Blog #2 -- Design Thinking Bootcamp

 I thought that the Ideo Shopping Cart experience was a great example of what design thinking looks like in a corporation. 

I noticed a few similarities to what our class did. First, their design thinking team was made up of an "eclectic group," as they had psychologists, marketers, scientists, and more. That is similar to our class because we all have different backgrounds and majors. For example, at my table, Julia is interested in psychology, Ian is interested in the law, and I am interested in the arts. We therefore bring a very different perspective to how we go about the design thinking process and the ideas we generate. Second, they started their process by going straight to their consumers and the people who actually use shopping carts. We did something similar when we interviewed our classmate to figure out what we could make better about their mobile phone experience. Starting with the consumer is a core part of the design thinking process and it is always important to have them in the forefront of the mind. Lastly, I noticed that they went through the rest of the steps of the design thinking process, like prototyping, before they got to their final product, similar to our class exercise. 

I also noticed a few differences. The Ideo group had five days to create their idea whereas we had two class periods. I'm sure this allowed them to have more time to conduct research and settle on the best idea. They also considered themselves "design experts" whereas I don't consider myself a design expert yet. The last difference I noticed, which was probably the most impactful, was the size of their group. They had so many minds to work with, and while I'm sure at times that was challenging, it allowed for a lot of diversity of thought. We were only working in pairs and so it was harder to formulate ideas.

In my past courses, I've only used the design thinking method once. I think it could've been extremely helpful, especially for my Consumer Behavior course. This course is all about the consumer and how they act, think, and buy. I know my group had a lot of trouble coming up with an idea because we forgot to keep our target market in mind. Additionally, I think sometimes we were scared to propose new ideas at the risk of getting told it was a bad concept. I think the design thinking process would've helped because it is encouraged that you write these ideas down without fear of judgment. 

I am also intrigued by how the design thinking process compares to the scientific method. As a psychology student, I have gotten used to the method of researching, hypothesizing, analyzing, and concluding. However, in my opinion, design thinking minimizes the need for hypothesizing because we would be collecting the need for our product straight from our consumers. We don't have to guess what would work and what wouldn't, because our consumers would tell us that. In some cases, I think the scientific process is the right approach, but in other cases, I do think the design thinking method would be beneficial, especially when dealing with consumer products. 

During our boot camp, I found that the easiest part was feeling comfortable in what I was doing. Like they said in the Ideo video, there is no hierarchy in the design thinking process. I didn't feel like I was trying to impress anyone or make sure I appeared particularly intelligent to my team. I also liked that we were able to write all our ideas out, even if they weren't necessarily feasible because it helped generate better ideas. I also really enjoy the teamwork aspect of design thinking. 

After watching the video, one question I have is what happened to this shopping cart design? At least in the grocery stores I shop at, they look nothing like the cart in the video. Did something happen to stop the production of these carts or did they realize that people weren't using these carts?