The Ultimate Guide
to Design Thinking

Design Thinking is a human-centered design process that helps cross functional teams solve complex problems together. Design Thinking has become increasingly important since it was first described in the 1970s, as rapid technological development has turned most problems organizations face into ill-defined — or “wicked” problems. That is, problems where even the problem itself needs to be discovered.

Design Thinking was created through the combined efforts of engineers and industrial designers beginning in the 1950s. As a term, Design Thinking is often attributed to Herbert A Simon, who in 1979 described “a designerly way of thinking” that was both different from “scholarly” methods, yet equally powerful when applied to ambiguous, human-centered problems.

Design Thinking methodology helps teams apply the Design Thinking principles and mindsets to real-world situations. It outlines a set of stages and steps, which are completed through activities conducted in Design Thinking workshops or sprints.

Every Design Thinking project starts in the Discovery stage, where a cross-functional team maps out the opportunity space. The output of Discovery is commonly called the “Current Landscape”, and it includes insights that answer three big questions: WHO are we designing for? WHAT do we have? HOW will we measure success?