Conversations on design thinking : understanding, value and adoption in businesses today

Abstract

Today design is part of coffee table conversations as much as boardroom discussions. In everyday language design as a concept is understood differently by people with different backgrounds. The different interpretations pose a challenge, and it is commonly stated that design thinking lacks a clear definition which threatens it to end up as a management buzz word that will eventually fade away. In this master’s thesis we will look into the ways design as a practice and its value is communicated and how is it understood outside the design community.

The theoretical review looks into defining the design concepts and methodology, and builds understanding what the academic community says about design concepts. Thesis also looks into research on how design is seen and used in organizations. The research for this master’s thesis was done by interviewing four persons working in roles that are not traditional designer roles, to gain insights how people outside the design community perceive design thinking.

In this master’s thesis we found that some of the basic elements of design thinking are understood by people outside of design community. Focus is heavily on user centricity. People entirely outside of design community seems to associate design with final form giving and visual aspects. Key to communicating value is understanding where and how value is manifesting. Best ways of communicating design value are demonstrating the design process itself and finding real tangible business performance measures to showcase design value. The intent to integrate design in organizations is there, but there are still signals that the integration is not complete. The need for interdisciplinary understanding came through strongly. Both in creating best possible design outcomes but also in being able to communicate design and interact with people with various backgrounds and being able to demonstrate design capabilities.