Design It: Reflective Essay on Design Thinking and Personal Development

This reflective essay explores the concepts of design thinking and personal development. It discusses the importance of self-reflection, empathy mapping, interview skills, and rapid prototype development in the design process. The essay also includes a personal improvement action plan.

Running head: DESIGN IT 1
Design It
Names
Institution Affiliation

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Contents
Executive Summary.......................................................................................................................3
1. Introduction................................................................................................................................5
2. Self-Reflection............................................................................................................................5
3. Empathy mapping.....................................................................................................................6
4. Interview/ asking the right question........................................................................................8
5. Rapid Prototype Development................................................................................................10
6. Personal Development Action Plan........................................................................................11
Long-term Goals......................................................................................................................11
Short Term Goals.....................................................................................................................11
References......................................................................................................................................13

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Executive Summary
Competition in the business world necessitates creativity in companies to ensure they continue
operating profitably. Customers determine the success or failure of a business, and companies
have always fought to retain their loyal customers and gain the ones patronizing the competitors'
businesses. Traditionally, the competition for customers has primarily centered on either quality
or pricing. Design thinking is the new frontier in a bid for firms to gain market share (Brown &
Martin, 2015). A reflective essay is a written introspection on a learning experience whose
primary function is to examine one's life retrospectively. The examination process leads to
personal awareness, including the strengths, weaknesses, the challenges in life, and the successes
one has had, among others. Regular reflection allows a person to effectively find solutions to
issues in life and adjust one's mental attitude and direction appropriately.
The present reflective essay is based on the lessons learned during my studies in “Design it”
module that took place over the curse of a few weeks. It will involve a review of the weekly
blogs that I kept as I went through the training as a reminder of what I have covered. The first
part of the report will be the introduction, which will provide an overview of the need for design
thinking. It will also touch on self-reflection. I will then deal with self-reflection, empathy
mapping, interview, and rapid-prototype phase. The reflection report will conclude with a
personal improvement action plan where I explain how I am planning on improving my
weaknesses as identified during the design it training.

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Design It
1. Introduction
Design thinking refers to the creative process of continuously redesigning a business
based on precise information resulting from close interaction with the customer (Rauth, Carlgren,
& Elmquist, 2014). The reflective report will focus on my experiences throughout the "design it"
course. I will base the reflection on four concepts that had the most significant impact on my life.
The ideas are recorded in my weekly blogs, and they will form the basis of my personal
development efforts going forward. The four main focus areas in the reflective essay will be self-
reflection, empathy mapping, interview skills, and Rapid Prototype.
2. Self-Reflection
If one uses a recipe, follows every step to the letter, and the final results are
disappointing, he or she will not use the method again. Instead, such a person looks for a
different recipe or tries to make one. However, as humans, we tend using the same failed recipe
for cooking several meals without a care in the world on whether it works or it does not. We get
disappointed at the results we get, but we rarely question our methods or ingredients. Self-
reflection entails looking deep inside oneself and trying to figure out what characteristics
describe us (Dziadkiewicz, 2017). In self-reflection, we face ourselves as someone facing a
mirror and carefully look at the reflected image. We notice some beautiful feature on the image,
the flaws, and parts that need to be worked on. In essence, through self-reflection, we see our
strengths, skills, weaknesses, skills, the things in the environment that distracts us, the things we
have achieved in our lives, the problems we have faced in the journey, and the things we need to
or stop doing to improve our lives. Self-reflection is not easy and does not come naturally to us
as we believe we are doing just fine. Self-Reflection is such an important factor in brain

