research—or even awareness—in this topic. Design thinking brings the possibility of everyone being a part of the design process on the table, but one individual must own the process and be accountable for design feasibility and regulatory issues. Additionally, two articles did not go into detail on their developments claiming commercial confidentiality. 27 39

Discussion and avenues for research

Drawing attention to the inspiration stage.

Regarding the reportings on the tools employed in the inspiration phase, it was noted that solutions that were in more advanced stages of development—ranging from having a functional prototype to being fully implemented and commercialised—often failed to report the tools employed in the inspiration stage (19% of the sample) or lacked detail about this stage. We believe that this bias is due to the fact that researchers often prioritise describing the intervention developed to the detriment of reporting the development process.

We perceive this ‘setting aside’ of the initial development stage as counterproductive for the replication of design thinking: the engagement and understanding of the final user which is acquired from the inspiration stage are essential for developing appropriate solutions, at the risk of developing solutions that relieve the symptoms of a problem without addressing its root causes. 59 In fact, it is more crucial for the direction of the intervention that users and stakeholders are involved in the early stages when compared with the late stages of the innovation process. 18 60 If the body of literature on design thinking does not consider the relevance of this stage, there is a tendency that individuals learning from this body of literature will have the same perception. This may incur professionals involved in projects employing the design thinking approach neglecting information collected in the inspiration stage, and realising that their solutions do not fulfil user needs. 39 55 Although exhibits from the literature present a systematisation of how to incorporate the results of the inspiration phase and user-centred research throughout the development process, 27 29 due to the variety of stakeholders, users and types of problems in healthcare, further studies seeking to formalise the incorporation of inspiration phase data throughout development would be beneficial to the theory and practice of health research involving design.

Research groups, networks and common platforms for healthcare innovation

One thing that caught our attention was the establishment of research groups and software platforms for improving synergy in the development of healthcare solutions. UK-based Multidisciplinary Assessment of Technology Centre for Healthcare—a publicly funded research group with close collaboration with medical device industries—presents substantial results on research regarding the role of the user in medical device development. 61 Project HealthDesign was a sponsored multiyear, multisite project that gathered design teams across the USA to develop e-health applications using a common back-end platform. 35 41 43 Tidepool is an open-access platform designed to host and integrate applications related to diabetes management, counting with open-source development to augment and sustain the platform. 38

How to make these fruitful connections happen? Norman et al 62 propose the Complex Network Electronic Knowledge Translation Research (CoNEKTR) model for integrating individuals from distinct backgrounds by their common interest in promoting innovation in healthcare; we could not find evidence of CoNEKTR’s applicability and performance outcomes. A proven effective model for leveraging the integration of individuals around healthcare innovation will certainly be a major contribution to this research field.

The future of e-health

Approximately 56% of the articles in our sample reported a healthcare solution using e-health, with the major amount of those discussing m-health. Regarding technology usage, a part of the papers in our sample reported the development of auxiliary technologies for telemedicine, 52 56 and data-gathering technologies, such as personal health records, 29 35 41 43 55 patient self-monitoring 3 40 46 and patient motivation trackers. 32 48

Developing functional and usable e-health applications is not trivial, as there is a need to create an in-depth understanding of the user’s needs, desires, limitations, preferences, attitudes and behaviours through a user model that will serve as a common point for the different individuals involved in the development process. 29 However, capturing these psychological and psychosocial nuances is not possible with the ‘traditional’ application of user-centred methods like user profiles and personas, as they tend to rely on demographic data and shallow caricatures of user groups. 29 Not employing the rigour, time and collective sense of the importance of user research may doom user research to become an unactionable or overlooked work. 39 55

In-depth user research is necessary to address users’ underlying cognitive and behavioural patterns, user subgroups and characteristics unique to different conditions (eg, knowledge about the disease, support network, comorbidities); capturing the amount of data necessary to build actionable user profiles and personas is resource consuming, but its benefits outweigh its costs. 29 Design thinking may provide a framework for aligning healthcare system needs, user needs and software requirements towards healthcare innovation. 34 There are numerous conceptual layers from which the development of successful e-health solutions can be studied: system integration, wearables, user heuristics and interface design are just a few of them.

