By Akram Mondal
Design Thinking can be defined as establishing the business objectives and formulating strategies towards achieving those objectives. It is a creative problem-solving approach that requires an expert set of skills. This approach was developed many years ago, but it has started gaining importance from the business community after the Harward Business Review article in 2008 written by Tim Brown, CEO and the President of a design company named IDEO.
After this incident, the design thinking process is used to develop different products and services for various problems that were not addressed earlier. Design Thinking involves:
- analyzing and understanding the problem,
- identifying the set of appropriate solutions,
- implementing and testing these solutions in the form of prototypes,
- cooperating the improvements identified during testing, and
- finally implementing these solutions through customized deployment procedures.
The skills related to the above steps enable people to take an innovative approach to effectively find the solutions to problems existing in the real world.
Let’s understand the design thinking examples to understand this concept more clearly:
1. Oral B Electric Toothbrush:
One of the ideal design thinking ideas, Braun and Oral B developed an electric toothbrush with different features such as data tracking capabilities like a good brush usage for every tooth, music player, and sensitivity of gums. However, they hired some design experts to develop a smart electric toothbrush.
These design experts advised the manufacturers to involve their customer’s feedback and imagination.
The experts also advised to include some simple features such as USB charging and easy availability of replacements brush heads. These problems were regularly experienced by their customers. The resultant product was an extraordinary electric toothbrush that enhanced sales and customer satisfaction.
2. The Good Kitchen:
The Good Kitchen is a great example of a design thinking case study where advanced ways were discovered to serve the people more intellectually.
Hatch and Blooms were the experts hired by the Municipality of Holstebro (in Denmark) to design a system to impart a good and new food delivery service for the residents. The experts designed a system with good quality, more choices, and flexibility for elderly residents, staff, and chefs.
The experts could bring this change due to adopting a different approach where they interviewed the customers and chefs and designed a prototype incorporating their suggestions. Thus, a defined system was created that met the expectations of everyone, which made it to the list of design thinking examples.
They listened to consumers’ complaints, and experimenting with new options kept the consumers and staff both satisfied with the service.
3. Airbnb:
Airbnb was initially a start-up that made less than $200 per week. With effective efforts, huge experimentation, taking calculated risks, and introducing innovative measures, Airbnb could turn itself into a successful start-up.
When this start-up was unable to grab the limelight, one of the co-founders of Airbnb, Joe Gebbia, while scrolling over the app like any other user, discovered that the photos of the rooms uploaded by their customers on the app were more of an amateur.
Thus, the co-founders themselves rented a camera, traveled to New York, and discussed with their clients to upload more professional-appearing pictures that would attract the consumers. This small and completely ignored factor made their organization transform the travel industry, making it ideal for design thinking examples.
4. UberEats:
The team of the UberEats has constantly made efforts to incorporate modern and improved technology that allows the conventional act of appreciating the meal. The team has also implemented the Walkabout Program-a quarterly held an event where the system designers are required to visit the cities to understand the transportation facilities, delivery service, study the food culture, and analyze the development of the restaurant industry.
Due to their innovative approach of interviewing and implementing the solutions with the consumers, restaurant staff, and delivery personnel, UberEats have become one of the perfect design thinking ideas.
5. Burberry:
Burberry is one of the popular design thinking examples. Burberry was a business model that was got disturbed by the evolution of the digital era. The company changed itself with this era and started to cope with the demands of the new generation. Users were invited to participate in the designing process and this enhanced its connection with the users and recorded growth in its sales.
Conclusion:
Thus above are a few of the design thinking problem statement examples. As you observe various models of the business, you will find various striking design thinking examples that have made a great impact on the human lifestyle. Staying connected to users and their needs is key to every successful business model.
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