Design Thinking and Entrepreneurship: A Messaging Platform Solution

This report details a student's application of design thinking and entrepreneurial principles to solve a problem within their educational environment. The student identified a lack of support for students struggling with assignments and utilized design thinking methodologies to analyze the problem, brainstorm potential solutions, and develop a messaging platform to facilitate peer-to-peer assistance and guidance. The report outlines the critical thinking process, the importance of critical analysis, and the implementation of the design thinking process, including problem definition, research, solution development, testing, and learning. Furthermore, the report explores the entrepreneurial aspects of the venture, including the development of a business model, the identification of a market need, and the potential for profit generation through a subscription-based service. The report also discusses the challenges faced, the lessons learned, and the overall experience of launching a small business to address a specific problem within the student community. The report also references scholarly articles to support the analysis.

Running Head: DESIGN IT 1
Design IT
Student’s Name
Institution

Design IT
The term blog is a short form which is used to refer to a weblog. It is a website which has
published information that is on the World Wide Web. A blog is a very useful resource in
helping to track and record the activities in which an individual does. A blog can also help an
individual in nurturing their reflection and writing skills. If an individual can nurture these skills
they will be able to become good writers and communicators as they talk or refer to a specific
issue. The will also be able to remember and reflect on various experiences in which they have
undergone and learning from them. This week deliverables were to define and understand blogs
and why they are needed to aid in reflection. All the blogs will build up on each other to ensure
they give a descriptive view of the whole venture.
A blog can help an individual share their own personal experience in referring to a
specific issue or topic. A blog enables individuals to detail the learning objectives which they are
able to achieve throughout the course of this unit. In the beginning of the unit the lessons were
very inspiring. As expected they would be since it was a new unit. The surprising thing was that
the information we acquired as the weeks went by became more interesting. This unit was one of
the founding factors which led me to begin my entrepreneurial journey. This week was all about
the introduction part of the unit and what we expected to learn would be detailed.
The critical thinking lecture was one of these ground breaking lectures in my journey.
Critical analysis is the process of going through every possible scenario when presented with a
problem to find a viable solution. Critical analysis is a very important skill in trying to find a
viable solution to a specific problem. In critical analysis the goals or purpose of the process is to
come up with a feasible judgment to a problem. Logical and rational thinking is utilized in

critical analysis to ensure it is an effective process. Thinking logically is all about ensuring that
your thought process is practical and can be possible to actualize (Visser, 2006).
During the course of the unit I was able to utilize my critical thinking and analysis skills
by observing what challenges were being faced by my fellow students. After doing a
brainstorming session with some students to identify the problems in which they faced I
discovered that most students were having problems as they did their assignments. The level of
support and guidance in which students usually get as they are doing their assignments is lacking
(Beinecke, 2009). I analyzed the problem and decided that I would be in an ideal position to
provide a solution to the students with this issue in which they faced.
I embarked on a journey of understanding the problem and how it would be solved. I
utilized all the critical lessons we were taught on design thinking and entrepreneurship to make
the whole venture a success. Design thinking is the utilization of creativity and creative
processes to come up with solutions to specific problems (Brown, 2008). It is utilized with the
designer’s methods and sensibility to match feasible solutions to the problems which individuals
may face. Design thinking is a solution based approach which focuses on practicality in reaching
creative solutions to specific problems. Design thinking focuses and bases use of critical thinking
and analysis to ensure that a feasible solution is obtained to specific problems. Problem solving
is a venture which involves a lot of critical thinking and is therefore an engaging and interesting
venture.
The design thinking process encourages divergent thinking which is whereby the
individuals focusing on the process after achieving their problem definition are able to source out
all the possible ways in which they problem can be solved. After this convergent thinking is
employed whereby out of all the possible ways to solve a problem a specific one is chosen which