User involvement

von Hippel 63 introduced the concept of lead users as composed of two main characteristics: the first is that lead users face needs that will be general in the market-place prior to the bulk of that market-place; the second is that they could benefit by obtaining a solution to their needs and thus are highly motivated to seek one. These users play an active role in the development process, beyond the passive role implied by expert-driven user-centred practices, such as interviews, personas and journey mapping. There is evidence of the potential benefits of involving lead users in the co-creation and development of solutions in healthcare. 18 Involving these users could potentially increase development rates and expertise in pioneer technologies and boost commercial performance. Consequently, it could increase manufacturers’ profits by reducing time to market and development costs. 18 Even though there are generic suggestions in the literature of how to retain these lead users, 64 further research on identifying and contacting lead users in the healthcare sector may benefit future development projects.

Another discussion regarding user involvement in the healthcare industry is motivated by understanding who is the user of interest. While there are more obvious contexts where we can identify the main user (eg, a mobile app for patient self-monitoring 3 29 30 46 ), in other cases, such as a medical imaging device, 27 39 it is not clear if the main user is the patient or the healthcare professional and it is not trivial to counterbalance their needs. On top of this, there is a third stakeholder—the payer—which could be either a provider or a healthcare organisation. Further discussion on whether and how design thinking is a suitable approach to manage these user layers would be a contribution to the literature.

Design thinking is a flexible approach for innovation which is being used to develop healthcare solutions. Considering healthcare, our research shows evidence that design thinking is an approach to innovation in clinical and managerial settings, across a wide range of medical specialties. Our research findings endorse that design thinking provides a frame for addressing the development of innovation in healthcare by balancing contextual factors (eg, users, stakeholders, resources) and clinical evidence. Additionally, our sample shows that design thinking is an ally for democratising access to healthcare through innovative solutions in low-resource settings. Design thinking provides an arsenal of tools for problem-solving across the phases of inspiration, ideation and implementation.

With this review, we aimed to present a selection of practical applications of design thinking in healthcare, highlighting the most common practices among them. We present this selection of practice and tools as a guide, rather than as a toolset. The selection of 32 papers shows that design thinking is not a one-size-fits-all approach and that it may be adapted to different circumstances. To further advance this field, future research should follow more rigorous procedures for reporting health research involving design; this could be achieved by following structured guidelines. 65 Additionally, future research on emerging technologies in service of health should address user-centred design, providing replicable procedures on how to identify and address user needs. Finally, once a more consistent body of literature is consolidated, with standardised report procedures, a research agenda for quantitatively assessing the relationship between design choices and clinical outcomes may provide more assertive recommendations for the incorporation of design knowledge into health innovation.

Strengths and limitations

Despite our efforts to establish clear selection criteria, sample selection and subsequent codification were subjected to the authors’ bias. The lack of standards in reporting health research involving design, and the variability of studies in our sample both in their objects of study and development stages refrained this review from assessing criteria such as design success rate, design success critical paths, optimal team composition for design success and types of intervention (eg, devices, products, processes) for which design thinking may be more suitable. This may be interpreted as a clash between design and health sciences underlying research traditions and epistemologies. To address this issue and enable further analysis in future literature reviews, we recommend future works that report interventions on the intersection of design and health to consider following of systematic guidelines. 65

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Supplementary materials

Supplementary data.

This web only file has been produced by the BMJ Publishing Group from an electronic file supplied by the author(s) and has not been edited for content.

Data supplement 1

Contributors ALF and MO planned the study. MO conducted the data gathering and literature review analysis. ALF and EZ guided the research method and revised the manuscript.

Funding This study was financed by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) – Finance Code 001 and by the Ocean R&D Programme.

Competing interests None declared.

Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

Supplemental material This content has been supplied by the author(s). It has not been vetted by BMJ Publishing Group Limited (BMJ) and may not have been peer-reviewed. Any opinions or recommendations discussed are solely those of the author(s) and are not endorsed by BMJ. BMJ disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on the content. Where the content includes any translated material, BMJ does not warrant the accuracy and reliability of the translations (including but not limited to local regulations, clinical guidelines, terminology, drug names and drug dosages), and is not responsible for any error and/or omissions arising from translation and adaptation or otherwise.

