In a world of fast-paced action and reactions, quality results are something that we all aim for. But how can you make something better? Whether it is a product, a service, or perhaps a process, we aim to make things better. It leaves us to wonder how we are going to design a world that is long and equitable to attain a degree of excellence.

When we are talking about making “things better,” we cannot deny the role of the Kanban system in implementing TQM (Total Quality Management) for Toyota. If TQM did that for manufacturing, design thinking has the potential to bring human-centric solutions for innovations.

Design thinking takes the human-centric approach in order to understand how to deal with the problem before we jump into all possible solutions. We could see its use in various places. The buzz is everywhere, from the social sector to policy making, health care to business. So what is design thinking?

The Meaning Of Design Thinking

Though it’d be hard to put the definition of “design thinking” in a few words, I’d rather look at design thinking as a philosophy or a mindset to solve complex problems that are too tough to be solved with the conventional and standard practices of problem-solving. Design thinking takes the route to give solutions that are: feasible, viable, and desirable.

Generally, solutions to problems are sometimes overlooked with the conventional approach to solving them, while some approaches are highly rational and analytical while others are emotional. Design thinking might just be the third way that augments the rational, emotional, and functional needs of human problems. Design thinking is not restricted to only building products; any new initiatives that foster innovations can leverage the design thinking principles of problem-solving.