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Problem Solving and Critical Thinking for Designers 1st Edition, Kindle Edition

The essential guide to decision making and problem solving for the interior designer

The interior design profession requires effective problem solving and critical thinking, as they impact all phases of the design project and most work activities of the interior designer. Whether you are a student or professional designer, much of what you do involves these skills. Although most of us do not even think about what we do in terms of these activities, they are a constant part of design. They are also skills that must be performed successfully outside a professional career. Improving these skills makes you a more sought-after employee and designer, effective business owner, and fulfilled individual. Problem Solving and Critical Thinking for Designers will put the reader on the correct path to a solutions-oriented practice. Using her trademark accessible and conversational approach, Christine Piotrowski guides readers through the process of how the working designer solves problems and makes decisions. Some of the topics she discusses are:

Design process

Communication

Asking questions

Problem definition and analysis

Decision-making process

Negotiation

Working with others

Ethical decision making

This book also features real-life scenarios and design problems that guide the reader toward making correct decisions in real-life situations.

• ISBN-13 978-0470536711
• Edition 1st
• Sticky notes On Kindle Scribe
• Publisher Wiley
• Publication date February 25, 2011
• Language English
• File size 806 KB
• See all details

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From the inside flap, from the back cover, about the author, product details.

• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B004S82RWO
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Wiley; 1st edition (February 25, 2011)
• Publication date ‏ : ‎ February 25, 2011
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• File size ‏ : ‎ 806 KB
• Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
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• Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
• Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
• Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 194 pages
• #1,331 in Interior Architectural Design
• #3,385 in Interior Decorating
• #3,449 in Home Interior Design

About the author

Christine m. piotrowski.

Christine Piotrowski, ASID, IIDA, is the owner of Christine M. Piotrowski and Associates in Phoenix, Arizona, which provides consulting to interior designers on planning and operational matters. She is a former professor of interior design at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, and past president of the Arizona North chapter of ASID. She has more than twenty years of commercial and residential design experience and is the author of several books on interior design, including the bestselling text, Professional Practice for Interior Designers, now in its third edition.

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• Corpus ID: 142194501

Problem Solving and Critical Thinking for Designers

• Christine M. Piotrowski
• Published 25 February 2011
• Art, Engineering

14 Citations

Design thinking and its application to problem solving, implications of design thinking for teaching, learning, and inquiry, design thinking: past, present and possible futures, the impact of design thinking on innovation, sns collaborative learning design: enhancing critical thinking for human–computer interface design, manufacturing design thinkers in higher education institutions: the use of design thinking curriculum in the education landscape, the impact of "collaborative team” working system as an effort of creative design in tsdsia, determining the parameters and indicators of problem- solving issues in the process of architectural design, the case of apollonia in albania, becoming a reflective communication design student : perceptions and values of reflection as a learning tool, related papers.

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• Professional & Technical
• Architecture

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Problem Solving and Critical Thinking for Designers Paperback – April 12 2011

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The essential guide to decision making and problem solving for the interior designer

The interior design profession requires effective problem solving and critical thinking, as they impact all phases of the design project and most work activities of the interior designer. Whether you are a student or professional designer, much of what you do involves these skills. Although most of us do not even think about what we do in terms of these activities, they are a constant part of design. They are also skills that must be performed successfully outside a professional career. Improving these skills makes you a more sought-after employee and designer, effective business owner, and fulfilled individual. Problem Solving and Critical Thinking for Designers will put the reader on the correct path to a solutions-oriented practice. Using her trademark accessible and conversational approach, Christine Piotrowski guides readers through the process of how the working designer solves problems and makes decisions. Some of the topics she discusses are:

Design process

Communication

Asking questions

Problem definition and analysis

Decision-making process

Negotiation

Working with others

Ethical decision making

This book also features real-life scenarios and design problems that guide the reader toward making correct decisions in real-life situations.

• ISBN-10 0470536713
• ISBN-13 978-0470536711
• Edition 1st
• Publisher Wiley
• Publication date April 12 2011
• Language English
• Dimensions 15.37 x 1.32 x 22.86 cm
• Print length 192 pages
• See all details

Product description

From the inside flap, from the back cover, about the author, product details.

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Wiley; 1st edition (April 12 2011)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 192 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0470536713
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0470536711
• Item weight ‏ : ‎ 272 g
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 15.37 x 1.32 x 22.86 cm
• #3,110 in Architectural Interior Design
• #3,763 in Architecture in Art
• #3,766 in Architecture Textbooks

About the author

Christine m. piotrowski.

Christine Piotrowski, ASID, IIDA, is the owner of Christine M. Piotrowski and Associates in Phoenix, Arizona, which provides consulting to interior designers on planning and operational matters. She is a former professor of interior design at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, and past president of the Arizona North chapter of ASID. She has more than twenty years of commercial and residential design experience and is the author of several books on interior design, including the bestselling text, Professional Practice for Interior Designers, now in its third edition.