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Design Thinking and Innovation at Apple

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Describes Apple's approach to innovation, management, and design thinking. For several years, Apple has been ranked as the most innovative company in the world, but how it has achieved such success remains mysterious because of the company's obsession with secrecy. This note considers the ingredients of Apple's success and its quest to develop, in the words of CEO Steve Jobs, insanely great products. Focuses on: 1) design thinking; 2) product development strategy and execution; 3) CEO as chief innovator; and 4) bold business experimentation.

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Managing innovation.

Jan 9, 2009 (Revised: May 1, 2012)

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Empathy to Execution: A Practical Journey through Design Thinking Stages

Table of Contents

Design Thinking: More than a Strategy! It’s a Mindset…
Design Thinking
16 Free Gantt Chart Template in Excel, PowerPoint & Google Sheet
How to Use AI for eCommerce Industry: Use Cases & Benefits
Difference Between Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality: AR vs VR

As a part of the project, we have been researching and working on Design Thinking for quite some time. But after a while, it started to feel a bit tiring and monotonous, and we didn’t want to bore our readers with the same old examples that everyone talks about. So, to make things more interesting, we decided to show our readers how Design Thinking actually works in real life through different stages.

Then what?

Without wasting any time, we asked our product team to help us with the same. They agreed to our request and demonstrated how Design Thinking works in a real-life situation. For that, they organized a meeting where everyone on the team came together to brainstorm, argue, and come up with creative solutions. The entire process was exciting and led to the desired outcome with some insightful results.

Let’s try to breakdown stages of ‘Design Thinking’ with the help of a real-life case study we performed internally in our organization.

Scenario: Product team of a Software marketplace wants to achieve the Goal ‘ Sell Software Online ’

Empathize With Users:

Part of Empathize stage – Product Lead, Sr PM, Internal sales representative (the one who had customer insights from speaking with multiple potential customers)

Let’s See the Example Below:

Case Study: With a common vision of redefining the online shopping experience, our team embarked on to work on a challenge.

Their goal? To upgrade the transaction pages, infusing them with the right information in a way that captivates and guides every visitor. We leveraged the power of Design Thinking to convert this challenge into opportunity with a blend of innovation and creativity.

Take a look at how we infuse design thinking to improve our transaction pages.

Stage 1: Empathize with Users

Our team embarked on a thrilling new challenge to supercharge traffic on our transaction pages. Let’s get the inside scoop on how we did it by leveraging the power of design thinking.

Let’s start!

With a whiteboard in hand and a mission to revolutionize online shopping experience for buying software, we were ready to walk in our customers’ shoes to uncover their true needs.

“Let’s dive into our first phase—empathize,” our Product lead began. He added, “We truly need to understand our customers. What have we learned so far?

Our Senior Product Manager, eager to lead the charge, shared some intriguing insights into our customers’ buying behavior.

“Here’s what we’ve discovered,” he began, “Our customers are looking for more than just a credible and secure platform. They’re seeking additional benefits beyond what Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) offer.”

“Our customers often feel overwhelmed by the sheer number of product choices. They’re not just looking for products—they’re looking for guidance.”

The team was quite intrigued by these revelations.

But this was not all!

What else did we get?

“Our customers demand not only the right price but also robust post-purchase support.”

These insights truly became the stepping stones for us to define the core problem and drive innovation.

With a blend of curiosity and determination, we stepped into stage 2 to get to the core of the problem.

Keep reading to find out how we did it!

Stage 2: Define the Problem Statement

After an invigorating discussion during the ‘Empathize’ stage, our team advanced to the ‘Define’ phase. By leveraging the insights, we gathered in stage 1, we were able to pinpoint the key paramount problems faced by our customers.

Our team lead started holding the marker, “Okay team, let’s highlight the major challenges we’ve discovered.”

Our Product Manager started, “Vague Requirements is the biggest issue. He added, our users have trouble to clearly define their needs and requirements.”

Next,

Another member pointed out that, “We also have complicated features. The software’s features and modules are quite complex to understand.”

Our Senior Product Manager while writing on the board highlighted one more issue, he added, “Users are hesitant to trust our platform due to lack of social validation, low brand recognition, and no credibility checks.”

Last but not least, they also find out that customers want competitive pricing and fast customers’ service.

After that, our Product Lead, concluded the session on stage 2 and added, “Great, we’ve clearly articulated our four key problems.”

