Design Thinking: Reflective Journal on the Design It Course Experience

This journal entry documents a student's experience in the 'Design It' course, reflecting on key concepts and activities throughout the semester. The student discusses ice-breaking activities, the downfall of BlackBerry analyzed through the lens of design thinking, the importance of mindset and core values in design, and the enhancement of creativity and critical thinking. Further reflections cover ethics and integrity in design, the prototyping process, and the significance of feedback and collaboration. The journal culminates with a presentation of a project prototype and a reflection on the presentation skills acquired, highlighting the course's impact on developing a comprehensive understanding of design thinking and its practical applications. The student emphasizes the course's role in fostering presentation skills, critical thinking, and a holistic approach to problem-solving in design.

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Week 1
During this fast week of workshop and exposition, I did manage to be part of an ice
breaking activity which required us to form discussion groups of four students. It was great fun
forming the discussion groups as it gave us time to socialize and exchange ideas since everyone
was new in the class and had come from diverse backgrounds all over the world. After the
formation of the groups, the lecturer distributed to all groups two pieces of A4 size paper and
asked us to write anything we knew in relation to design thinking.
This fueled up discussion in each group where most of my fellow group members came
up with diverse ideas concerning design. Both funny and serious ideas were incorporated in the
discussion where at long last we managed to note down that design thinking involves thinking in
a systematic and critical manner to come up with solutions for the prevailing condition. At the
end of the discussion, we were allowed to exchange our papers with other groups to see what
their opinion was in reference to design.
During the discussion, I did gain a lot of information and knowledge especially in
communication, sharing of thoughts and developing the ability of being open minded to new
ideas through tuning our minds to relate abstract information to real life situations. Indeed it was
a great session which brought positive impact to the group members I included. I learnt how to
share my thoughts without hesitation and proper flow of ideas.
Week 2
Analyzing the case that lead to the downfall of BlackBerry organization was the major
point of discussion in the course of the second week. This involved assessing the various

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setbacks and mistakes on decisions made by the organization which intern led to their demise.
My understanding after analysis of the paper is that when any firm rather organization that
majors in technology fails to offer services that are of standard, it will practically lead to poor
performance. In line with design thinking, it also downed me that failure to meet the needs of the
clients is a major mistake that can course a company to lose its worth.
Design thinking involves having the ability to think beyond the prevailing situations and
coming up with viable solutions for anticipated problems that may occur in the future. This is
what blackberry firm lacked. I also learnt that the inability of the firm to protect their competitive
advantage was also a reason for their downfall. Failure of adapting a digital strategy that could
have seen it dominating the global market. I also learnt that we need to allow our mode of
thinking to be multidirectional so that we may not become victims of rigidity. Given the fact that
I am an aspiring head of a future company, this case has enabled me to develop the ability to
view situations at all angles without biasness thus being at the front through incorporating
flexibility to emerging trends in the market. This involves changing our mindset and the core
values in our possession.
Week 3
Acquisition of knowledge based on mind set and core values of the designers was the
main subject matter of discussion and exposition during the third week of the workshop. The
main objective of dividing ourselves into groups of four was to try and come up with ideas
concerning mindset. To be sincere, before the exposition, I didn’t know the exact meaning of the
word mindset but soon after the discussion, I realized that mindset refers to the approach that a
person uses to come up with informed decisions before executing any action. This involves being
skeptical to all forms of ideas and trying to perceive things at all angles before taking any action.

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It involves the selection and application of mental model to execute complex decisions
which may range from business model design to innovation strategy. Having a clear mindset is
what differentiates great designers from average ones. In this context, it should be understood
that mindset rather creative thinking is something that can only be learnt over a long period and
experiences. From this week’s exposition, I have learnt that our minds can be transformed into
the right mindset through life experiences, the environment and beliefs contained in our
subconscious mind.
Week 6
The week was full of activities that were intended to trigger creativity and enhance
critical thinking. Throughout the discussion, most of the tasks that we were involved were meant
to help us learn how to think beyond the ordinary mindset and possess the ability to view
situations at all angles. I.e. putting ourselves in the situation of the one in critical situation and
trying to generate possible solution to the problem. Part of the activity involved linking dots of a
box with straight lines without raising the hand. The ability to think out of the norm enables us to
find solutions to the problem at hand.
With this in practice, I learnt that thinking outside the box actually entailed developing
new perspective of seeing things. We also learnt a lot about mind mapping which entailed
developing meaning from huge volume of data. It is important especially when trying to find link
between ideas at hand. Mapping also involves narrowing down to specific thoughts from the
broad ones.
Week 7

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Ethics and integrity was the main subject matter of discussion in the course of this
week.it is a broad topic that can actually be divided into two. It did use to refer to well-founded
standards of right and wrong which prescribes what people should do with reference to fairness,
obligation among others. From the study of ethics in this workshop, I have learnt that being
ethical is paramount if an individual when it comes to design thinking and also to the way an
individual caries out his daily activities.
To be ethical is rudimentary since it enables an individual to get the expectation of
consistence in the manner of his behavior and actions. I have learnt that it ensures an individual
will tend to make rational decisions before executing any action that may course harm to the
society at large. This is the driving force behind creative thinking since it puts the needs of the
society first before that of an individual.
Week 8
The discussions of this week majorly focused on branches of design thinking such as
prototype as part of the social media application. Trying to find a market niche in social media
marketing. For a successful project, it is rudimentary to have a prerequisite. I came to learn that
prototyping simply refers to bringing of the solution to vicinity. Creation of rough drafts of
solutions to see whether it will be of benefit to in solving the problem. It is necessary to be
simple, fast and economical when trying to prototype.
I have also learnt that creating a prototype is a method of displaying an example of the
bigger picture of what can happen in the future. Working on the prototype was fan as it created

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an example of real life situation. It did also become clear through the activity that a prototype
has the ability of transforming into a better product or minimal viable product.
Week 9
It is good to not that week 9’s activity was a continuation of the development of a
prototype in groups of four. This involve the whole group attempting to interpret other ideas and
keeping track of data on capture grid. This furthermore involved us moving around from one
group to another to get systematic feedback on about what they had discussed. This was
necessary since it cultivated in us the value f sharing information.
It is important to mention that through working in groups and exchanging ideas from one
person to another, I came to learn that keeping truck of information on the capture grid and
consulting from friends was important since it helped us change ideas where we had deviated. I
also did gain skills on how to feed data and draw a plus on the left quadrant of the feedback.
Week11
The last week of the exposition was all about presentation of what we had done
throughout the 11 weeks. The presentation entailed a form of launching the project prototype in
front of the whole class. Giving of brief explanation with respect to design requirement. The
significance of this course is that it has acted as an eye opener to diverse techniques of
perceiving situations in order to come up with a viable solution mix.
Furthermore, the course has equipped me with presentation skills which i had lacked
before. Presentation is an important aspect of an exposition since it helps us to manage stage
fright and become eloquent speakers. I managed also to get insight from the comments given by
the lecturer in respect to the topic of concern. It further became an opportunity for every student

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to see the various designs of each group thus opening our minds further to new ideas. At the end
of the course, I managed to acquire the necessary skills needed to become great designer.