Innovation is crucial for business growth. A business cannot survive without continuously innovating. It has been observed time and again that no matter how well the branding is done, no matter how flawlessly the supply chain is maintained. If a company is not innovative, it is not sustainable in the long run.
Several companies have seen a fall that stopped innovation. Kodak - once the market leader, dominated the photography market in the 1990s. Their resistance to technological advancement put them at a disadvantage. Eventually, they were overtaken by those who were quick enough to adopt the technology - similarly, Nokia - one of the highly successful companies. However, Nokia overestimated the strength of its brand and was not fast enough to move to smartphones. Apple introduced the iPhone, a keyless phone that was revolutionary at the time.
"Innovation is the fuel for growth, when a company runs out of innovation, it runs out of growth." - Gary Hammel
Why are innovations important?
Innovation is essential for growth as it keeps the target audience engaged and enthusiastic. Consumer needs are constantly changing over time, and companies that can walk alongside their consumers are always highly valued. In contrast, those that become disconnected from their consumers are often left behind. Innovation also gives companies an advantage to expand their market scope and penetrate markets faster.
According to studies, 60% to 80% of innovations fail. Developing a successful innovation is no easy task. However, creativity and innovation skills are not limited to geniuses. Successful innovation can be conceived by anyone with the right tools and processes. The right innovative techniques can help you save a lot of time and money and give you a competitive edge to grow your business. Design thinking is an effective process that leads to design successful innovations.
What is design thinking
Design thinking is a meticulously designed process to gather the information that turns it into insights. It is a process of thinking outside the box. It is based on a human-centered approach where thoughts follow this path that can open new horizons to explore new and untapped ideas. The aim is to guide the thinking process to simply think outside the box.
Another key feature of design thinking is that it encourages collaboration through multidisciplinary functions of an organization to work together to gain deeper insights into finding the solution. It encourages creative ways to find solutions to the problem at hand (Fig. 1-1).
Design Thinking Framework
According to the following illustration, there are 5 phases in the design thinking framework (Fig. 1-2)
Phase 1: Empathy
This is the first stage of design thinking. At this stage, we need to form a complete picture of a consumer as a human being. Consumers do not just consume a product in isolation. There is a complex process of decision making to buy a product.
Empathy is the mental habit that moves us beyond thinking of people as lab rats or standard deviations. Suppose we are asked to "borrow" other people's lives to inspire new ideas. In this case, we must first recognize that their seemingly inexplicable behavior represents different strategies for coping with the confusing, complex, and contradictory world in which they live. At this stage, we look for the insights that will give us clues to solve our consumer's problem.
Insight is a simple lesson we learn from the lives of others. Insight is one of the most important sources of design thinking and doesn't usually come from piles of research and data. We need to keep digging to find out what we already know [i].
Phase 2: Define
"It is not the answer that enlightens him, but the question." - Eugene Ionesco
Asking the right question leads to the right answer. Define mode is the phase in which we unload our empathy results and transform them into insights and a meaningful challenge [II].
At this stage, we synthesize all the insights we have gained from the empathy stage. The upcoming question is defined in order to seek answers.
Phase 3: Ideat
In this phase, the focus is on generating ideas to provide a solution to the problem. It is the creative opportunity to come up with multiple ideas without judgment or to conclude them with limitations. In this phase, everyone is pushed to expand their thinking horizons.
"It's not about developing the" right "idea, but about generating the broadest range of possibilities." Tim Brown
There are a number of ways to generate ideas such as brain storms, brain walk, scamper, etc.
Phase 4: Prototype
"If a picture is worth a thousand words, a prototype is worth a thousand reviews."
Prototyping is about shaping ideas and making them tangible. Prototypes are a quick reality check. It allows you to redesign the idea and make initial improvements.
Starting a prototype with low fidelity is better as it can increase clues in the early stages. It is much better to fail quickly at the beginning of the journey than to recognize the shortcomings halfway or reach the destination.
According to Tim Brown, the more of a prototype you are, the less likely you are to want to act on constructive feedback. Therefore, sharing raw representations of what you're building should start early in the life of a project [v].
Phase 5: Test
At this stage, all proposed solutions are tested in a real-life scenario. It is better to correct the product before it goes to market rather than continuing to build it on a faulty foundation. This is the final stage, but the team can revisit the process at any time to adjust or refine the product or services.
Design thinking is the process that leads the team to develop creative ideas. So always keep yourself flexible to adapt the changes and add creativity to the process to make it more effective.