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Problem Solving and Critical Thinking for Designers Paperback – 21 Mar. 2011

The essential guide to decision making and problem solving for the interior designer

The interior design profession requires effective problem solving and critical thinking, as they impact all phases of the design project and most work activities of the interior designer. Whether you are a student or professional designer, much of what you do involves these skills. Although most of us do not even think about what we do in terms of these activities, they are a constant part of design. They are also skills that must be performed successfully outside a professional career. Improving these skills makes you a more sought-after employee and designer, effective business owner, and fulfilled individual. Problem Solving and Critical Thinking for Designers will put the reader on the correct path to a solutions-oriented practice. Using her trademark accessible and conversational approach, Christine Piotrowski guides readers through the process of how the working designer solves problems and makes decisions. Some of the topics she discusses are:

Design process

Communication

Asking questions

Problem definition and analysis

Decision-making process

Negotiation

Working with others

Ethical decision making

This book also features real-life scenarios and design problems that guide the reader toward making correct decisions in real-life situations.

• ISBN-10 0470536713
• ISBN-13 978-0470536711
• Edition 1st
• Publisher Wiley
• Publication date 21 Mar. 2011
• Language English
• Dimensions 15.37 x 1.32 x 22.86 cm
• Print length 192 pages
• See all details

Product description

From the inside flap, from the back cover, about the author, product details.

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Wiley; 1st edition (21 Mar. 2011)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 192 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0470536713
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0470536711
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 15.37 x 1.32 x 22.86 cm
• 2,410 in Professional Interior Design
• 10,314 in Interior Design Styles & Decor

About the author

Christine m. piotrowski.

Christine Piotrowski, ASID, IIDA, is the owner of Christine M. Piotrowski and Associates in Phoenix, Arizona, which provides consulting to interior designers on planning and operational matters. She is a former professor of interior design at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, and past president of the Arizona North chapter of ASID. She has more than twenty years of commercial and residential design experience and is the author of several books on interior design, including the bestselling text, Professional Practice for Interior Designers, now in its third edition.

Customer reviews

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Problem Solving and Critical Thinking for Designers

Publisher description.

The essential guide to decision making and problem solving for the interior designer The interior design profession requires effective problem solving and critical thinking, as they impact all phases of the design project and most work activities of the interior designer. Whether you are a student or professional designer, much of what you do involves these skills. Although most of us do not even think about what we do in terms of these activities, they are a constant part of design. They are also skills that must be performed successfully outside a professional career. Improving these skills makes you a more sought-after employee and designer, effective business owner, and fulfilled individual. Problem Solving and Critical Thinking for Designers will put the reader on the correct path to a solutions-oriented practice. Using her trademark accessible and conversational approach, Christine Piotrowski guides readers through the process of how the working designer solves problems and makes decisions. Some of the topics she discusses are: Design process Communication Asking questions Problem definition and analysis Decision-making process Negotiation Working with others Ethical decision making This book also features real-life scenarios and design problems that guide the reader toward making correct decisions in real-life situations.

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More Details

• Machine generated contents note: ch. 1. Thinking critically
• What is critical thinking?
• Who is a critical thinker?
• Importance of thinking critically in interior design
• It is not criticism
• For discussion
• ch. 2. Design as process
• Design process: a brief review
• For whom do we design?
• Not the first answer
• Using time effectively
• Design thinking
• ch. 3. Problem definition and analysis
• Goals and objectives
• Problem definition
• Problem analysis
• Design concept statements
• ch. 4. Asking questions
• Purpose of asking questions
• Listening skills
• Asking the right questions
• Is there always a right answer?
• Avoiding disputes
• Negotiation
• ch. 5. Looking for answers: research methodologies
• Types of research
• Evidence-based design
• Developing a research project
• Assessing information
• Assessing information from the internet
• ch. 6. Decision making
• Making decisions
• What constitutes decision making?
• Decision-making strategies
• Why we make wrong decisions
• ch. 7. Ethical decision making
• Importance of ethical decision making
• Business versus ethical conflicts
• Client expectations
• For discussion.
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Designorate

Design thinking, innovation, user experience and healthcare design

Guide for Critical Thinking for Designers

In every single day in our life, we are faced with a number of choices to make, problems to solve, and ideas to evaluate or analyze. However, these activities are affected by both internal and external factors such as biases, incomplete information, distortion, and prejudices. All these factors affect the process of choosing the right decision or find the proper solution for problems, which may lead to misleading solutions or choices. In order to escape this idea trap, critical thinking can provide a way to alter our mindset in order to improve the way we think of problem or situations which subsequently reflect positively on our decisions.

Critical thinking is a thinking method that aims to achieve objective evaluation and analysis of problems, ideas, or different situations in order to build a clear unbiased understanding about it over the course of reaching the optimal solution. The critical thinking is a self-disciplined, self-directed, self-monitored, and self-corrective way of thinking to improve how we communicate ideas and solve problems.

Critical thinking is a handy method to address any situation before jumping directly to the analysis phase in order to evaluate or find a solution for it. This type of thinking is commonly used in different fields of science and art in order to build a clear objective perception about different situations that face designers, engineers and researchers.