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development that scientists are designing apps to help K-12 students in the process (Leinonen,
Keune,Veermans, & Toikkanen, 2016). Through self-reflection, I came to realize that I was
innovative, but there was room for improvement. According to Micheli, Wilner, Bhatti, Mura, &
Beverland (2019), human beings have an innate capacity for innovative thinking, and consistent
practice in design thinking will eventually lead to perfection.
As noted in the blog on Week 3 (3 April 2019), when the self- reflection activity started, I
thought it was one of the things that one need to learn in the course for examination purposes. I
never knew that it could end up changing my life and especially the way I think and do things.
However, by the end of the activity, I was surprised to learn of the qualities I did not know I
possessed. At the same time, I learned of some of the reasons that made me angry and frustrated.
Impatience came out as one of my main weaknesses, which has played a significant role in my
life. I lack patience, and in most cases, I do things in a hurry before looking at the full
implications, and whenever I do not get the desired results, I get frustrated and angry with at the
world. Looking back, I now know why my friends and family believe that I am an angry person,
a term I hated, which multiplied my anger. Patience is one of the areas that I will need to take a
deliberate effort to deal with it. It will not be easy, but if I do not work on it, my life is unlikely
to improve. According to (Dorst, 2011), self-reflection is an essential exercise in life, and it can
completely change a person's life for the better. Accordingly, I will be practicing self-reflection
once a week, and after any project that I undertake to ensure that the lessons from experience
build me up for the next tasks. Tracey & Hutchinson (2018) opine there is a close relationship
between self-reflection and professional identity development. The implication of the study is
that I will need to undertake more written self-reflective activities to develop in both my personal
and professional life.

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3. Empathy mapping
Empathy mapping is one of the essential ideas in thinking design. Empathy concerns
putting oneself in another person's life and trying to feel how he or she feels, things, views the
world and reacts to issues in life. Empathy enables a person to support the other individual
without judgment as one can understand the motivations behind the actions. In traditional
production processes, the producer produces something and hopes that someone will find it
useful and buy it. The problem with this kind of thinking is that the consumers might not like the
product, but being the only thing in the market, they buy it and wait for competitors to come up
with a better product (Neubauer, Paepcke-Hjeltness, Evans, Barnhart, & Finseth, 2017).
The mentality that the producer knows best was challenged during the course. As it can
be inferred from the blog entry of week five (19 April 2019), we had an exercise in which we
were to create a persona. It was difficult, and I was overwhelmed. The only thing I could think of
was what taking making that imagined individual walk in my shoes, think the way I would and
experience the world the way I would experience it. In effect, I was creating the product for
myself in the hope that the consumers would be like me. However, after a lot of analysis, I
learned that people are different due to the differences in their experiences. What I considered
necessary in life was not necessarily what everyone valued. I have always loved the idea of
functionality, and I judge most products on their ability to solve a physical need. In fact, before
"design it" lessons, my idea of an excellent mobile phone would have been one that has a tough
exterior and just enough features to communicate effectively. I would have left out most of the
functionality that is found in the mobile phones today, including cameras. However, after
attending the lesson on empathy mapping, I learned that in the current competitive environment,
the user experience was more important than the desires of the producer just as Minichiello,

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Hood, & Harkness (2018) found out. Empathy mapping was one of the most effective processes
that would ensure that the customer bought ones’ product rather than the ones from the
competitors.
Empathy mapping deals with what the consumer wants and involves a lot of research to
differentiate between what a person says and what he or she feels (Lam & Suen, 2015).
Sometimes what is verbalized is just the tip of the iceberg with a lot more left unspoken.
4. Interview/ asking the right question
One of the activities that I think embarrassed us the most was interviewing. We were
instructed to form groups and go out and interview various people in the field. For some reason,
we did not think that it was essential to have a structured interview, and we thought of most of
the questions on the way to the discussion. Some of the interview questions were framed during
the actual questioning process. The unpreparedness landed us in a lot of trouble with most of the
interviewees. The primary reason the problem was because we ended up asking personal and
embarrassing questions, which in most cases ended the interviews (see blog entry week seven, 15
May 2019). I learned that our actions were informed by the idea that in design thinking, one had
to have an open mind and explore all the possibilities to develop exciting products at the end of
the day. Also, there was the pervasive notion that "failing fast," which to us translated to trial and
error method. We were not successful at the interviews. However, it was a great learning
experience as we realized that it is possible to even get personal information without asking
personal questions.
The main lesson I learned was that to get the best out of the interview process, I need to
be thoroughly conversant with the objectives of the interview. Once one has a clear concept of
the information he or she needs from the interview process, a few structured questions would be

