In “Design for Social Innovation,” an article in the Stanford Social Innovation Review, authors Tim Brown and Jocelyn Wyatt discuss design systems thinking — a broader reach of design than most designers consider. According to Brown and Wyatt, design systems thinking involves using design tools to solve complex problems beyond “enhancing the look and functionality of products” (31). The term originated with David Kelly of IDEO, a merger of David Kelly Designs, the creator of the first Apple mouse, and ID Two, the creator of the first laptop computer. The concept has proven so useful that in 2008, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation asked them to codify the process for use in the developing world. The result is the Toolkit for Design Thinking.
http://www.designkit.org/resources/1
The design thinking process consists of three spaces that designers go through – inspiration, ideation, and implementation. The designers use different sequential orders as they go through the spaces and often visit a space more than once when working out the solution to a problem. In the inspiration space, designers establish objectives and measurable benchmarks and observe the target group(s). The authors give an example early in their article of workers from Save the Children who found a way to the decrease malnutrition in Vietnamese children in very poor villages. They observed the habits of poor families with well-nourished children in one village before trying to come up with problem-solving ideas.
In the ideation space, designers distill their observations into as many ideas as possible. The authors note the importance of writing down each idea and deferring judgement on any ideas during the brainstorming process. One company, InnoCentive, generates as many ideas for solutions to their member companies’ problems by inviting anyone visiting their website to post ideas. Over 175,000 people had posted by the date of this article.
http://www.innocentive.com/innovation-solutions/innocentive-idea-management
Above is a banner on InnoCentive’s website. It lists some of the features that users have available to help them generate ideas towards a goal.
In the implementation space of design thinking, the ideas the group deems best become action plans. Implementers turn the ideas into prototypes that they can test and refine. The authors use VisionSpring’s story of prototyping the eye-screening process with a group of young children in India. The first method tested, traditional testing, resulted in tearful stress in the children. The next method tested, the teacher testing the children, had the same result. The third method tested, a child testing her teacher, met with success and led to the successful plan of children testing each other. Since that successful experience, VisionSpring has continued to use design thinking in their marketing and distribution strategy.
Above is an infographic presented on VisionSpring’s homepage. It gives visitors statistics involving visually impaired people and the finances necessary to help restore vision.
Works Cited
Brown, Tim and Jocelyn Wyatt. “Design for Social Innovation.” Stanford Social Innovation Review. Winter 2010. 30-35. Print.
“HDC Toolkit.” Design Kit. IDEO.ORG, n.d. Web. 31 March 2015. <http://www.designkit.org/resources/1>
“InnoCentive Idea Management.” InnoCentive. InnoCentive, 2015. Web. 31 March 2015. <http://www.innocentive.com/innovation-solutions/innocentive-idea-management>
“Our Mission.” VisionSpring Newsletter. VisionSpring, 2013. Web. 31 March 2015. <http://visionspring.org/>
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