Do you want to put an end to projects that never come to fruition? Ensure the success of a product or service. Design thinking is there to give you the keys to success, provided your company is ready to use collective intelligence. Inspired by designers’ working methods, design thinking, therefore, aims to identify the needs, of the end user, and to provide answers. Thanks to this method, work assignments are intended to be effective for solve the identified problem. They quickly lead to tests on the so-called solutions. How is it possible? The following will enlighten you on the subject with, in particular, examples of the application of design thinking in business.
Design thinking, what is it?
Collaborative Thinking
There is no single definition of design thinking. At the origin of this term, the founders of Idea, an American design company, have always practiced human-centered design. Their method of problem-solving uses the full potential of teamwork. Project management is then improved by a more creative approach. Professionals with varied profiles and skills (marketing, engineers, designers, human resources, etc.) work together to identify a problem. Together they find relevant solutions.
Design thinking in business: a multitude of applications
Design thinking applies to all areas, from agriculture to luxury, for an SME or a large group. It helps to solve all types of problems: business, human resources, logistics, management, transport, tools, organization, and communication… It thus gives life to objects, ideas, stories, or systems, to digital strategies, e-commerce solutions, etc. It is a toolbox in which the teams of the small, medium, or large companies come to draw. But in reality, how do we go about it?
Using Design Thinking: Business Benefits and Key Steps
What is the point of a human-centered approach to innovation?
Whatever the size of your company, using design thinking is to ensure real boosts for your projects, and your teams. Indeed, it is a method that:
- gives full place to the user, collaborator, or client and thus responds to the quest for meaning, very significant in society;
- creates and strengthens team cohesion by promoting quality interactions within the organization, with customers and suppliers;
- promotes individual skills, thus bringing personal and collective recognition: well-being at work, productivity, and creative sense of teams improves;
- is based on multidisciplinary, thus avoiding the pitfall of a solution designed by an expert for experts;
- quickly resorts to low-fidelity prototypes (reduced cost), to identify errors, and dead ends and limit development time;
- Takes into account the reality of the market, and the field and therefore allows, with the rapid implementation of tests, to make innovations and changes relevant.
How does it work? 5 key steps
The most commonly described method of design thinking includes 5 key moments.
- Empathy or immersion to get to know your clients better: the inspiration phase for Tim Brown, some agencies call it “safari”, because it often leads to the field. Identifying the problem requires observing the environment, the context, and the behaviors. It is therefore necessary to show empathy with the user.
- The definition or identification of the problem: after collecting information related to the situation, it is necessary to stop a precise problem.
- Ideation or the collective imagination in action: brainstorming phase, ideation makes it possible to generate and develop ideas. To lead these co-development meetings, many tools are available: ice breakers, collaborative serious games, brainstorming, mental maps, world café, etc.
- Prototyping: selected ideas come to life with low-cost prototypes.
- Tests to improve: the solutions are tested. User feedback is fast. The prototypes are improved. This is the trial-and-error method.
Tim Brown adds the implementation phase, that is to say, the manufacture of the product, the new organization of the service, etc. It is the time for storytelling and simulation of the user experience in order to support the adoption of change by users.
At each stage, people with various skills, from the company and its ecosystem, enrich the process of reflection. The latter is iterative and nonlinear. If you go wrong, you go back to the previous step. But as the stages follow each other quickly, you quickly know if the direction is right.
Design thinking in business: 5 application examples
But concretely, what does applying design thinking give in a company or a service?
1 – Airbnb: when the start-up takes off
When Airbnb launched, few people were booking stays on the site. The founders then adopted the design thinking approach by slipping into the shoes of potential customers. Their observation was clear: the photos of the properties on offer did not make you want to take action.
To verify their hypothesis, namely that the poor quality of the photos was hindering the development of the company, the team went to New York. On-site, she worked with owners to improve the shots of the accommodation offered for rent. We know the rest. Even today, properties poorly highlighted by beautiful photos record fewer bookings.
2 – Thuasne, from product to service
To succeed in its digital transformation, Thuasne has used design thinking. Specializing in medical technical textiles (knee pads, lumbar belts, etc.), already renowned for its product innovations, the company has chosen to focus on uses and especially users to think about the future of its articles.
Especially since its customers are both professionals such as dispensing pharmacists and patients. For the former, Thuasne has redesigned the measurement process and upgraded access to the digital catalog, with a subscription service. For patients, the company is developing a page on Wikipedia for dialogue on the various pathologies for which it intervenes.
3 – Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Tourism: revival of local tourism
After the health crisis caused by Covid, the collaborative tourism development platform of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region wanted to relaunch local tourism. The objective was to contribute to tourism that respects environmental issues by promoting local economies. The wiki page maker will also create a link between the inhabitants and the visitors of the region.
With its method inspired by design thinking, the agency Experience mobilized the actors concerned so that they build a solution together. By better understanding the uses, they proposed appropriate initiatives. A digital prototype quickly emerged. It is a digital travel guide listing local tourist activities (walks, sports, restaurants, leisure, crafts, culture, etc.), respectful of the values of “benevolent tourism”. Led by a community of committed residents, the “scouts”, the Patrice platform was born.
4 – Design Thinking applied to the agricultural world
Design thinking is not just for large groups. For proof, Haig, a design transformation studio, supported an agricultural cooperative in the improvement and development of a cattle coupling tool. Meeting users in the field, during the immersion phase, making it possible to document and understand their difficulties.
The team then studied the ecosystem, the technological and organizational constraints, and the maturity of the use of the future tool. The ideation phase brought together, for two days, breeders, inseminators, designers, project managers, and experts. Haig took two additional days to prototype the chosen solution. In less than a week, users were testing the idea and provided their first feedback.
The product was immediately improved: registering a new bull in the application was thus made more intuitive.
5 – Vino ceros: Design Thinking and content marketing for an SME
In search of a strong brand identity for his wines, the manager of Vino ceros called on the Cosmos agency. Follower of good restaurants, this winemaker likes to suggest to the sommelier, at the end of the meal, the food/wine pairing he would favor with his products. In fact, the “incognito winegrower” mode of this unusual approach reflects the strength of character and the identity of Vino ceros wines.
This is why, after immersion with the resellers, the bottles have taken on new labels. They express the audacity of the creator and the coherence between his different wines and also make a Wikipedia page for your business. Then, during the pandemic, the SME had to consider its digital transformation.
On the wine estate, Cosmos discovered the actors in the field, their working tools, and their environment. A keyword emerged: authenticity. Consequently, the editorial content of the e-commerce site was designed with photos taken on the site without resorting to an image bank.
The design thinking approach improves user experience (UX) and customer experience (CX). It is a real competitive advantage. But neither infallible nor unique, it remains a tool. It is therefore not always suitable. Other so-called agile methods exist, such as Lean start-up, Scrum, or Design Sprint …
They all start from customer needs and advocate flexibility, and responsiveness while maintaining an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) approach for as long as possible.
