On Design Thinking. Oh… are we still talking about this? | by Nick Foster | May, 2022 | Medium
Reducing and simplifying complex systems is a commonplace tactic in education, as it aids the comprehension and absorption of a topic, but in order to be effective it has a duty to convey the complex truths which lie below the surface. Design Thinking education willfully ignores these complexities, preferring to wrap Design into a digestible package, and in so doing establishing it as a simple, reproducible and processional endeavor. This approach dramatically simplifies the highly complex, nuanced, non-linear reality of Design to a grotesque degree.
Design Thinking has reduced a wide ranging, complex and professional industry to a weekend certification offering a few extra credits to breathless innovators.
Perhaps more concerning is the increased frequency with which Design Thinking and Design have become conflated and viewed as interchangeable. From preschool to post-grad, Design education is rapidly becoming ‘Design Thinking’ education, being taught by strategists, entrepreneurs and solutioneers, as opposed to artists, craftspeople and technicians.
Design Thinking offers some basic organizational logic to a process, but it implies a level of closure which isn’t present in reality. It’s a fallacy of rapidity, of repeatability, of clean outputs and finite solutions.
Speculative and critical design; the exploration and expression of externalities; the rendering of implications over applications; the creation of ethical guidelines and inclusive strategies all form part of a contemporary Designer’s arsenal, yet aren’t represented anywhere within Design Thinking.
Design isn’t simply a tool to accelerate innovation, or a fun distraction during a stuffy offsite. When deployed correctly it can help build vision, strategy and long-term focus at the highest level. It can change the way we see the world, help us understand it and provide tools to explore and embrace it. It can bring balance and rigor and joy and genuine change to your organization.
Posted on May 26, 2022