Related articles:

• 6 Steps for Effective Critical Thinking
• The Six Hats of Critical Thinking and How to Use Them

Principles of Critical Thinking

In order to achieve the target behind the critical thinking approach, the below principles were introduced by Professor Larry Larson, Ohio University, in his paper published in the Journal of Biological Education 1990. These principles provides guidelines for critical thinking before moving to the thinking steps:

• Collect all the necessary information about the situation in hand
• Understand and clearly, define all terms associated with the situation
• Question the methods used to collect the information and the current conclusions
• Understand the hidden assumptions and biases including your own biases and values
• Question the source of facts
• Don’t expect all the answers
• Look at the big picture of the situation rather than the parts
• Examine the multiples cause and effect
• Watch for thought stoppers

The above principles aim to free our mind from biases and ensure that the situation is clearly defined. Also, it aims to ensure that the source of the data collected, the methods used to collect the data are also free from mistakes, biases, and inaccuracy. This can help us to focus on the problem without any external factors.

Stages of Critical Thinking

Based on the above principles, the critical thinking process should have three main stages; Observe, Question, and Answer . In order to clearly understand the three stages, we will use a design example: how people with wheelchair use the stairs to move from one level to another. Many places are still not accessible for people with physical disabilities due to the hard usage of stairs as they always seek support from others or search fo electric elevators. Based on this situation, we would like to explore how to address this problem with the critical thinking, we can use the stages as below:

Stage 1: Observe

In this stage, we observe the whole situation thoroughly in terms of how people with disabilities use the stairs, the problems they face, and how they currently deal with it. At this stage, we collect all the necessary information about the current situation and how other people tried to solve it and the methods they used to achieve this target. At this stage, no questions are asked as we only observe and record our observation for the next stages.

While collecting information and observing the situation, we should take notes of our findings with a clear definition of the problem in order to ensure that we are addressing the problem properly. Also, we need to understand the biases that may affect our decision and the biases that may affect other designers who tried to solve the problem. This can help us to put the biases or the assumption aside and focus on the situation.

In the example we have, designers should observe how people with wheelchairs use the stairs and exactly define the problem they face and how they are trying to solve it. Also, we need to explore the previous researchers or attempt that tried to solve the problem and their fingers.

Stage 2: Question

Based on the observation, we start to ask questions about the situation and the current solution. For example, what is the wrong with the current stars? why people find it hard to use? These questions help clearly define the right problem to address and subsequently finding the solution that can directly build a holistic solution that considers all the facts regarding the user experience, surrounded environment, and other users in the place.

Asking the right questions contribute reaching a clear definition for the current situation and subsequently analyzing it properly. The questions may take different forms. One of the methods that can help exploring the situation from different aspects is the Starbursting method that allows you to cover the topic using five main types of questions; Why, Who, What, How, Where, and When. In this example, the questions can be organized as below:

• Who: Who is using the target user of the stairs?
• What: What is the current problem of using the stairs? What are the different approaches to solving the problem?
• How: How can we solve the problem? How can we make the stairs using experience easier for disabled people?
• Where: Where will the new idea be applied?
• When: When do disabled people use the stairs the most?
• Why: Why do we need to change the current stars design? Why disabled people suffer much from using the current stairs?

Another method to ask the right questions is to use the Elements of Thought, which reflect how we think about situations. The Elements of Thoughts include purpose, questions, information, concussions, concepts, assumptions, implications, and points of view.

These elements can form the way we think in situations. These elements can be used to form the right questions as following:

• Purpose: What are we trying to solve?
• Questions: What are the questions?
• Information: What is the information needed to understand the problem?
• Conclusions: How do other reached different solutions?
• Concepts: What is the main concept behind the current ideas?
• Assumptions: What is the assumption we have this problem?
• Implications: How can we implicate the new ideas?
• The point of View: What are the different point of views related to the problem?

The third step in the critical thinking is to answer all the raised questions without any biases, prejudices, or assumptions. At this stage, we build a deep understanding of the problem where we can move forward with the steps required to the find the solution for the problem. In the above example, the solution can include placing the elevator next to the stairs so disabled people can easily find it, or using sliding area next to the stairs so they can easily use their wheelchairs.

Designers are faced with daily challenges to explore problems, observe current situations, or find solutions to improve products and services. Critical thinking provides a method to explore different situations with eliminating any chances for biases, prejudice, or misleading information. The critical thinking is a great method to understand the situation in order to analyze it to define the problems and prototype solutions.

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Dr Rafiq Elmansy

As an academic and author, I've had the privilege of shaping the design landscape. I teach design at the University of Leeds and am the Programme Leader for the MA Design, focusing on design thinking, design for health, and behavioural design. I've developed and taught several innovative programmes at Wrexham Glyndwr University, Northumbria University, and The American University in Cairo. I'm also a published book author and the proud founder of Designorate.com, a platform that has been instrumental in fostering design innovation. My expertise in design has been recognised by prestigious organizations. I'm a fellow of the Higher Education Academy (HEA), the Design Research Society (FDRS), and an Adobe Education Leader. Over the course of 20 years, I've had the privilege of working with esteemed clients such as the UN, World Bank, Adobe, and Schneider, contributing to their design strategies. For more than 12 years, I collaborated closely with the Adobe team, playing a key role in the development of many Adobe applications.

