The design thinking process is essential for companies who would like to lead the market through creativity and innovation, and proper tools need to be used to achieve this goal. This is where I got introduced to Lego Serious Play (LSP). While many tools can be used in the design thinking process, such as storytelling, card sorting, SCAMPER and […]
How to Use the Action Priority Matrix in Time Management?
Unlike regular jobs. Designers are required to handle various tasks on different levels. This challenge increases when working as a freelancer or working in your own start-up. Most designers complain about the lack of time to achieve their tasks within the required deadlines. While many believe they can re-organize tasks in order to gain more […]
How to Use TRIZ in the Problem-Solving Process
As we attempt to solve the problems and find creative solutions for them, we take different routes throughout the problem-solving process, such as applying the Double Diamond design thinking, brainstorming sessions, root cause analysis, and other models that help us to observe, build insight, and evaluate the situation from different perspectives giving the advantages and […]
What is Strategic Thinking? And How to Improve It
The ability to take strategic decisions can lead the organisation to achieve business success, as firms can't preserve their existence without a strategy that maintains their long-term growth. Having the ability to take such decisions is one of the most favourable skills in almost all types of business, including the design business. Even for employees […]
How to Use Persona Empathy Mapping in UX Research
A user persona is a tool used to better understand user behaviour in user research by building a virtual avatar that represents the target consumer's characteristics. However, achieving empathic design requires more than just drawing a virtual character representing the target consumer. It also requires that designers put themselves in the consumer's shoes to learn more about […]
What is Open Innovation? And How it Fuels Creativity
Scholars, practitioners and business leaders have agreed that innovation and creativity are essential to sustain success and achieve competitive advantage in the present market. While our main focus here is on the creative industries, top companies in different niches have understood that they should “innovate or die.” Many strategies have been adopted to achieve innovation […]
What is Circular Design? And How to Apply It.
The role of design is now extending the form and function of the product or service to more contributions to building innovative solutions that emphasise the wise consumption of natural resources. The designer is responsible for building a strategic plan considering the product’s environmental impact and responsible integration with the planet's ecosystem. The role that […]
What is Systems Thinking? And How to Use the Fifth Discipline to Understand it?
Systems thinking, also known as systems dynamics, combines understanding how complex systems integrate with each other and solving complicated problems that involve multiple inputs and outputs from these systems' perspectives. The theory can also help us to build a clear vision of the system while proposing a solution that considers seeing the complex system as […]
IKEA’s Sustainable Design Strategy (Part 2)
In the first part of this article, we explored the design sustainable strategy's key role in achieving the organization's business targets, and its creativity places it ahead of competitors in the market. The design role has a more holistic approach than just product design. Design strategy and management are essential in forming the company's whole vision […]
Why Design Thinking Doesn't Work
Many articles have recently addressed design thinking as a mindset to solve problems and achieve innovation by focusing on human needs. However, the over-commercialisation and promotions have led to a backfire on the tool itself as it doesn’t provide a sufficient understanding of the method. As a result, many people wonder why design thinking doesn’t […]
Why Digital Healthcare Innovation is Important
Digital healthcare innovation is an opportunity for the healthcare systems to overcome many of the challenges that face this sector in both developed and underdeveloped countries–think about the long waiting lists and the quality of the provided service. as we explored in Four Reasons to Expand Mobile Technology Usage in Medical Innovation business models, we […]
How to Create the Systems Thinking Diagrams
Complex systems can’t be seen as individual parts. We need a broader perspective to see the whole pattern that causes the problem, as many factors as affecting both the current state and the desired state of the system. The systems thinking theory was first introduced by Jay Forrester and members of the Society for Organizational […]
How to Use the Fishbone Diagram in Root Cause Analysis?
Solving problems is considered an initial part of designers’ practice as they aim for user-centred design. The target that requires root-cause analysis of problems using tools such as the Fishbone diagram. A clear definition for the problem should be highlighted in order to target the proper solution, including analysing the causes behind this problem and […]
What is the Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA)?
Our worst fear in design is to end up with a failed product (at least for some). At this particular moment, we pause and wonder; if we knew this was going to happen, we could have taken another route. The Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) tool helps us to understand the potential risks that may occur […]
Step-by-Step Guide to User Scenarios
During the UX research process, one of our big aims is to understand user behaviour when visiting a website or using a mobile application. Over the course of building this understanding, different tools such as user scenarios can be used to put us on the same page with the user goals and ensure that the suggested solutions […]
Why Design Thinking is Essential for Healthcare Innovation
Healthcare Innovation is seen as an opportunity to solve our healthcare problems, but can it address these dramatically increasing challenges? Nowadays, everyone's family on earth is feeling these challenges as they care about their and their beloved well-being. As healthcare systems try to improve their service, people live longer, and chronic diseases require more human […]
Healthcare Technology Innovation: Opportunities and Challenges
Healthcare systems are facing more challenges than before. The increasing number of patients, especially with chronic diseases, pushes the health industry to innovative solutions, including adopting healthcare technology and medical innovation. This involves emerging technology in healthcare, such as wearable technology in healthcare, virtual appointments, and metaverse technology. Traditional clinical practice depends on an informed relationship […]
Design Thinking Tools and Methods Complete Guide
There are several design thinking tools and methods out there. At the beginning of my learning about these tools, How can we formulate these methods in a clear design thinking methodology to solve different design challenges? Understanding the nature of design thinking helps us identify where and when to use the design thinking tools and […]
13 Online Design Thinking Tools for Mind Mapping
Design thinking tools provide us with the opportunity to explore ideas through their different elements and components, which can lead to developing creative solutions for problems. Mind maps are one of these methods that follow our primary research. After researching the problem, we bring all the related elements and start to see the problem from […]
Design Thinking Tools for Ideation
The ideation stage is a key point in the design thinking process (Known as Define in the Double Diamond Process). It is where the problem or the challenge is defined. The prototyped solutions may not achieve their target goals without a clear definition. Therefore, several design thinking tools can be applied to analyse the research data collected from the previous […]