DesignAndThinking -YouTube
This documentary, directed by Mu-Ming Tsai, explores the role and value of design thinking in society. It draws on conversations with a range of commentators including David Kelly, D.School Stanford; Tim Brown, IDEO; Udaya Patnaik, Jump Associates; and Richard Grefé, Aiga. The film is over an hour long but worth investing the time in as it does a great job of reflecting on the processes and outcomes of design thinking in many different contexts. It discusses the importance of the design mind in dealing with ambiguity and complexity; using the tools of design to explore the unknown and to consider the multiple possible outcomes and their variable consequences. The interviewees refer to the huge potential of creativity to influence the world through exploring the alternatives to very complex problems (e.g. health, security, poverty, environment). They discuss the need to ask the ‘why’ question as well as the ‘what’, acknowledging that ‘why’ is often a much harder question for folks to consider. Ultimately design thinking is about understanding people or system needs, uncovering the real issues and finding new directions to travel to address problems that often have difficult and complex constraints. One commentator emphasised the potential of design creativity to defeat habits; I’d add to that “its potential to create new habits and ways of being” … that is after all, what many of these complex problems require.
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