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• How to solve problems using the design ...

How to solve problems using the design thinking process

The design thinking process is a problem-solving design methodology that helps you develop solutions in a human-focused way. Initially designed at Stanford’s d.school, the five stage design thinking method can help solve ambiguous questions, or more open-ended problems. Learn how these five steps can help your team create innovative solutions to complex problems.

As humans, we’re approached with problems every single day. But how often do we come up with solutions to everyday problems that put the needs of individual humans first?

This is how the design thinking process started.

What is the design thinking process?

The design thinking process is a problem-solving design methodology that helps you tackle complex problems by framing the issue in a human-centric way. The design thinking process works especially well for problems that are not clearly defined or have a more ambiguous goal.

One of the first individuals to write about design thinking was John E. Arnold, a mechanical engineering professor at Stanford. Arnold wrote about four major areas of design thinking in his book, “Creative Engineering” in 1959. His work was later taught at Stanford’s Hasso-Plattner Institute of Design (also known as d.school), a design institute that pioneered the design thinking process. 

This eventually led Nobel Prize laureate Herbert Simon to outline one of the first iterations of the design thinking process in his 1969 book, “The Sciences of the Artificial.” While there are many different variations of design thinking, “The Sciences of the Artificial” is often credited as the basis. 

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A non-linear design thinking approach

Design thinking is not a linear process. It’s important to understand that each stage of the process can (and should) inform the other steps. For example, when you’re going through user testing, you may learn about a new problem that didn’t come up during any of the previous stages. You may learn more about your target personas during the final testing phase, or discover that your initial problem statement can actually help solve even more problems, so you need to redefine the statement to include those as well. 

Why use the design thinking process

The design thinking process is not the most intuitive way to solve a problem, but the results that come from it are worth the effort. Here are a few other reasons why implementing the design thinking process for your team is worth it.

Focus on problem solving

As human beings, we often don’t go out of our way to find problems. Since there’s always an abundance of problems to solve, we’re used to solving problems as they occur. The design thinking process forces you to look at problems from many different points of view. 

The design thinking process requires focusing on human needs and behaviors, and how to create a solution to match those needs. This focus on problem solving can help your design team come up with creative solutions for complex problems. 

Encourages collaboration and teamwork

The design thinking process cannot happen in a silo. It requires many different viewpoints from designers, future customers, and other stakeholders . Brainstorming sessions and collaboration are the backbone of the design thinking process.

Foster innovation

The design thinking process focuses on finding creative solutions that cater to human needs. This means your team is looking to find creative solutions for hyper specific and complex problems. If they’re solving unique problems, then the solutions they’re creating must be equally unique.

The iterative process of the design thinking process means that the innovation doesn’t have to end—your team can continue to update the usability of your product to ensure that your target audience’s problems are effectively solved. 

The 5 stages of design thinking

Currently, one of the more popular models of design thinking is the model proposed by the Hasso-Plattner Institute of Design (or d.school) at Stanford. The main reason for its popularity is because of the success this process had in successful companies like Google, Apple, Toyota, and Nike. Here are the five steps designated by the d.school model that have helped many companies succeed.

1. Empathize stage

The first stage of the design thinking process is to look at the problem you’re trying to solve in an empathetic manner. To get an accurate representation of how the problem affects people, actively look for people who encountered this problem previously. Asking them how they would have liked to have the issue resolved is a good place to start, especially because of the human-centric nature of the design thinking process. 

Empathy is an incredibly important aspect of the design thinking process.  The design thinking process requires the designers to put aside any assumptions and unconscious biases they may have about the situation and put themselves in someone else’s shoes. 

For example, if your team is looking to fix the employee onboarding process at your company, you may interview recent new hires to see how their onboarding experience went. Another option is to have a more tenured team member go through the onboarding process so they can experience exactly what a new hire experiences.

2. Define stage

Sometimes a designer will encounter a situation when there’s a general issue, but not a specific problem that needs to be solved. One way to help designers clearly define and outline a problem is to create human-centric problem statements. 

A problem statement helps frame a problem in a way that provides relevant context in an easy to comprehend way. The main goal of a problem statement is to guide designers working on possible solutions for this problem. A problem statement frames the problem in a way that easily highlights the gap between the current state of things and the end goal. 

Tip: Problem statements are best framed as a need for a specific individual. The more specific you are with your problem statement, the better designers can create a human-centric solution to the problem. 

Examples of good problem statements:

We need to decrease the number of clicks a potential customer takes to go through the sign-up process.

We need to decrease the new subscriber unsubscribe rate by 10%. 

We need to increase the Android app adoption rate by 20%.

3. Ideate stage

This is the stage where designers create potential solutions to solve the problem outlined in the problem statement. Use brainstorming techniques with your team to identify the human-centric solution to the problem defined in step two. 