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enough to elicit the required information. I also learned that the main component in interviewing
was to be flexible when using structured questions. Structured questions have the advantage of
providing a guide for the interview but may prove to be a significant hindrance to getting useful
information. First, a structured interview is a clear example of the old mentality where the
producer knew everything about what the consumers need. Therefore, strictly following the
interview questions and recording the answers that fit the thinking of the researcher is not any
different from a researcher who answers his or her problems. The results closely mirror the
interviewers' position with little or no value added. Furthermore I learned that when we focus too
much on getting the right answers to the questions that we have, we end up losing on important
information that the interviewee may want to give us. In empathetic interviewing, we need to
recognize the individuality of the interviewee and should be satisfied when the information we
get is contradictory to the one we expected (Pohling, Bzdok, Eigenstetter, Stumpf, & Strobel,
2016). Indeed, the best way to approach an empathetic interview is to think of the structured
questions as the means of breaking the ice during the meeting, rather than items in an
examination requiring definitive answers.
Further, I learned that the most effective means of getting more answers from the
interviewee is to keep asking the question “why” even when you think you already know the
answer. Asking "why" allows the interviewee to provide insightful information regarding
particular aspects of the experiences (Rowley, 2012). Also, the question enables the interviewer
to move beyond what he or she thinks should be the right answer to what the interviewee knows
to be the correct position. One surprising thing that we learned from the process is that asking the
question "why" even when we thought that we knew the answers surprised us with a completely
different solution that indicated that our thinking and the one of the interviewee were divergent. I

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will have to study and practice more on the skills of interviewing (Dixon & Murphy, 2016).
opines, the nature of the question determines the quality of the answer one is likely to get in
return.
5. Rapid Prototype Development
All the research, interviews, and production processes might end up with a product that
nobody wants to buy. In the process, the company will have expended a lot of resources and time
in producing the now redundant products (Dunne, 2018). Moreover, the production process
would take a long time before the product is ready. During the extended production time, the
conditions on the ground would have shifted with new substitutes flooding the market. It is,
therefore, important to produces a cheap representation of the actual proposed product with the
necessary features (Bogers, & Horst, 2014). The designers would then invite the end users of the
product, take them through the prototype and its proposed functions, and get feedback. A
prototype can be a display of a representation of the actual final product or the presentation of
the functionality and features for the proposed project. Rapid prototype involves making a
cheaper version of the desired final product which customers can use to provide useful feedback
before the company invests heavily in its production.
One of the activities we took part in during the course was a rapid-prototype project in
which our team was expected to produce an application that would help a buyer locate and get
goods with minimal support from the customer representative. Unfortunately, no member of our
team possessed the necessary apps development skills that we could rely on. It was an
embarrassing situation. As recorded in week eight blog (22 May 2019), it took quite a long time
of brainstorming, trial, and error, and consultation for our team to come up a rudimentary