Let’s look at the core problems that our team will work up in the “Ideate” stage.

Users find it difficult to articulate their needs and requirements properly.
The software features and modules are complicated to understand and not clearly written.
Users are not able to trust the platform due to the absence of social validation, low brand recognition, and no visible credibility verification.
Customers are not getting competitive pricing and quick customer service.

The first two stages of design thinking are very crucial and hence it takes a good amount of time to work on it. Therefore, to simplify it for our readers, we have broken down the stages into bits and pieces. For next 3 stages, you can wait for our next release !!

Varsha is an experienced content writer at Techjockey. She has been writing since 2021 and has covered several industries in her writing like fashion, technology, automobile, interior design, etc. Over the span of 1 year, she has written 100+ blogs focusing on security, finance, accounts, inventory, human resources,... Read more

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Importance of Design Thinking & What is Design Thinking

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Case study
How to solve Case Study in Design Thinking? Design Thinking Case Study With Solution
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What is Design Thinking and Innovation? A 60-second explainer
Design Thinking an Problem Solving
How Students at Eastern Fleurieu PS Created Password Reminders with 3D Printing

COMMENTS

Explore 10 Great Design Thinking Case studies
Design Thinking has emerged as a powerful problem-solving approach that places empathy, creativity, and innovation at the forefront. However, if you are not aware of the power that this approach holds, a Design Thinking Case Study is often used to help people address the complex challenges of this approach with a human-centred perspective.
Explore: Design Thinking Case Studies
50+ Design Thinking Case Study Examples. Design Thinking Case Studies demonstrate the value of the Design Thinking methodology. They show how this Design Thinking methodology helps creatively solve problems and improve the success rate of innovation and increase collaboration in corporations, education, social impact work and the public sector by focusing on the needs of humans.
40 Design Thinking Success Stories
Apple - Think Different about Innovation through Design Thinking Innovation at Apple - Design Thinking Case Study; IBM - I Love That IBM Has An Entire Section of its Website Dedicated to DT! IBMs Design Centered Strategy; Design Thinking at IBM; Google - How To Brainstorm Like a Googler Google's 3 Step Process for Generating ...
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Case Study 1: American Family Insurance's Moonrise App. American Family Insurance, a company that offers life, business, auto, and home insurance, came to design company IDEO with the goal of innovating in a way that would help working families. Stages 1 & 2: Empathise and Define.
Design thinking in responding to disruptive innovation: A case study
Using an inductive analysis of a critical case (a major cork stopper producer), the current study aims at developing a systematic understanding of exploitative strategic options and the role of design thinking in enabling them. The findings shed light on the effectiveness of the design thinking mindset to respond to disruptive innovations.
Better Service, Faster: A Design Thinking Case Study
Better Service, Faster: A Design Thinking Case Study. by. Robert I. Sutton. and. David Hoyt. January 06, 2016. Share. Save. On February 14, 2014, Stanford students Elizabeth Woodson and Saul ...
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Describes Apple's approach to innovation, management, and design thinking. For several years, Apple has been ranked as the most innovative company in the world, but how it has achieved such success remains mysterious because of the company's obsession with secrecy. This note considers the ingredients of Apple's success and its quest to develop ...
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Course description. Design Thinking and Innovation, through Harvard Business School (HBS) Online, equips current and aspiring innovation managers with the design thinking principles and innovative problem-solving tools to solve business challenges and guide their organization's strategy. The course features five weeks of course content and ...
Design Thinking Case Study Index
The criteria that needs to be proved to make your project a Design Thinking Case Study are: Evidence of an empathic human/user centered approach in the research phase. Evidence of rapid prototyping. Evidence of user testing of early prototypes. Evidence of cross functional collaboration during the process. The Design Thinking Case Study Index ...
© The Author(s) 2021 disruptive innovation: A case study
The findings shed light on the effectiveness of the design thinking mindset to respond to disruptive innovations. In addition, we present evidence that a design thinking method can be successfully applied to process innovation. Finally, we demonstrate that to achieve a radical innovation based on design thinking principles, the establishment of ...
