The merits and shortcomings of design thinking in design craft.
- Mike Brown
- Mar 12, 2021
- 4 min read
Updated: Apr 21
Design thinking, the term design, is expected to come from the Latin word ‘designare’, which means to draw, plan something with a pacific purpose in mind before it’s made (Cambridge Dictionary, 2021).
The term design is usually associated with creative artistic types, usually not the common perception, is the way it looks, as aesthetics are the most important design (Uebernickel 2020).
Design thinking is an innovative method to solve complex problems and is oriented around the end-user. It is supposed to reach further than just the purely aesthetic concepts, function and usability, which are just as important as the beauty of an object.
However, as craft making this notion, design thinking is only a linear, perhaps rigid process for engineers and website designers.
When first identifying a dilemma, the problem is usually functional in nature (Uebernickel 2020).
According to Biogvinsson (2012), “Design thinking has become a central issue in contemporary design discourse and rhetoric, and for a good reason” (Bjögvinsson et al. 2012)
“Design is the rendering of intent.”
Jared Spool (2013)
Design can provide someone with pleasure, enjoyment and even satisfaction but can also frustrate them or others. We can adjust our vision with the intention to create a more immersive user experience that can be more enjoyable and less unsatisfied (Spool, 2013).
Tim Brown of IDEO suggests design thinking can be applied to everything, no matter your role or business.
“Open knowledge sharing can democratize design—ultimately making our industry more inclusive and culturally rich.”
UX collective (2021)
The design thinking method helps to develop innovative solutions based on the needs of your end-user. It should challenge their perceptions of a God-like designer obsessed with products, objects and balance sheets (Brown 2021) or a pompous industry expert tending to use a lot of jargon when talking about design in protecting their position (UX collective, 2021b), both believe design thinking should be human-centred with empathy and optimism at the forefront using a hands-on approach with prototyping that explores ideas, enhances people’s quality-of-life and guide creativity, in turn, design should be shared and democratised.
However, according to Connie Malamed (2018), “should you believe in something that is overhyped, overpromoted, and overblown?” And yes, she’s right to a point; there will be people out there that will be overpromoted and overused.
Malamed suggests the flexibility is a benefit and a curse. You will find the design thinking representation in various processes.
Their own interpretation can confuse and is hijacked by organisations that overly focus on the process resulting in a rigid system that fails to innovate or push creativity in a few brainstorming sessions.
This limits time for effective exploration and failure (Malamed 2018); as we learn from making mistakes, it’s how we build resilience (Meadows 2018).
“Failure is success in progress.”
Albert Einstein
Malamed points out that craftspeople are worried that design thinking will replace traditional crafts practices (Malamed 2018). However, this is unfounded and contrary to the evidence.
Wen-Tao Li (2019) carried out research and found that design-oriented scientific thinking can enhance the sustainability of the craft and enrich design thinking (Li et al., 2019).
Traditional craft without developmental scientific methods such as (design thinking) experimentation and testing was unavailable in the process, and the craftsperson lacked relevant education and training.
Apprenticeships were mainly adopted for traditional craft-making; according to Li (2019), “traditional technology is mostly a product of practice and experience accumulation” and suggests it was nothing more than a duplication of tradition. However, design thinking enhances craft-making.
Introducing Design thinking into craft development adds innovation to traditional crafts, making it fit for modern times.
Craft people are able to analyse problems in a more wide-ranging logical way and provide ways of recording work, evidence-based and reflection into a thinking strategy, unlike rudimentary thinking.
The application of design thinking in a traditional ceramic craft
"Design” as “consciously and intuitively practicing meaningful order.”
Victor Papanek (1974)
"All men [All human beings] are designers. All that we do, almost all the time, is design, for design is basic to all human activity"
Victor Papanek (1972)
I agree that design thinking can enhance Design Craft providing a blueprint to guide you through and reflect on your work. It is no silver bullet and can be misused and abused as a corporate box-ticking overused cliché, and we must keep our bias and egos in check. In my opinion, democratisation is a good thing as it enables everyone to express or investigate their creativity.
Resources and links
Downloadable design thinking resources
References
Bjögvinsson, E. et al. 2012. Design Things and Design Thinking: Contemporary Participatory Design Challenges. Design Issues, 28(3), pp. 101–116. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1162/DESI_a_00165 [Accessed: 5 March 2021].
Brown, T. 2021. IDEO Design Thinking. Available at: https://designthinking.ideo.com/ [Accessed: 5 March 2021].
Cambridge Dictionary 2021. Design. Available at: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/design.
Einstein, A. [no date]. A Quote By Albert Einstein. Available at: https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/424937-failure-is-success-in-progress [Accessed: 5 March 2021].
Li, W.-T. et al. 2019. A Design Thinking-Based Study of the Prospect of the Sustainable Development of Traditional Handicrafts. Sustainability 11(18), p. 4823. Available at: 10.3390/su11184823 [Accessed: 6 March 2021].
Malamed, C. 2018. A Designer Addresses Criticism Of Design Thinking. Available at: https://learningsolutionsmag.com/articles/a-designer-addresses-criticism-of-design-thinking [Accessed: 5 March 2021].
Meadows, M. 2018. From Failure to Success: Everyday Habits and Exercises to Build Mental Resilience and Turn Failures Into Successes. New York: Meadows Publishing., p. 39.
Papanek, V. 1972. Design for the real world. 2nd ed. London: Thames & Hudson ltd., pp. 3, 4.
Spool, J. 2013. Design Is The Rendering Of Intent. Available at: https://articles.uie.com/design_rendering_intent/ [Accessed: 5 March 2021].
Uebernickel, F. 2020. Design Thinking: The Handbook. Singapore: W S Professional., pp. 16, 17.
UX collective 2021b. The Guide To Design. Available at: https://start.uxdesign.cc/ [Accessed: 5 March 2021].
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