[MUSIC] In this video, we're going to learn about design thinking, the process of design thinking, the steps involve and also get to understand how the process has changed because we have 3D printing and tools such as 3D printers, all other rapid prototyping tools available to us today. We are fortunate to have with us Professor David Weightman, who is a professor in industrial design practice at the School of Art and Design here. He's had a long and distinguished career in academia and in the industry as well. He's consulted for firms such as Yamaha and BBC Television as well. Thank you for taking the time to chat with us, David. Could you give us a sense of your background and your research in the space? >> I mean, my background is in industrial design with slightly more content of engineering, that might be the case in some industrial design programs. I've been fortunate enough to combine a level of design practice with my interesting education and curriculum developments. Currently, at the university those interests are focused on curriculum developments of courses that concentrate on exposing people from different disciplines to design thinking. So, I do regular courses with design students but I do other courses with groups of design students and engineers and other people from different programs across the university. I quite like that kind of mixture. And some of those courses have a particular concentration on the use of digital prototyping tools. That's the vehicle by which people are going to realize their designs and the way in which they going to communicate and work together. >> I think we've seen, at least in the maker lab as well when we've done courses where we brought together engineering design and business students The output has been so much richer. So let's start with the just baseline explanation of what design thinking really is. >> Design thinking is really about a human centered design process that considers all aspects of the relationships between people and the product services, and experiences they encounter. So, it's not just about physical things. It's also about services and experiences. And those are equally amenable to that kind of holistic consideration. I've used the model of design thinking, that was developed by IDEO, which is really saying that good design is really about putting together things that come from three different areas. There are things that are with people, which you could group together under the category of being desirable, developing an understanding of people's needs to produce things that people both need and want. It's also thinking about what something looks like, how it's used and so on. Things which connect with people. There's another set of things which are really to do with business. Whatever products, services, and experiences people are designing, it has to fall part of some kind of business model. It has to be viable in a business sense. It's gotta be a return on investment, has to generate profit. And the third set of things is about feasibility. This is really the technical stuff about how something is made, whether it's durable enough, whether it's economic to manufacture and so on. So, those kind of concerns about technology you could lump together under the heading of feasibility. So, desirability, viability, and feasibility. Looking at the areas where those three things intersect, that's the kind of sweet spot where good design thinking, good design actually resides. There's really another set of concerns that you also need to take into account about the environment, the sustainability, both in a business sense and also in terms of use of materials and processes and so on. We can add another ible to the set of three by having responsible as being the fourth area where this consideration should be given. >> Could you take us through sort of the framework itself, that if it starts with empathizing, how do we go forward? >> You first start of by trying to identify what needs or wants people have. It's really a case of, kind of market pull if you like, where in technology push. So, the first part is really about observing what people do and then asking them questions about what they do, what they might do differently. And one of the tools that you can employ at that stage is the one of empathy. It's very important for designers to be able to put themselves into somebody else's position, to walk a mile in somebody else's shoes if you like. Because most of the things that most designers design all the time, are not for themselves, they're actually for other people. So, understanding what other people are about is a very important part of what a designer needs to do in that first stage. Observing and inquiring gives you insights into unmet needs or needs which are not met particularly well at the moment. And that's the time when you start ideating. What are the various ways that you can think of, of doing that differently or doing that more effectively. The general approach tends to be, let's get as many ideas as possible, and then we'll filter down, and then analyze them to work out which are the most useful ones. And there is a certain amount of It's a ratio and cycling back in this anyway. So, it's not necessarily a linear, totally linear process. But, the next stage generally, is to do experiments in prototyping, make something that illustrates what it might look like or what it might work like or how you might actually, how it might function, how you might use it. And prototypes made at all sorts of different levels starting off with cardboard and string and pipe cleaners and that kind of stuff. The prototype isn't the one really expensive thing that you make at the end just before you start production. Prototyping is the essential part of the thinking process. The last stage of the process is implementation. Putting things in the production, looking at the details of tooling and all that kind of stuff. And then the very last stage although, it has occurred at different points all the way through is one about communication, telling people what is about, pitching to people who are going to provide money or provide the technology to make it or the people who might sell it or buy it or use it or whatever. One thing that's maybe characteristic of design thinking as a process which is a little different from some of the more traditional design approaches is an emphasis on story telling as a means for engaging and communicating with people. Working out the story of the user in the first place, working out the story of the product, and so on. Learning how to tell those kinds of stories and engage people in that way. It's a very important part of the process, not just the end of the sequence. [MUSIC]