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Emir Uzun. Summary. CEO Indra Nooyi believes that each PepsiCo product must engage customers so directly and personally that they fall in love with it. So in 2012 she hired renowned designer Mauro ...
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Innovation & Entrepreneurship Case Study. Anne-Marie Carrick; Jurgen Mihm; Manuel Sosa; 11.95. ... Supplement to case SM250B. The SAP Design Thinking case follows the path of Sam Yen, Chief Design ...
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Today, in 2016, Apple's share price is around US $108 and the company achieved revenues of US $233.7 billion in 2015 with net income of US $53.39 billion. This mini case study sheds light on the role that design thinking and innovation played in helping Steve Jobs rescue Apple with his consumer-driven strategy and vision for the company.
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Design thinking is a non-linear, iterative process that teams use to understand users, challenge assumptions, redefine problems and create innovative solutions to prototype and test. It is most useful to tackle ill-defined or unknown problems and involves five phases: Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype and Test.
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Keywords: innovation, design thinking, design methods, user involvement, health care, case study Introduction In an environment of fierce competition and increasingly complex innovation challenges, there is an emerging interest for design in management and innovation debates (Walsh, 1996; Bruce and
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A Case Study about Mayo Clinic: Design Thinking in Health Care
It will be of particular interest in courses on innovation, design thinking, service design, and the health care industry. The case also allows for discussion of ancillary topics, such as: • The risks and rewards of innovation in health care. • The role of innovation in developing a powerful service brand such as Mayo Clinic.
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as Design Thinking are being adopted more and more [22] and prove to be beneficial for the digital transformation of modern companies [3]. Innovation via Design Thinking Innovation can be supported and fostered via the inter-pretation of the way designers think, work and plan for non-designers, this is what we call Design Thinking. De-
Design Thinking and Innovation at Apple
Prize winner. Design Thinking and Innovation at Apple. Case. -. Reference no. 9-609-066. Subject category: Entrepreneurship. Authors: Stefan Thomke (Harvard Business School); Barbara Feinberg (Harvard Business School) Published by: Harvard Business Publishing. Originally published in: 2009.
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Formula for showcasing UI Case study. As a UI designer, your portfolio is your battleground, and case studies are your weapons of choice. But creating a case study that focuses solely on UI design requires a slightly different approach than a general UI/UX case study. Steps to make a UI Case Study. Step -1 : Pick your project
(PDF) Research on the Effect of Design Thinking on Enterprise
Although many case studies describe design thinking as a favorable factor in pro- moting sustainable innovation [11] , it is still unclear whether its app lication will lead to a higher success ...
Research on the Effect of Design Thinking on Enterprise Sustainable
Design thinking is an interdisciplinary problem-solving approach that combines user-centered focus, challenge framing, visual thinking, experimental methods, and cross-functional collaboration. It has always been regarded as an important means to improve corporate sustainable innovation capabilities and team performance. However, its effectiveness is a controversial topic, with some proponents ...
Reflection#2Design Thinking (docx)
Reflection #2: Design thinking workshop helped me understand the concept of developing product innovation that will add value to the user and generate revenue for the organization. Design thinking's customer-centric approach requires me to deeply understand customers' need, motivations, thought and pain points. I learned about the 5-point approach for innovation and problem solving.

10 Successful Design Thinking Case Study

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What is Design Thinking ?

Design Thinking process

Successful Design Thinking Case Studies

Case Study 1: Airbnb

Case Study 2. Apple

Case Study 3. Netflix

Case Study 4. Uber Eats

Case Study 5 . IBM

Case Study 6. Oral-B’s electric toothbrush

Case Study 7. IDEO

Case Study 8 . Tesla

Case Study 9. GE Healthcare

Case Study 10. Nike

Lessons learned from Design Thinking Case Studies

1) Consider the b ig p icture

2) Think t hrough a lternative s olutions

3) Research e ach c ompany’s c ompetitors

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What is design thinking?

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What is design thinking? A definition

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What are the 5 stages of design thinking?

Phase 1: Empathise

Phase 2: Define

Phase 3: Ideate

Phase 4: Prototype

Phase 5: Test

Design thinking examples and case studies

Case Study 1: American Family Insurance’s Moonrise App

Stages 1 & 2: Empathise and Define

Case Study 2: GE Healthcare’s Scanning Tools

Stages 3, 4 & 5: Ideate, Prototype, and Test

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