Critical Review Essay: Design Thinking and Digital Innovation

This essay analyzes the concepts of design thinking and digital innovation, focusing on the characteristics of successful innovators. It examines Melanie Perkins and Nicholas Molnar, highlighting their attributes crucial for innovation, such as continuous progress, paradoxical thinking, opportunistic mindset, and constant promotion. The essay argues that Melanie Perkins is more inspirational due to her vision and ability to revolutionize the design industry. It explores how these characteristics are vital for design thinkers, particularly in problem-solving and strategy development. The essay also references course materials, including guest talks, to connect observations and insights to the broader context of design thinking. The conclusion emphasizes the importance of various attributes for entrepreneurs and innovators, and how design thinking skills are essential for systematic thinking and innovation.

Design Thinking and Digital Innovation 0
Title: Design Thinking and Digital Innovation
Assignment Name:
Student Name:
Course Name and Number:
Professor:
Date:

Design Thinking and Digital Innovation 1
Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Inspiring Innovators...................................................................................................................2
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................4
References..................................................................................................................................5

Design Thinking and Digital Innovation 2
Introduction
For any organization, be it a new startup or an existing one, innovation is an aspect
that cannot be ignored. For all the future entrepreneurs, it is paramount that they possess the
attribute of innovation and utilize it in their each business practice. It is through the
innovative approaches of young people that have helped them in attaining humongous
success in a short span of time. Along with innovation, future entrepreneurs also need to have
effective design thinking skills that help in improving the decision-making skills of the
individuals.
Inspiring Innovators
The two innovators those have been selected for this essay is Melanie Perkins and
Nicholas Molnar. Firstly, Melanie Perkins is a 31-year-old businesswoman who is the co-
founder and owner of a business worth $1 billion. The two characteristics of Melanie that are
crucial for innovation is her attitude of continuous progress, along with her paradoxical
thinking. It is due to these attributes that have helped Melanie in accepting rejection from
more than a hundred companies in a positive manner. Both these attributes have also helped
her in increasing her perseverance towards her dream and turning it into a reality (Zipkin,
2019). On the other hand, Nicholas Molnar who has been working in his family jewelry retail
business for years have two qualities which include, opportunistic mindset and a constant
promoter (Kauflin, 2018). Both these qualities helped Nicholas in understanding the change
in the buying behavior of millennial, which helped him to offer services that are satisfying for
both the buyer and the seller (Gorman, 2019).
Both these innovators are extremely inspirational, but in my opinion, Melanie Perkins
is more inspirational. She had a vision for helping the people who are associated with
designing. She wanted to provide a simple solution, which does not involve any complex

Design Thinking and Digital Innovation 3
tools. It was this vision to develop a business which is innovative, new, and can help
thousands of people in a simple way. According to my opinion, she is more inspirational as
she brought a revolution by changing the designing industry and also helped many amateur
designers.
Melanie Perkins positive and affective traits of continuous progress and paradoxical
thinking helped her in thinking out of the box. Her attribute of continuous progress helped her
in managing rejection and finding effective answers to the different questions which the
various individuals posed while rejecting her proposal. This attribute exhibited the fact that
rejection is a part of every business and it is crucial to managing it appropriately and
positively. Due to this attribute of continuous progress, an individual will be able to regularly
practice the approach of brainstorming. Brainstorming is one of the most crucial aspects of
design thinking. It is due to this attribute of Melanie that I consider her a more inspirational
innovator (Melanie Perkins, 2019). On the other hand, her paradoxical thinking helped her in
identifying and examining the situation from different perspectives. Thus, she left no stones
unturned before making any further move in the business. Through this approach, an
innovator will be able to develop a strong system thinking tool.
For design thinking, the attribute of paradoxical thinking is extremely crucial. It is
through this attribute that helps in creative problem-solving. In addition to this, for
innovators, this attribute is needed for design thinking as it helps them in developing better
strategies that can help in serving the customers in a better way (JuHyun Eune, 2012). The
paradoxical thinking helps in developing a strong mind maps, which is very crucial for design
thinking and innovation. Though paradoxical thinking is effective for design thinking but
paradoxical have several limitations. The paradoxical thinking majority of the times
challenges the facts as it is a nonconventional approach. Due to this, the chances of an

Design Thinking and Digital Innovation 4
individual to ignore crucial facts and figures is very high, affecting the performance,
decision-making process, and success of the organization (Lindgren, 2012).
Conclusion
Thus, from this assessment task, I have learned that for becoming a successful
entrepreneur and an innovator, there are various different attributes, which an individual
should possess. This is required for developing strong skills in design skills, which are the
key aspects for increasing the level of innovation in an individual. For becoming a successful
entrepreneur, due to design thinking skills, an individual learns about different tools and
techniques which helps in systematic thinking that is the core attribute of innovation. From
this assessment, I learned about the different attribute and traits that I need to possess and
learn, to become a successful innovator and entrepreneur.

Design Thinking and Digital Innovation 5
References
Gorman, P. (2019). Q&A With Afterpay’s Millennial CEO Nick Molnar. [online]
ChiefExecutive.net. Available at: https://chiefexecutive.net/qa-with-afterpays-millennial-ceo-
nick-molnar/ [Accessed 18 Aug. 2019].
JuHyun Eune (2012). A Study of Open Collaboration Creative Thinking System Based on
Design Thinking. Journal of Digital Design, 12(3), pp.179-190.
Kauflin, J. (2018). How A 28-Year-Old Turned Layaway For Millennials Into A Billion-
Dollar Business. [online] Forbes.com. Available at:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffkauflin/2018/07/03/how-a-28-year-old-turned-layaway-for-
millennials-into-a-2-billion-business/#41fe2e8059db [Accessed 18 Aug. 2019].
Lindgren, P. (2012). Business Model Innovation Leadership: How Do SME’s Strategically
Lead Business Model Innovation?. International Journal of Business and Management,
7(14), pp.1-5.
Melanie Perkins (2019). NPR Choice page. [online] Npr.org. Available at:
https://www.npr.org/2019/01/24/688299882/canva-melanie-perkins [Accessed 18 Aug.
2019].
Zipkin, N. (2019). She Was Told 'No' 100 Times. Now This 31-Year-Old Female Founder
Runs a $1 Billion Business.. [online] Entrepreneur. Available at:
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/310482 [Accessed 18 Aug. 2019].

Design Thinking and Digital Innovation 6