The Importance of a Design Mindset in the Context of Innovation

DESIGN MINDSET &
INNOVATION
References:
Curedale, R. (2018). Design Thinking: Process & Methods Guide. Design Community College Incorporated.
Gray, C. M. (2016, May). It's more of a mindset than a method: UX practitioners' conception of design
methods. In Proceedings of the 2016 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 4044-
4055). ACM.
Johansson Sköldberg, U., Woodilla, J., & Çetinkaya, M. (2013). Design thinking: past, present and possible‐
futures. Creativity and innovation management, 22(2), 121-146.
Kolko, J. (2015). Design thinking comes of age.
Leinonen, T., & Durall-Gazulla, E. (2014). Design thinking and collaborative learning. Comunicar, 21(42).
O'Keefe, A., & Rottenberg, S. (2017). Integrated Design Innovation: A Mindset for Designers of
Tomorrow. Design Management Review, 28(3), 10-16.
The design mindset can be described
as a concept in the deigning thinking
domain which assists a business in
applying creativity into the innovative
solutions (Curedale, 2018). It helps the
business to achieve a competitive
advantage.
The importance of a
design mindset in the
context of innovation:
• It helps to believe
and inculcate
creativity (Leinonen &
Durall-Gazulla, (2014).
• It helps to have a
wide judgement
• It helps to embrace
curiosity
• It removes
ambiguity (Johansson‐
Sköldberg, Woodilla &
Çetinkaya ,2013)
• It is based on
persistence which
gives rise to a
competitive edge
MINDSET IS EVERYTHING
The Design mindset procedure
comprises of :
• Understanding the problem
• Defining the innovative aspect
• Ideating amidst various options
(Gray, 2016).
• Prototype and testing for the best
solution
• Refining and application of the
idea.
In the context of innovation, the
design mindset has a key role to
play (Kolko, 2015). A design mindset
uses tolls , techniques,
methodology, imagination and
intuition to understand a
problem from a unique
perspective and to find an
innovative solution as an answer.
Without a design mindset,
solution would be monotonous
and no innovative ideas can be
fostered and encouraged in the
organizational context (O'Keefe &
Rottenberg, 2017).