Is Design Thinking a Method of Design? No.
（This article has been reviewed and consented for publishing by Barry Katz)
Recently, I have been taking The History and Theory of Design instructed by Barry Katz.
Barry Katz is Consulting Professor in the Design Group, Department of Mechanical Engineering, at Stanford University. He is also Professor of Design at California College of the Arts and a fellow at IDEO — Silicon Valley’s leading design and innovation consultancy.
Professor Katz is not a designer, nor an engineer. His background is in cultural theory, philosophy, and the history of technology. Growing up in a family of technology and research, Barry was giving quite a lot of attention to technology and product design. He is a co-author of Change by Design (2009), with Tim Brown, the CEO at IDEO. This book has been translated into multiple languages and has become one of the must-read design books. In 2015, Barry published his book Make it New: The History of Silicon Valley Design, and started teaching the History and Theory of Design at Stanford University.
Last week, the Stanford campus was closed for Thanksgiving and left d.school the only building available for us to have the class. Barry gave his comment to d.school as the only design school in the world that does not teach design. If d.school doesn’t teach design, what does it teach? Design Thinking. At d.school, most of the classes are taught based on the concept of design thinking. No doubt, Design Thinking Studio is the most popular class among all of them.
Today, design thinking is usually interpreted as a standard design method or a systematic design process. What is the process? It is like what we know: empathize, define, ideate, prototype, test. We are seeing that design thinking training, workshops, including d.school, are teaching such a design process.
However, Barry held some concerns about the way people understand design thinking. Design thinking should not be treated as a method of design. It could be conducted in the design process. But in fact, the goal of design thinking is to let people get away from standards and processes, be innovative and solve problems with creativity.
How should we look at the relationship between design thinking and design method? It took us about 60 years to form the design process which has been proved its value in design practice. Design thinking builds on what exists and moves it one step further. Design method emphasizes “doing”; design thinking emphasizes “thinking”. If we think of the design method as a toolkit that contains all kinds of tools that could be used during design problem solving, design thinking is how you use this toolkit.
For example, last week during the class, one of the students mentioned that his daughter was teaching in the countryside in Ghana. In this area, when the rain comes, classes have to be canceled. Why? It is too dark in the rain to continue class because there is no electricity. So how could designers solve this problem? If one neglected design thinking, he might dive into the design process right away: lack of electricity is to be solved, brainstorm potential solutions, select one of them and make prototype, test, and maybe more iterations in the light of testing results and stakeholders’ feedback.
What if we turn it into an exercise in design thinking? Instead of going through the process and hitting the final end, we might spend more time and energy thinking and analyzing the problem. Electricity? What do we need electricity for? Students need electricity to power light so that they can read in dark. Any other methods to power light? What else can they do on rainy days? Outdoor activities? Or indoor activities? What else do they do outside of school? How is the environment, economy, culture in Ghana? At the end of the day, the design challenge of electricity might end up with a redesign of the education system in the Ghana countryside.
You might question that isn’t it off-track? Actually, this is reflecting the essence of design thinking: get to know people and life, dig into the needs and solve the real problem. You might also think that Ghana’s problem won’t be solved in a short period of time as now the problem becomes big and complex. You are correct! It is quite often that students at d.school in collaboration with industries. Usually, d.school does not accept projects that are expected to be profitable within 5 years. After all, d.school is not a fast-food design consultancy, and design thinking is not a fast-food design tool.
Barry suggested that design thinking should be looked at from two perspectives. Firstly, rather than a design method to solve a problem, design thinking is a way to approach a problem. How you approach a problem is important since the way you define a problem may lead to a very different outcome. Secondly, design should be a collaborative effort by interdisciplinary teams. This is one of the core principles that d.school is built on. As a design school, d.school does not grant degrees. Instead, it welcomes every enrolled Stanford student to come and learn design thinking, and encourages them to collaborate when solving design problems.
It has been long that designers are standing in an awkward spot. Engineers see design as an arty subsidiary, while artists see design as a tool manipulated by Business. As a matter of fact, design is not engineering, nor could be seen as art. Design should not try to find a spot between engineering and art, but should be a separate discipline other than engineering and art. Design, as a crucial cognitive ability, is to solve people’s problems given the knowledge of human conditions and human needs.
Design is significant as Nigel Cross said in his book Designerly Ways of Knowing (2007): “Everything we have around us has been designed. Design ability is, in fact, one of the three fundamental dimensions of human intelligence. Design, science, and art form an ‘AND’ not an ‘OR’ relationship to create the incredible human cognitive ability.”
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