Here are a few brainstorming strategies you can use with your team to come up with a solution:

Standard brainstorm session: Your team gathers together and verbally discusses different ideas out loud.

Brainwrite: Everyone writes their ideas down on a piece of paper or a sticky note and each team member puts their ideas up on the whiteboard. 

Worst possible idea: The inverse of your end goal. Your team produces the most goofy idea so nobody will look silly. This takes out the rigidity of other brainstorming techniques. This technique also helps you identify areas that you can improve upon in your actual solution by looking at the worst parts of an absurd solution. 

It’s important that you don’t discount any ideas during the ideation phase of brainstorming. You want to have as many potential solutions as possible, as new ideas can help trigger even better ideas. Sometimes the most creative solution to a problem is the combination of many different ideas put together.

4. Prototype stage

During the prototype phase, you and your team design a few different variations of inexpensive or scaled down versions of the potential solution to the problem. Having different versions of the prototype gives your team opportunities to test out the solution and make any refinements. 

Prototypes are often tested by other designers, team members outside of the initial design department, and trusted customers or members of the target audience. Having multiple versions of the product gives your team the opportunity to tweak and refine the design before testing with real users. During this process, it’s important to document the testers using the end product. This will give you valuable information as to what parts of the solution are good, and which require more changes.

After testing different prototypes out with teasers, your team should have different solutions for how your product can be improved. The testing and prototyping phase is an iterative process—so much so that it’s possible that some design projects never end.

After designers take the time to test, reiterate, and redesign new products, they may find new problems, different solutions, and gain an overall better understanding of the end-user. The design thinking framework is flexible and non-linear, so it’s totally normal for the process itself to influence the end design. 

Tips for incorporating the design thinking process into your team

If you want your team to start using the design thinking process, but you’re unsure of how to start, here are a few tips to help you out. 

Start small: Similar to how you would test a prototype on a small group of people, you want to test out the design thinking process with a smaller team to see how your team functions. Give this test team some small projects to work on so you can see how this team reacts. If it works out, you can slowly start rolling this process out to other teams.

Incorporate cross-functional team members : The design thinking process works best when your team members collaborate and brainstorm together. Identify who your designer’s key stakeholders are and ensure they’re included in the small test team. 

Organize work in a collaborative project management software : Keep important design project documents such as user research, wireframes, and brainstorms in a collaborative tool like Asana . This way, team members will have one central source of truth for anything relating to the project they’re working on.

Foster collaborative design thinking with Asana

The design thinking process works best when your team works collaboratively. You don’t want something as simple as miscommunication to hinder your projects. Instead, compile all of the information your team needs about a design project in one place with Asana. 

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Creativity, Problem Solving and Design Thinking

Boost your creative skills and creative confidence with a structured approach to idea generation, exploration and development.

This course equals 48 hours of CPD time

8 hours per week

Tutor guided

Certificate of Achievement

Evidence your learning with a Certificate of Achievement from the University of Cambridge on successful completion.

07 October 2024

18 November 2024

30 September 2024

Discover more about this course from the expert(s) behind it

Course overview

Creative problem solving is increasingly recognised as the most sought-after skill in business. This is true across a wide range of industries, and across both private and public sectors. Entrepreneurs, employees, managers, and leaders are all required to find valuable opportunities, generate and develop new ideas and then trial and implement innovative solutions. These processes can be modelled on design activities, where key stakeholders are identified and designed for through processes of research, ideation and prototyping. This is all equally applicable to the development of strategies, products, processes and a variety of socio-technical systems.

This course will help you to learn about the role of creativity in problem solving, and the application of design thinking to different business tasks. You will discover the characteristics of difficult problems, the thinking skills that are used to address them and the various biases that need to be overcome. Through the course content and activities, you will recognise and develop your creative skills, gaining confidence in them and in your capacity to develop them further. This applies not just to individual work, but also to group work, where diverse perspectives and skills can be leveraged.

The course offers an excellent opportunity for professional development, whether you are looking to advance in your current role or change roles or sectors. Through the course, you will apply a structured process to identifying problems and generating wide-ranging solution ideas before selecting and developing one (or more) for communication and implementation. You will have the opportunity to practice these skills in various course-specific scenarios, and also to a project that is relevant to your own professional context. The course is highly interactive, and you will be encouraged, through individual and collaborative work, to apply and manage a selection of evidence-based creative approaches.

This course is certified by the United Kingdom CPD Certification Service, and may be applicable to individuals who are members of, or are associated with, UK-based professional bodies. The course has an estimated 48 hours of learning.

Note: should you wish to claim CPD activity, the onus is upon you. Cambridge Advance Online accept no responsibility, and cannot be held responsible, for the claiming or validation of hours or points.

What will I learn?

By the end of the course, you will have a broad understanding of the application of creative approaches, processes and tools, including how to:

• articulate the components of creative work, and the skills (and biases) that are involved
• apply creative processes and tools yourself
• manage the application of creative processes and tools by others
• develop confidence in your creative skills, and in your ability to improve those skills
• represent your own creative skills and experiences, and elicit those of others.

