KGiSL Institute of Technology
(Approved by AICTE, New Delhi; Affiliated to Anna University, Chennai)
Recognized by UGC, Accredited by NBA (IT)
365, KGiSL Campus, Thudiyalur Road, Saravanampatti, Coimbatore – 641035.
Department of Computer Science and Engineering
Name of the Faculty :
Subject Name & Code : OME354 /APPLIED DESIGN THINKING
Branch & Department : Computer Science and Engineering
Year & Semester : III / V
Academic Year :2024-25
OME354/ADT/III CSE/V SEM/KG-KiTE
Syllabus
UNIT I DESIGN THINKING PRINCIPLES
Exploring Human-centered Design - Understanding the Innovation
process, discovering areas of opportunity, Interviewing & empathy-
building techniques, Mitigate validation risk with FIR [Forge
Innovation rubric] - Case studies.
OME354/ADT/III CSE/V SEM/KG-KiTE
Design thinking
• Design thinking is a problem-solving method that uses practical
processes and creative thinking to create outstanding products and
services for customers.
• It's a non-linear and iterative approach that focuses on meeting the
needs of the user.
Design thinking is ‘outside the box’ thinking
OME354/ADT/III CSE/V SEM/KG-KiTE
EXAMPLE
OME354/ADT/III CSE/V SEM/KG-KiTE
OME354/ADT/III CSE/V SEM/KG-KiTE
Benefits
OME354/ADT/III CSE/V SEM/KG-KiTE
5 Stages of the Design Thinking Process
The five stages of design thinking,
• Empathise - research your users' needs.
• Define - state your users' needs and problems.
• Ideate - challenge assumptions and create ideas.
• Prototype - start to create solutions.
• Test - try your solutions out.
OME354/ADT/III CSE/V SEM/KG-KiTE
key principles
• User-centricity and empathy
• Collaboration
• Ideation
• Experimentation and iteration
• A Bias Towards Action
OME354/ADT/III CSE/V SEM/KG-KiTE
OME354/ADT/III CSE/V SEM/KG-KiTE
Human-centered design
• Human-centered design (HCD) is a creative approach to solving
people’s problems that begins with identifying their needs and ends
with creating solutions—products, experiences, and services—that
meet those needs.
OME354/ADT/III CSE/V SEM/KG-KiTE
HCD Principles
• People-centered: Focus on people and their context in order to
create things that are appropriate for them. Participatory design
ensures user involvement in the process.
• Understand and solve the right problems, the root
problems: Understand and solve the right problem, the root causes,
the underlying fundamental issues. Otherwise, the symptoms will
just keep returning.
OME354/ADT/III CSE/V SEM/KG-KiTE
HCD Principles
• Everything is a system: Think of everything as a system of
interconnected parts.
• Small and simple interventions: Do iterative work and don't rush to
a solution. Try small, simple interventions and learn from them one
by one, and slowly your results will get bigger and better.
Continually prototype, test and refine your proposals to make sure
that your small solutions truly meet the needs of the people you
focus on.
OME354/ADT/III CSE/V SEM/KG-KiTE
Understanding the Innovation process
1. The innovation process in human-centered design (HCD) is all about
creating solutions that address user needs.
2. It's not a linear path, but rather a cyclical loop that emphasizes learning
and iteration.
The key stages that drive innovation are as follows –
1. Inspiration & Understanding:
• Discovery: This phase is all about defining the problem and getting a deep
understanding of the user. You'll conduct user research through interviews,
observations, surveys, and other methods to uncover their needs,
frustrations, and behaviors.
• Insights generation: Once you have a wealth of user data, analyze it to
identify patterns and key insights that will guide your innovation efforts.
OME354/ADT/III CSE/V SEM/KG-KiTE
Cont..
2. Ideation & Exploration:
• Challenge framing: Based on your insights, precisely define the design
challenge you're trying to solve.
• Creative brainstorming: This is where you unleash your creativity! Use
techniques like mind-mapping, sketching, and worst-possible-scenario
brainstorming to generate a wide range of ideas for potential solutions.
Don't censor any ideas at this stage; the goal is to explore all possibilities.
• Idea selection & prioritization: Evaluate each idea based on its potential
to address user needs (effectiveness) and its feasibility from a business
and technical standpoint (viability). Prioritize the most promising ideas
for further exploration.
