Design thinking
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Design thinking relies on three modes of thinking: Open, Explore, and Close. Open involves divergent thinking to generate creative options. Explore focuses on organizing ideas and finding patterns. Close involves convergent thinking to analyze ideas and select the best option. These modes are building blocks that can be applied at both the macro and micro levels of design thinking processes and activities. It is important to use the modes sequentially rather than simultaneously for effective thinking.
Design thinking
- 2. DESIGN THINKING’S THREE MODES OF THINKING: OPEN, EXPLORE, CLOSE rely on three modes of thinking: Open, Explore, and Close. Each mode represents a different mindset with which to approach a complex challenge. Let’s take a look at each: https://www.techpm.co/design-thinking-for-digital-products/
- 4. OPEN Open is a mode of divergent thinking that’s focused on gen- erating lots of creative options. It’s not about judging ideas as good or bad; rather, it’s about going wide to come up with diverse possibilities. Whether we’re kicking off a brainstorm session, synthesiz- ing research insights, or testing a new curriculum, we begin by spending some time in Open. This helps us to avoid jumping to foregone conclusions and, instead, push our
- 5. EXPLORE After opening, there’s a lot to dig into. The Explore mind- set is focused on organizing, combining and building upon these possibilities. During Explore, we’re looking for meaningful themes and patterns to make connections and develop great insights. From simple clustering to complicated matrices with multiple dimensions, there’s a wide range of frameworks out there to help us make sense of our thinking in Ex- plore. Some of the most popular ones that we use include affinity maps, 2×2 grids, Venn Diagrams and spectrums.
- 6. CLOSE After exploring, we may have a better sense of what we want to prioritize; however, Close helps us to assess these options further and, ultimately, commit. Close is a mode of convergent thinking that’s focused on narrowing our op- tions and making decisions to move the process onward. During Close, we’re analyzing and critiquing our thoughts and ideas to select the best option to carry forward. One of the most popular collaborative closing techniques is the democratic vote, which can be done with the full
- 7. PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER Open, Explore and Close are the building blocks of design thinking. On a macro level, the design thinking process is one giant progression of opening, exploring, and closing. On a more micro level, each phase within the design thinking methodology can also be broken down into a series of opening, exploring, and closing activities. And if we zoom in further still, each one of these activities is comprised of a sequence of these three modes of thinking.
- 8. THE GOLDEN RULE OF OPEN, EXPLORE AND CLOSE The most important thing to remember when using Open, Ex- plore and Close is that these are discrete modes of thinking. If we attempt to do them simultaneously, we’ll only end up with a headache. For example, have you ever found yourself in a brainstorm session (open thinking) where someone has an excuse for why every possible idea won’t work (closed thinking)? Creativity stalls. Or have you ever been in a meeting where you’re trying to make a decision (closed thinking) but someone keeps sug-
- 10. Design thinking is a human-centered design methodology that provides a solution-based approach to problem-solv- ing. It’s comprised of 5 major components, or “pillars” Empathizing with the user Defining the user’s concerns and needs as well as your insights Ideating by challenging assumptions and creating ideas for innovation Prototyping to build a solution Test: Validate solutions with users and stakeholders
- 11. The importance of empathy — and interviews — in design EMPATHIZE is an important first step in knowing where your learners are coming from, understanding their learning preferences, and uncovering the real issue – skills, knowledge (or otherwise).
- 14. Engaging The Learner With Design Thinking, Stage 2: Define Once designers know who their audience is and what really drives them, they can move on to the second stage in the design thinking process: define. In this stage, designers define an actionable and meaningful problem state- ment. They leverage all the information they gathered in the first stage and organize, interpret and make sense of it. This definition will guide the designer and help kick-start the ideation pro- cess rather than just defining learning objectives. This stage is about clarity and focus. Without it, the designer is stumbling in the dark. Let’s bring some light into the design thinking process.
- 17. Engaging The Learner With Design Thinking, Stage 3: Ideate The first two stages are the basis for the ideation stage. In this stage, designers think outside the box to identify new solutions to the human-cen- tered problem statement. Generating ideas can be a challenging task if designers are not in the right environment and are not able to take a step back. The ideation stage is about looking at every possible angle for the well-defined problem statement. It is about pushing boundaries and effective collaboration. Some best practices for this stage include having a skilled facilitator leading the session, working in a creative environment featuring the work from the two previous stages, setting a time limit and having a “there are no bad ideas” mindset
- 19. Brainstorming The most common ideation technique is brainstorming, in which designers collaboratively build good ideas based on the problem statement. Once cer- tain ideas form, designers can categorize them and dedicate certain areas in the room for specific ideas. The team can then add their additional ideas as they walk around the room (an approach known as brainwalking). Worst Possible Idea Another useful technique is the worst possible idea, which helps more reserved individuals produce bad ideas, which, in turn, result in valuable threads. It’s a also a fun way to flip the ideation stage on its head and help relax everyone on the team. The ideation stage is really the heart of the design thinking process.
- 20. Visual Approaches A more graphical approach to ideation is the use of mind maps, which allow designers to connect ideas and find major and minor qualities of each. Designers can also sketch or storyboard their ideas using rough sketches or diagrams to express possi- ble solutions. The ideation stage is really the heart of the design thinking process