Who is this course for?

• Those interested in improving how they think and act creatively, moving past learned behaviour to reach new and effective solutions.
• Professionals working in business development, transformation, or strategy who are seeking a structured and innovative approach to solving problems.
• Individuals facing novel problems in the workplace, who need to challenge conventions to develop original solutions and pitch these to stakeholders.

Course delivery

Our certificated courses reflect the Cambridge experience and values, with low student to tutor ratios and academically rigorous standards. Our learning model is designed to help you advance your skills and specialise in emerging areas that address global challenges. We will help you build your network through an engaging and impactful learning journey that encourages collaboration. Courses are delivered in weekly modules, allowing you to plan your time effectively. The assessment criteria will be presented to you at the start of the course, so you can approach your studies with confidence and motivation, knowing what is expected of you and how to meet those expectations. 

Throughout your online learning experience, you will have access to your course tutor, who will help facilitate your learning and provide you with support and guidance during your studies. You can interact with your tutor through a range of media, such as live sessions, discussion forums, email or canvas messaging. 

Each course includes a balance of:

• interactive learning and real-world application so you can directly apply what you’re learning to your own context
• diverse teaching methods to enhance learning outcomes which will be delivered via learning activities such as University of Cambridge academic led videos, quizzes and group work
• optional live sessions (1 hour) with University of Cambridge academics and tutors to deepen your understanding of the week's material. These sessions may include an informal Q&A, a short lecture or a breakout activity that builds on the content introduced that week. All sessions are recorded and made available to stream so you can catch up whenever suits you
• guided critical thinking via our reflective workbook so you can collect, structure and summarise information and your thoughts as you progress through the course. 

What will I get on completion?

University of cambridge course lead.

Professor Nathan Crilly

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Enrol by 30 Sep

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Professor Crilly is truly world-class. His videos were informative and concise, and he was present, warm and engaging for all the live sessions. He made himself exceptionally available for questions and support and I couldn't be more grateful for his instruction.

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What Is Design Thinking & Why Is It Important?

• 18 Jan 2022

In an age when innovation is key to business success and growth, you’ve likely come across the term “design thinking.” Perhaps you’ve heard it mentioned by a senior leader as something that needs to be utilized more, or maybe you’ve seen it on a prospective employee's resume.

While design thinking is an ideology based on designers’ workflows for mapping out stages of design, its purpose is to provide all professionals with a standardized innovation process to develop creative solutions to problems—design-related or not.

Why is design thinking needed? Innovation is defined as a product, process, service, or business model featuring two critical characteristics: novel and useful. Yet, there’s no use in creating something new and novel if people won’t use it. Design thinking offers innovation the upgrade it needs to inspire meaningful and impactful solutions.

But what is design thinking, and how does it benefit working professionals?

What Is Design Thinking?

Design thinking is a mindset and approach to problem-solving and innovation anchored around human-centered design . While it can be traced back centuries—and perhaps even longer—it gained traction in the modern business world after Tim Brown, CEO and president of design company IDEO, published an article about it in the Harvard Business Review .

Design thinking is different from other innovation and ideation processes in that it’s solution-based and user-centric rather than problem-based. This means it focuses on the solution to a problem instead of the problem itself.

For example, if a team is struggling with transitioning to remote work, the design thinking methodology encourages them to consider how to increase employee engagement rather than focus on the problem (decreasing productivity).

The essence of design thinking is human-centric and user-specific. It’s about the person behind the problem and solution, and requires asking questions such as “Who will be using this product?” and “How will this solution impact the user?”

The first, and arguably most important, step of design thinking is building empathy with users. By understanding the person affected by a problem, you can find a more impactful solution. On top of empathy, design thinking is centered on observing product interaction, drawing conclusions based on research, and ensuring the user remains the focus of the final implementation.

The Four Phases of Innovation

So, what does design thinking entail? There are many models of design thinking that range from three to seven steps.

In the online course Design Thinking and Innovation , Harvard Business School Dean Srikant Datar leverages a four-phase innovation framework. The phases venture from concrete to abstract thinking and back again as the process loops, reverses, and repeats. This is an important balance because abstract thinking increases the likelihood that an idea will be novel. It’s essential, however, to anchor abstract ideas in concrete thinking to ensure the solution is valid and useful.

Here are the four phases for effective innovation and, by extension, design thinking.

The first phase is about narrowing down the focus of the design thinking process. It involves identifying the problem statement to come up with the best outcome. This is done through observation and taking the time to determine the problem and the roadblocks that prevented a solution in the past.

Various tools and frameworks are available—and often needed—to make concrete observations about users and facts gathered through research. Regardless of which tools are implemented, the key is to observe without assumptions or biased expectations.

Once findings from your observations are collected, the next step is to shape insights by framing those observations. This is where you can venture into the abstract by reframing the problem in the form of a statement or question.

Once the problem statement or question has been solidified—not finalized—the next step is ideation. You can use a tool such as systematic inventive thinking (SIT) in this stage, which is useful for creating an innovative process that can be replicated in the future.

