Design thinking is not for designing products alone. The processes are great for solving problems in our daily lives. The design thinking processes are problem-solving techniques that can be applied to any aspect of life.
Five Basic Methods for Using Design Thinking to Solve Daily Life Problems
1. Visualize the problem
Visualization reveals key relationships between problems, whether solving critical global problems or working on micro-projects.
Recognizing the connection between problems helps you think about the standard solution to the issues. Sometimes it will require doing only one thing that will have a ripple effect of the solution on others.
2. Challenge common assumptions
This approach helps you break cultural norms and assumptions to discover new ideas. For example, if you are trying to encourage planting tree crops in an urban area. The challenge can be not having enough space on land to plant crops. To solve this, you can ask, “What if we create space on rooftops to plant crops”?
You take the first step toward a great answer when you tear down the very walls that are blocking you from succeeding.
3. Reverse your thinking
You can consider the problem from the opposite perspective instead of being discouraged by setbacks. Reverse thinking entails converting a negative statement to a positive one and vice versa.
For example, if your goal is to raise product awareness among a target market. You may ask yourself, "How can I ensure this target market is never exposed to my brand?”. The answer may be never to conduct social media marketing initiatives or do market research to uncover current trends. You can perceive difficulties differently and select what to prioritize if you reverse the circumstance.
4. Empathize with your audience
Designers frequently ask themselves, "Which problem is my design solving? You can ask this question of coworkers, managers, friends, or even family members in any setting.
Begin with simple queries like who else is affected by this problem? What impact does it have on them? What is one thing that you could do to help them?
Your problem-solving method will be more meaningful if you empathize with your audience. As a result, you become more committed to reaching a long-term solution.
5. Embrace risk and failure
Designers are Masters of creative thinking for one fundamental reason; they're not afraid of failure or danger. You must overcome your fear of failure if you are serious about adopting design thinking into your daily life. You can only come up with genuinely breakthrough ideas and solutions if you accept (and even embrace) the risk of failure.
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