is the most viable choice (Dorst & Nigel, 2001). In the course of the semester I was able to
identify a problem which faced the students. I decided to solve the problem by utilizing the
design thinking process to achieve a viable solution. I defined the problem which was all about
students not having enough support as they worked on their assignments.
I researched to identify whether there were many students who faced the same issue and
the number was quite high. The possible solutions to solve the problem were researched on. I
decided to settle on coming up with a messaging platform where students would be able to
communicate with each other and assist each other in their assignments. The platform was the
best viable option because most of the students had access to a phone and they would be able to
brainstorm with each other as long as they had access to the internet (Plattner, Meinel & Leifer,
2011). The messaging platform was then developed. After this the messaging platform was
tested on a few students who would use it frequently as they undertook their assignments.
The last stage was learning from the whole process. Most students did not refute the fact
that the internet had been of help to them as they undertook their assignments but the messaging
platform helped them to get the needed guidance and coaching from fellow students and
lecturers. I was also able to learn why some students did not adopt to using the platform because
it did not support the desktop or web application format. This provided good feedback for
improvement in the endeavor. My problem solving skills were tested as I came up with the
messaging platform and I was able to learn new principles which led me to believe that learning
is a lifelong process.
Entrepreneurship is a process in which a new business is designed, launched and brought
to operation. These kinds of business usually begin as small businesses which are out to solve a
problem (Crainer & Des, 2000). They later may grow based on the impact and applicability they

have on their clientele. The whole process of starting a business revolves around satisfying a
specific need or solving a specific problem. In the semester that passed I was able to identify a
problem in which my fellow students had a hard time while they were working on their
assignments. They would sometimes get lost or confused as they did their assignments which led
them to attain lower grades. The solution to the problem was the implementation of a messaging
platform in which the students would get help from fellow students and coaches as they
attempted to do their assignments (Zhang & Cuete, 2015).
The business aspect in the venture was to solve the problem in which the students had
and make a profit while at it (Landstorm, 2007). The adoption of the solution by some students
displayed that indeed it was a viable solution to a problem that they faced. The business
framework behind it was to charge the students a membership fee so that they would gain
continuous real time access to the messaging platform. The coaches and lecturers would get to be
paid a small fee for input of their professional knowledge in solving the problems which had
been posted. There were a fair number of students who subscribed to the service helping the
business make a profit (Ramoglou, Tsang et al., 2016).
The project was not widely known to many students and there was a need to continue
marketing the business and its benefits to students and other stakeholders so that it would grow
and enable the business to grow. Through the whole process I was able to learn a lot both from
the knowledge acquired in the unit and application of the knowledge I had to a real world
scenario. Entrepreneurship is indeed a worthwhile venture for those who are willing to take a risk
and venture into it (Yetisen, Volpatti, Coskun, Cho, Kamrani et al., 2015). It entails a lot of
uncertainty and is for those who are willing to survive under such harsh conditions to make it. It
also entails a lot of failure and learning experiences. Entrepreneurs are individuals who should be

open to a lot of advice, coaching and entrepreneurship. They should be individuals who wish to
become entrepreneurs, be teachable and willing to learn for them to improve and grow in their
business.
The various blogs in detail build up through the twelve weeks in which I was able to
undertake the course. Through every week I was able to work very hard and take a positive
approach in ensuring that I achieved the required knowledge to come up with a solution that
would be viable as a business. The process of design thinking was a very interesting
methodology to use in coming up with solutions. Entrepreneurship is also a fulfilling task
because it is a fast paced venture which involves the entrepreneur being on their toes and having
problem solving skills which enables them to come up with viable solutions as they grow the
economy.
References
Beinecke R. (2009). Leadership for Wicked Problems. The Innovation Journal. pp. 1-7.
Brown T. (2008). Design Thinking. Harvard Business Review.
Dorst K. & Nigel C. (2001). Creativity in the design process: Co-evolution of problem-solution.
Design Studies. 22(5): 425-437.
Plattner H, Meinel C. & Leifer L. J. (2011). Design thinking: understand, improve, apply.
Understanding innovation. Springer.
Visser W. (2006). The cognitive artifacts of designing. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Crainer S. & Des D. (2000). Generation Entrepreneur. FT Press. p.202
Landstorm H. (2007). Pioneers in Entrepreneurship and Small Business Research. Springer.
Ramoglou S., Tsang E. W. K. et al. (2016). A realistic perspective of entrepreneurship:
Opportunities as propensities. Academy of Management Review. 41(3): 409-434.

Yetisen A. K., Volpatti L. R., Coskun A. F., Cho S., Kamrani E. et al. (2015). Entrepreneurship.
Lab Chip. 15(18): 3638-60.
Zhang S. X. & Cuete J. (2015). The Study of Bias in Entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship Theory
and Practice. 41(3): 419-454