Design Thinking and Reflective Practices: A Four-Week Journal

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ASSESSMENT 3 INDIVIDUAL BLOG AND LEARNING REFLECTIONS
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Contents
Week 1.............................................................................................................................................3
Week 2.............................................................................................................................................3
Week 3.............................................................................................................................................3
Week 4.............................................................................................................................................3
References:......................................................................................................................................5
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Week 1
In the first week I was introduced to Design thinking and what is key tool is. I learnt that design
thinking is a problem solving process but involves one to be innovative to solve the problem.
Visualisation is the key tool of design thinking as it helps in attaining a bigger picture of the
problem. From this I learnt that in design thinking innovation plays a major role as new problem
is seen in different ways so more than one solution is created. By using visualisation it was seen
that more than one outcome opportunities were achieved. It was also taught to us how to write a
reflective report so that I could see how I performed throughout the project. Reflection is
important for the project, so that it could help in analysing what are the strengths and weakness
that I faced while completion of such a project.
Week 2
In this week I learnt what the process of design thinking is. It basically involved 5 stages which
where empathise (to see what the real needs of the users are), define (analysis of observation),
ideate (alternative ways are found to define the problem), prototype (solutions are created), and
test (experiment the problem with the ideas).
Another aspect that was looked at in this is that how design is thought as a philosophy. This is
because the whole process involves complexity as there are a number of solutions created and
single one is to be chosen. Another factor that was involved in this is that more learning was
achieved. A brief introduction about what reflection was given and it was seen that by reflection
there is a lot that can be achieved from doing this. There were a few innovative stories through
which I learnt what the real value of innovation is (Glen et. al. 2015).
Week 3
Different theories and models of design thinking where learnt in this week. One of the models
that was looked at was the triple loop learning in which it was seen that it is similar to the design
thinking method. It involves seeing what the needs to the people are and how they can be
provided to them in different ways.
It was also taught on how to write an effective reflective blog so that all of the work being done
could be analysed. This also made us realise that reflection is also a part of the design thinking
process. In the design thinking it is seen that more than one solution is created and his is done on
the basis by reflecting on the work which was done so that the new innovative product could be
better. I saw how to reflect on our own mind-set while doing design thinking (Welsh, & Dehler,
2013).
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Week 4
In this week it was studied how solving a problem is different than finding of problems.
Knowing what a problems is an easy task but people do not see that there is more than one
method that can be used to solve such problems. It was seen by me that this is where design
thinking comes into play as one would need to create more than one solution for a specific
problem (Conradie et. al. 2015).
Tools of design thinking like ‘ personas’ were also discussed. From the tool of Personas, I learnt
how to put myself in the shoes of the customer and see how they would respond to the innovative
solution that I had created. This was basically reflecting on the innovative idea to see that how it
would work in the marker or how the customers would respond to it.
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References:
1. Conradie, P. D., Nafzger, R., Vanneste, C., De Marez, L., & Saldien, J. (2015). Methods
for Ideation: Reviewing Early Phase Concept Generation Among Industrial Design
Engineer Students. In DS 82: Proceedings of the 17th International Conference on
Engineering and Product Design Education (E&PDE15), Great Expectations: Design
Teaching, Research & Enterprise, Loughborough, UK, 03-04.09. 2015 (pp. 626-631).
2. Glen, R., Suciu, C., Baughn, C. C., & Anson, R. (2015). Teaching design thinking in
business schools. The International Journal of Management Education, 13(2), 182-192.
3. Welsh, M. A., & Dehler, G. E. (2013). Combining critical reflection and design thinking
to develop integrative learners. Journal of Management Education, 37(6), 771-802.
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