On the 2nd Tuesday of the June holidays, right after our return to Singapore from a long 9-day Silk Road trip, Yue Heng and myself had attended a DMP Module workshop entitled ‘Innovation & Design @ Raffles Academy - Designing To Improve Lives’ jointly organized by The Idea Factory and the Raffles Academy.
Even though this matter seems to be related to our RES-L project, there seem to be a relevance and similarity of concepts applied in RESL as in Design Thinking, and I believe that acquiring some knowledge of the concepts that are taught in this module may be useful and beneficial in our RE, as well as any other projects in the future.
As a start, the main focus of the module is on social innovation and the application of innovation tools to deliver solutions which can make a difference in society. While innovation is defined as a creative strategy which is applied to accomplish a set of goals, social innovation refers to new strategies, ideas, concepts that will meet social needs and benefit the society.
Design Thinking suggests that in social innovation, one should understand the target group deeply and sufficiently in order to better meet their needs and make relevant and substantial improvements to the current design of a product.
In the context of our module, we were required to meet the needs of the elderly in perhaps 1-2 decades time where it is estimated that 1/5 of the population will be above 65. As such we were split into our respective groupings and attend a sharing session with an elderly person. During this sharing session we were encouraged to interact with the elderly and ask questions which enable us to understand and seek out the elderly’s needs, as well as making observations regarding his or her environment, and possibly make more questions to ask in having a deeper understanding of the elderly’s life.
By having a deep understanding about our elderly, we are able to infer their needs and make solutions that cater for them. However, by essence of innovation, we were also coached to design ideas that were original and creative, often using unlikely connections to imagine new possibilities, and hence create new products. We were also mentored on the ways to convey our ideas to the group and also an audience, using for example a Customer Mandala (montage) or a comic strip which illustrates our ideas and plans regarding the prototype. Not to forget we also created the prototype for our design.
In summary, there are 4 innovation tools which were emphasized by our instructors, namely The Core Group Process (with referral to group dynamics), Metaphors (creative thinking), Visualization of Thought – (Communication of ideas) and The Prototyping Process.
There is much relevance between the Design Thinking module to our RES-L project. For one, the module does re-emphasize several skills we need in carrying out our project, such as creative thinking, but more importantly about group dynamics. The module strongly emphasizes several rules in enhancing group engagements which I find significant enough to include here in my reflection:
Ø All participate- No One Dominates
Ø Make Specific Comments
Ø Defer Judgment
Ø Think WILD Ideas
Ø One Conversation at a Time.
Ø Keep All Your Ideas Visual
These rules help us work together in a team, where we are able to define our thoughts, respect each other’s views and abilities, question and strengthen each other’s point of view while at the same time, keeping humility and negotiating your ideas with the rest. I think these are some skills that usually enable projects to prosper and succeed where everyone is involved and takes up ownership in the project.
Another thing to note would be that this concept of design thinking is not merely applicable to this 2 day module, or this elderly-friendly innovation, or RE for that matter. But more importantly it helps us shape our understanding of the structure and ways of mobilizing projects be it group dynamics or the creativity or communication within and outside the group. The concept of the module is easy to understand, but may be less easy to harness practically as this require skill, but it is still best to start off now.
This module enables us to broaden our concept on projects via design thinking, and surely it will be useful in our lives and future endeavors as students, employees, businessmen, contractors or even organizers. This may be especially relevant in a modern world where widespread communications through globalization has caused ideas to be easily available for use by anyone, possibly resulting in a homogenized set of common ideas. As a result, in order to maintain a higher end or advantage against competitors, one has to come out with original ideas, linking the unlikely, crafting an imagined solution and thus making yours totally unique.
Last but not least, these concepts of design thinking employ our imagination and creativity, also empowering us with the set of skills in order to improve the world around us, our society. By understanding the target group and stepping in his or her shoes, one is able to see the world through his eyes and infer ‘what I need’, thus being able to respond better to his requirements and personality and create a more relevant and successful product. Let's employ these skills in benefitting the society, designing to improve the lives around us...
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