Henry Ford famously said, “If I asked my customers what they wanted, they’d have said a faster horse.”
Ford’s classic quote incited laughter amongst the undergraduate students during the three-hour IDEO design thinking simulation in the d.studio’s pilot class. Ron Kellett reminded his students that it can be tough for consumers to “get past the horse” – design thinking just might help them break through the same paradigm.
Students eagerly broke off into lively teams and engaged fully with the exercise. (There was no time for facebook during this class!)
IDEO’s process took them through the entire design thinking process:
1) Observe
2) Find insights
3) Frame opportunities
4) Brainstorm ideas
5) Implement
6) Test
Using sophisticated online software, teams were allotted times to complete the required steps of the design thinking process. When finished, other teams would vote on who had arrived at the best ideas. Final scores were based on how many votes individual groups received for their ideas and how well groups were able to recognize excellent ideas, based on popularity, from other teams.
The process spurred a discussion on brainstorming, time crunches and teamwork. Reminded of the importance of defining the challenge and exploring extreme sides of each issues, students will be well prepared to take on the next challenge in the course.