The goal is to ultimately overcome cognitive fixedness and devise new and innovative ideas that solve the problems you identified. Continue to actively avoid assumptions and keep the user at the forefront of your mind during ideation sessions.

The third phase involves developing concepts by critiquing a range of possible solutions. This includes multiple rounds of prototyping, testing, and experimenting to answer critical questions about a concept’s viability.

Remember: This step isn’t about perfection, but rather, experimenting with different ideas and seeing which parts work and which don’t.

4. Implement

The fourth and final phase, implementation, is when the entire process comes together. As an extension of the develop phase, implementation starts with testing, reflecting on results, reiterating, and testing again. This may require going back to a prior phase to iterate and refine until you find a successful solution. Such an approach is recommended because design thinking is often a nonlinear, iterative process.

In this phase, don’t forget to share results with stakeholders and reflect on the innovation management strategies implemented during the design thinking process. Learning from experience is an innovation process and design thinking project all its own.

Check out the video about the design thinking process below, and subscribe to our YouTube channel for more explainer content!

Why Design Thinking Skills Matter

The main value of design thinking is that it offers a defined process for innovation. While trial and error is a good way to test and experiment what works and what doesn’t, it’s often time-consuming, expensive, and ultimately ineffective. On the other hand, following the concrete steps of design thinking is an efficient way to develop new, innovative solutions.

On top of a clear, defined process that enables strategic innovation, design thinking can have immensely positive outcomes for your career—in terms of both advancement and salary.

As of December 2021, the most common occupations requiring design thinking skills were:

• Marketing managers
• Industrial engineers
• Graphic designers
• Software developers
• General and operations managers
• Management analysts
• Personal service managers
• Architectural and engineering managers
• Computer and information systems managers

In addition, jobs that require design thinking statistically have higher salaries. Take a marketing manager position, for example. The median annual salary is $107,900. Marketing manager job postings that require design thinking skills, however, have a median annual salary of $133,900—a 24 percent increase.

Overall, businesses are looking for talent with design thinking skills. As of November 2021, there were 29,648 job postings in the United States advertising design thinking as a necessary skill—a 153 percent increase from November 2020, and a 637 percent increase from November 2017.

As businesses continue to recognize the need for design thinking and innovation, they’ll likely create more demand for employees with those skills.

Learning Design Thinking

Design thinking is an extension of innovation that allows you to design solutions for end users with a single problem statement in mind. It not only imparts valuable skills but can help advance your career.

It’s also a collaborative endeavor that can only be mastered through practice with peers. As Datar says in the introduction to Design Thinking and Innovation : “Just as with learning how to swim, the best way to practice is to jump in and try.”

If you want to learn design thinking, take an active role in your education. Start polls, problem-solving exercises, and debates with peers to get a taste of the process. It’s also important to seek out diverse viewpoints to prepare yourself for the business world.

In addition, if you’re considering adding design thinking to your skill set, think about your goals and why you want to learn about it. What else might you need to be successful?

You might consider developing your communication, innovation, leadership, research, and management skills, as those are often listed alongside design thinking in job postings and professional profiles.

You may also notice skills like agile methodology, user experience, and prototyping in job postings, along with non-design skills, such as product management, strategic planning, and new product development.

Is Design Thinking Right for You?

There are many ways to approach problem-solving and innovation. Design thinking is just one of them. While it’s beneficial to learn how others have approached problems and evaluate if you have the same tools at your disposal, it can be more important to chart your own course to deliver what users and customers truly need.

You can also pursue an online course or workshop that dives deeper into design thinking methodology. This can be a practical path if you want to improve your design thinking skills or require a more collaborative environment.

Are you ready to develop your design thinking skills? Explore our online course Design Thinking and Innovation to discover how to leverage fundamental design thinking principles and innovative problem-solving tools to address business challenges.

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5 Tips to Incorporate Critical Thinking for Designers

While designing, it is crucial to question the ideas and assumptions to identify the gaps in reasoning. This blog will help designers gain the basics of critical thinking to decide whether their concepts and conclusions draw a realistic picture of the user experience.

A designer creates a primary design model on the platform, be it a motion design, an animation, or a UI or UX design. As a designer, every single day, you are surrounded by a plethora of choices, design problems to rectify, and ideas to evaluate. The internal and external factors such as biases, information, and prejudices affect these areas of design. These factors play a role while making the right decision or finding the proper solution that may lead to misleading choices. Critical thinking offers an alternative way to improve our thinking process that affects the outcome of our decision.

This article will discuss some handy tips for designers to incorporate critical thinking in their design. But before that, first, let us introduce you to what critical thinking is.

What is critical thinking?

Critical thinking is a directed, monitored, and corrective way of thinking to improve how we communicate ideas and face problems.

In the designing context, critical thinking is a method for evaluating and analyzing problems, ideas, and different situations to build a clear understanding before reaching the optimal solution. This thinking style is popularly used in design to create an objective perception of different design projects.

What are the principles of critical thinking?