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solution. After much brainstorming, we came up with ideas and improvisations, enabling us to
produce a cardboard prototype that detailed all the essential aspects of the application.
During the rapid-prototyping phase, I learned the significance of the concept of "fail fast
and fail forward." The phrase implies the significance of producing cheap and straightforward
products fast so that the end users can provide feedback on the same. If the product does not
meet the customers’ expectations, the necessary changes are instituted, and a new process of
testing is done (Glen, Sucio, & Baughn, 2014). Depending on the end user experience and
feedback, the prototype may be discarded, and the process starts all over. Beverland, Wilner, &
Micheli, 2015) opine that prototyping, inviting the users for feedback, and making adjustments is
vital in bringing creativity and feedback together. As such, I will endeavor to practice the
prototype-testing phases to perfect my skills on the same. In the course of the study, I realized
that I was not very creative. To increase my creativity, I have decided to enroll in for piano
lessons and also exercise more. These two activities have been identified as good practices for
improving a person’s creativity (Oppezzo & Schwartz 2014, Seinfeld, Figueroa, Ortiz-Gil, &
Sanchez-Vives, 2013). The concept allows the designers to take failing as part of the learning
process. Also, it will enable a company to produce many prototypes and test them without
incurring huge expenses in the process.
6. Personal Development Action Plan
Long-term Goals
Excel in Design Thinking Career
Short Term Goals
Improve on my Creativity, Self-reflection, empathy mapping, and interview skills

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What do you
want to achieve
How will you
Achieve it?
What do you
need to achieve
it?
How will you
evaluate the
success
Target date
Improve on
creativity
Enroll for piano
lessons starting
next month
At least 3 miles
jogging every
week
- Registering for
piano lessons in
a nearby college
- Inform friends
who can keep
me motivated for
exercises
Engaging design
it processes and
determining how
well I perform in
the Rapid-
prototype phase
December 2019
Improve on Self-
reflection
Keeping a daily
Journal starting
today
A journal and a
few free minutes
Every day
When I can
easily reflect and
write my
reflections daily
December 2019
Improve on
empathy
mapping
Self-evaluation
and self-
reflection/
Practice
I will read one
book on
emotional
intelligence
every month
When I can
successfully
create an
empathy map
that is per the
end user
December 2019
Improve on
interview skills
Volunteer in a
social research
organization
Information on
available
vacancies
When I can
comfortably
prepare and
carry out an
December 2019

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interview
References
Beverland, M. B., Wilner, S. J. S., & Micheli, P. (September 01, 2015). Reconciling the tension
between consistency and relevance: design thinking as a mechanism for brand
ambidexterity. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science : Official Publication of the
Academy of Marketing Science, 43, 5, 589-609.
Bogers, M., & Horst, W. (July 01, 2014). Collaborative Prototyping: Cross-Fertilization of
Knowledge in Prototype-Driven Problem Solving. Journal of Product Innovation
Management, 31, 4, 744-764.
Brown, T., & Martin, R. (2015) Design for action. Harvard Business Review, September, 57-64.
Dixon, B., & Murphy, E. (October 01, 2016). Educating for Appropriate Design Practice:
Insights from Design Innovation. Design Management Journal, 11, 1, 58-66.
Dorst, K. (2011). The core of ’design thinking’ and its application. Design Studies, 32 (6), 521–
532.
Dunne, D. (December 01, 2018). Implementing design thinking in organizations: an exploratory
study. Journal of Organization Design, 7, 1, 1-16.
Dziadkiewicz, A. (January 01, 2017). Customer value development in the light of design
thinking approach. Journal of Positive Management, 8, 58-68.
Glen, R., Sucio, C., & Baughn, C. (2014). The need for design thinking in business schools.
Academy of Management Learning and Education, 13(4), 653-667.

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Lam, Y. Y., & Suen, B. Y. S. (June 01, 2015). Experiencing empathy in design education
through community engagement. International Journal of Continuing Education and
Lifelong Learning, 7, 2.
Leinonen, T., Keune, A., Veermans, M., & Toikkanen, T. (January 01, 2016). Mobile apps for
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449-474.
Rauth, I., Carlgren, L., & Elmquist, M. (October 01, 2014). Making It Happen: Legitimizing
Design Thinking in Large Organizations. Design Management Journal, 9, 1, 47-60.

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Razavian, M., Tang, A., Capilla, R., & Lago, P. (June 01, 2016). In two minds: how reflections
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271.
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