What is design thinking?
Design thinking is an innovative problem-solving , human-centered approach to developing products, services, and experiences. It involves understanding the problem before searching for solutions. It involves exploring a wide range of possible solutions and iterating extensively through prototyping and testing. The skills associated with these steps help people apply creativity to effectively solve real-world problems better than they otherwise would.
I heard about design thinking a few years back and never read much about it, just presuming that while carrying out my tinkering and making DiY craft/hobby speaker designs, I am practicing it already. Until recently, when this word used to come up so frequently on all the platforms, workshops and in our classes , I realized the framework is too good and it can be used on any process or product improvement.
This is when I actually referred to the framework and realized we all have been doing it in some form or the other to solve our problems, be it at home/garage/workshop/factory or at workplace for your product design or a process design.
My Use Case!!
Design thinking can be practiced even for a very small design activity at home or for your idea. For example, I had to setup my study room where me and my wife could carry out our studies/Work from home / Office tasks efficiently and smoothly. First thing required was a nice workstation/Table which will help increase our efficiency.
Now I could have gone and bought the best of tables in the market with best features, But, they would not have met my space constraints, accommodated three computer screens and color and design of my choice and matching with my room and also my budget. Now, here comes my DiY as a hobby fueled by some design thinking and a bit of creativity.
- Empathize. So the audience here was self and my spouse and I was well aware of the requirements in terms of Comfort, number of screens, height and width as per space, available items and a fair idea of expected design. This was all in the head which got jotted down in my notepad.
- Define. In this step, I had to define the look and feel of the table which I put it like this
Color– White table top with golden/copper feet.
Material– Could have been Timber or a stone top. I chose 32mm plywood for the
table top with a white laminate and one inch square pipe for the legs and cross
member for it to be light weight and easy dismantling.
3. Ideate. While utilizing one fine sleepy afternoon after the class , I penned down the
idea of this drawing into my notebook. along with rough dimensions as a prototype to
explain it to the welder who shall be making the legs and cross member. This actually
looked like this at the first go.
4. Prototype. I didn’t take much time and explained the whole design to the welder to
make these three members and in a matter of two hours I got them made and brought
it home. I started sanding the legs and removed the rust and oil. Started off with a
copper colored spray can, I ended up finalizing the table feet and cross member. which
to my surprise came out to be impressive on the looks and easy dismantlability. They
looked like this.
I finally went to a local plywood shop and got a 6 feet by 2.5 feet flush door already
available off the shelf and pasted an off white laminate with half round wooden beat
around it for smooth corners. With three desk holes for organizing cables and my hole-
saw set, carved out three holes equidistant to complete the table top. An additional
requirement was to attach two keyboard trays for the workstation, which I bought from
the local hardware shop and was super easy to measure and assemble precisely.
5. Test. Now the table was ready to assemble and it finally took me just about an hour to
organize and assemble it all together. To give it a better look and to suit the room
ambience I utilised a PROFILE channel with warm yellow light underneath the front end
of the table .
Was pretty amazed to see the results and have been working on it for close to two months and it gives me immense satisfaction to have completed this design which helps me daily in accomplishing my tasks efficiently and ergonomically. And !! the product is very well accepted and appreciated by my better half!!