The below principles were introduced to serve as guidelines for critical thinking before taking further steps:

• Collect all the necessary information about the design problem
• Understand and define the terms for the design problem
• Interrogate the methods used for collecting the information and the sources of facts
• Understand the design assumptions and biases
• Look at the bigger picture
• Examine the causes and effects

The above principles clear the biases and define the situation clearly. It also ensures the source of the collected data and the methods for collecting it are free from biases and mistakes so that you can focus on the problem without considering any external factors.

5 tips to incorporate critical thinking in your design

Now that we've had a glimpse of what critical thinking is and its principles that you should follow, let us discuss the crux of this article: the tips for incorporating critical thinking in your design.

Understand the stages of critical thinking

The process of critical thinking has three stages to go through: Observe, Question, and Answer. We would explore how to address the design problems with critical thinking, with the stages described below:

• Observe: It all starts by observing. Observe the individual parts of someone's work and think about those parts and how they contribute to the whole.
• Question: Based on the parts you have observed, have a list of questions ready. These can be about working on the design, the activities happening in the different parts, and their contribution to the end design.
• Answer: Now, after questioning with so many observations, it is time to think of the answers to the questions you have. Keep in mind that it is not important to be correct but the way you interpret the answers.

Every observation teaches how to draw attention to something in a design. With a deeper understanding, you get to know the design concepts of:

• Direction and direction flow
• Focal points
• Visual weight balance

Thinking critically about several designs will eventually improve your skill.

Design critiques

A design critique is a way to analyze a design and give feedback on it satisfying the objectives, improving and bringing expert insight into brands, interfaces, prototypes, services, user journeys, or technical difficulties while implementing a design. It usually helps in a group of 3 to 7 people, including motion, animation, or UI/UX designers, developers, marketers, or analysts.

Design critique manifests the ultimate goal of improving a design. Using this, you can focus on your branding elements, concepts, or other feasibilities.

Critical thinking can be used in the design critiques where people from forums and design communities are involved. A critique must be perceived as an opportunity to think critically and understand something about design.

After observing the critiques, you can:

• Make a note of those observations
• Choose any three things you like and determine how they work in the design
• Share three things that need improvement

Linking theory to practice

Critical thinking involves both practical and theoretical knowledge. It includes the actual practice and how it works with the theory. Critical thinking helps in taking theoretical knowledge and how you could apply it practically to your design.

Without theoretical knowledge, any practical implementation would take longer, as it will pass through so many steps of trials and errors. Unless you have worked with the various designing concepts and made them effective with your theoretical knowledge, the theory will be meaningless. Using critical thinking to amalgamate both theory and practical design experience makes you a better designer and offers you the scope to improve.

It can take time and practice to connect the dots, but in the end, you will find yourself improving on the steps with the concepts understood to make your design work better for you.

Interpret your experiences

As a designer practicing for some time, you are likely to have gained most of the design knowledge and necessary skills. However, there is always a scope of growth if you learn from the success and failures. Critical analysis, therefore, is essential for interpreting your professional experiences for you to learn from them to become a better designer.

When in your job, you might have come across experiences that positively influenced your design, and there can also be days when every design you crafted wasn't up to the mark and was rejected by your client. Whether positive or negative, every experience counts and serves as the enabler of growth for the future.

Gain valuable hidden insights

Hidden areas offer the best invaluable insights. Critical thinking, along with insights, helps us understand a problem and offers alternative ways of perceiving it. To identify and understand the connection between each idea, we ought to be active design thinkers and not passive. Critical thinking allows us to ponder ideas and assumptions. Designers can determine whether the ideas and findings represent a realistic user experience by applying critical thinking.

An asynchronous design is restrictive as it is usually made through steps in the 'design and think' or 'think and design' approach. Thus, a design should be viewed as a synchronous process, where the situations are observed and needs and opportunities identified while applying thinking that represents the target users. A synchronous design is nothing but an aspect of critical design which makes you a better designer.

What are the advantages of critical thinking?

Critical thinking is one of those important components that exist at every stage of the design thinking process. Applying it offers the following benefits to every designer:

It aids in problem solving

Critical thinking is not rational and is based on a set of logical rules. It offers plenty of possibilities for creativity in the critical thinking process.

It is reflective

Effective use of the critical thinking method ensures objectivity and does not leave any scope for biases.

It supports wider applications

Critical thinking is a method that applies to all projects irrespective of the type of expected solution.

A designer is required to have creativity as a must and a fundamental element when making a design. However, it takes a lot more concepts to be applied to a design. Apart from the knowledge, skills, and creativity that a designer has, the ability to think critically is considered one of the most fundamental processes in transforming an ordinary designer into an extraordinary one.

A critically thought design carries great value. It involves observing different designs and learning to go deep inside them, and thinking about why they do and don't work.

Giving feedback to another designer with the effort you put into it determines the end value you both get out of it. Hence, it is a win-win situation at the end if you take the critique sportingly and as a measure for improvisation.

In this article, we have tried to give you some useful and effective tips that help to incorporate critical thinking in your design projects. We hope you can step up your design project to the next level by applying these tips that we have mentioned.

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Until then, happy designing!

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