Why is design thinking becoming popular among companies which want nothing less than to become market leaders in the face of stiff competition? MAITHILI CHAKRAVARTHY explores
For a long time consumers had become used to difficult technology, difficult-to-use machines, cantankerous gadgets. And then suddenly, something changed. Companies started to make our lives easier. They decided to make products that would be easier to use and gorgeous to look at. The fruit is one example. Apple… “Most people make the mistake of thinking design is what it looks like. People think it’s this veneer — that the designers are handed this box and told, ‘Make it look good!’ That’s not what we think design is. It’s not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works,” said Steve Jobs prophetically.
Steve Jobs had thus revolutionised thought with this one epiphany. He changed it forever, and moulded Apple into a company that works to create products which will hypnotise consumers with their design-friendliness, their simplicity and their ability to make consumers go weak in the knees. Think long queues outside Apple showrooms when new phones and new products are launched which then go on to become sine qua non.
Shreyash Parekh, who is studying to be a chartered accountant, speaks about his Apple products with reverence and tells us he adores how it has redefined convenience for him as he prepares for the exams. “My MacBook Pro charger is extremely light and compact and hence extremely easy to carry around. I think Mac computers have the best hardware. Also I’m able to reply to messages on my phone from my Mac laptop too (as well as make and receive calls from the laptop). In addition the MacBook Pro has great battery life, where it takes only about 25 minutes to charge it almost fully. The charged laptop then lasts almost all day without plugging in the charger. In terms of software, services like AirDrop allow one to easily transfer files between iOS devices and a Mac computer. Like these there are several small things that make the MacBook an extremely convenient and expedient product.”
In general, design thinking hopes to inculcate the same sense of need for a product in consumers’ minds and hearts. Design thinking is what works to make different products indispensable to consumers. It is a combination of user friendliness, adaptability and soul for a product, where the products’ designs and functions speak directly to consumer needs.
There are five well-known stages in design thinking – all of which are geared towards creating a masterpiece of a product/ service. These include empathising (with consumers and their current needs and wants), defining the problem which is often the result of the empathetic phase, ideating — which is an ongoing process where new ideas emerge even at later stages in the designing thinking process, prototyping where early versions of a product pave the way for a more sophisticated version of the product, and finally, testing — where users are invited to use products on trial like they would in the real-world, to understand where the prototype is lacking and where it can be improved to make a killer splash in the world. Just like companies like Apple, Braun, IBM and Airbnb are doing — companies where the experience of using a product is what makes them different from all other companies that stand disconnected from their users.
At the Design Thinking Summit & Awards 2019 held at one of Mumbai’s top five star hotels last month, a group of experts from across different companies came together to share how a focus on design had changed how people view their companies. How evangelising a design culture movement with their organisations had brought about next-level changes in their companies’ abilities. Their ability to make a place for themselves in the market and make products that go on to dominate the choices consumers make when they go out there to select products for their homes and offices, for their cupboards and kitchens, when they travel and when they eat. And even while choosing universities or when medical help is required.
At the summit Vikas Sood, Head – Design Planning and Production at Mahindra Rise spoke about the importance of the prototype stage. “One must test out a product quickly. Basically one must fail fast and fail quickly,” hence setting the stage for greater innovation and not spending too much time and money on a rudimentary or overly complex product which is likely to fail in the market.
He spoke about radical collaboration between his company’s different teams hinting at how design thinking is truly a collaborative effort based on a shared sense of understanding about a product’s intended function and goal in the marketplace. He also added that a culture of sharing information was what they would continue to establish within Mahindra Rise. Radical collaboration, a key principle of design thinking, was something Sood stressed upon, hinting at the fact that if they wanted to succeed they must pick each other’s brains and share or even overshare.
Ankur Arora, Director, Digital & Innovation at Sodexo (a quality of life services company that views itself as the future of workplace services) spoke about design as a problem-solver and how storytelling is a big part of the design thinking process at Sodexo. “We work with companies like Unilever and Godrej providing them solutions in their internal functioning – for example organising personal butlers for top executives, or peons and office staff which will run errands and do the daily chores. We also specialise in the provision of food services which often involves setting up canteens and cafeterias in offices and making sure employees don’t skip meals. We have also created a mobile phone app employees can use if they want to order in. It’s called the Sodexo Zeta App. Employees of the companies we have tie-ups with can use it for takeout where the food comes directly to their desks without them having to make the journey outside to the main gate to pick up their meals. We provide services at offices that aim to enhance motivation among employees,” he says. “Storyboarding and storytelling are an important part of this process where the aim is to understand user behaviour by dividing users into clusters and designing products based on what those different users (types A, B or C) will want out of their lives. Storyboarding helps us communicate simply with our clients whether they be students, hospital patients or executives at a company.”
Design thinking is hence a style of functioning that companies adopt mainly because they don’t want to swamp the market space with products that only cause stress, but those which make people feel like they have arrived…because they are extremely value for money, and a world ahead of other products of other companies which don’t employ empathetic business models.