OME354/ADT/III CSE/V SEM/KG-KiTE
Cont..
3. Experimentation & Refinement:
• Prototyping: Develop low-fidelity prototypes (quick and inexpensive
models) to test core functionalities of your most promising ideas. These
prototypes can be anything from paper sketches to basic digital mockups.
• User testing: Get real users to interact with your prototypes and observe
their behavior, gather feedback, and identify any usability issues. This
helps you understand how well your solutions are actually meeting user
needs.
• Iteration: Based on user feedback, refine your prototypes and iterate on
your design. This is an ongoing process as you learn more from each
iteration.
OME354/ADT/III CSE/V SEM/KG-KiTE
Cont..
4. Implementation & Validation:
• Develop the solution: Once you have a well-tested and refined
design, it's time to develop it into a final product or service.
• Launch & evaluation: Release your solution to the market and
continue to gather user feedback. Track key metrics to see how well
your solution is performing. This helps you validate the effectiveness
of your innovation and identify areas for further improvement.
OME354/ADT/III CSE/V SEM/KG-KiTE
Discovering areas of opportunity
1. Traditional Design Fields:
• Product Design: Design thinking helps create user-centered
products that are not just functional but also desirable.
• Service Design: It can improve the user experience of various
services, making them more efficient and user-friendly.
• UX/UI Design: Design thinking is instrumental in crafting intuitive
and user-friendly interfaces for websites and applications.
OME354/ADT/III CSE/V SEM/KG-KiTE
Cont..
2. Beyond Design:
• Business: Design thinking fosters innovation by helping businesses
identify unmet customer needs and develop solutions.
• Social Impact: It can be used to tackle social challenges like
education, healthcare, and sustainability by designing solutions that
address the needs of the community.
• Public Sector: Government agencies can leverage design thinking to
improve public services, making them more responsive and citizen-
centric.
OME354/ADT/III CSE/V SEM/KG-KiTE
Empathy-building techniques
• Empathy is the ability to feel what another person is feeling.
• It’s useful in the design thinking process as it allows us to design
experiences that closely align with actual users’ wants and needs.
• There are three types of empathy: cognitive empathy, emotional
empathy, and compassionate empathy.
Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another
person.
OME354/ADT/III CSE/V SEM/KG-KiTE
Cont..
• Cognitive empathy is the ability to understand someone else’s
perspective and thoughts. It involves seeing things from their point
of view and comprehending their emotions.
• Emotional empathy is the ability to feel what someone else is
feeling. It involves feeling the same emotions as the other person,
such as joy, sadness, or anger.
• Compassionate empathy involves not only understanding and
feeling the emotions of others but also wanting to help them. It
involves a sense of compassion and a desire to alleviate the
suffering of others.
OME354/ADT/III CSE/V SEM/KG-KiTE
Contd..
OME354/ADT/III CSE/V SEM/KG-KiTE
5 Steps to Implementing an Empathy-Driven Design
Approach
1. Define the problem clearly, by understanding users’ needs and
objectives
• A clearly defined customer problem is important because it serves
as the foundation for the entire design process.
2. Analyze user behaviors through observation, interviews and surveys
• Observational research can help designers gain the clarity they need
to design effective solutions by providing insights into the user’s
behaviors, needs, and pain points.
OME354/ADT/III CSE/V SEM/KG-KiTE
Cont..
3. Empathy mapping to gain insight into users’ emotional responses
associated with the product or service
• Uncovering what your user is thinking, feeling and needing can be a
challenge.
OME354/ADT/III CSE/V SEM/KG-KiTE
Cont..
• To create an empathy map, follow these steps: define who you’re
mapping for, research relevant insights about how this individual
thinks, feels & behaves; categorize it accordingly then develop a
readable structure which visually displays the information collected.
• Example for empathy map – buying a TV
OME354/ADT/III CSE/V SEM/KG-KiTE
Cont..
OME354/ADT/III CSE/V SEM/KG-KiTE
Cont..
4. Create personas to better understand user’s needs, behaviors, and
motivations
• Personas are an invaluable tool for unlocking the user experience.
5. Gather feedback from users during testing phases to validate
solutions
• Good product or service design depends heavily on understanding
the users’ needs and experiences.
OME354/ADT/III CSE/V SEM/KG-KiTE
