Reflection on Design Thinking

On the 8th and 9th June 2010, I attended a workshop organized by The Idea Factory called the Design Thinking - Designing to Improve Lives.

This is an innovation program designed by the Idea Factory to educate and engage Secondary 3 & 4 students on the fundamentals of innovation and design thinking and why progressive and innovative organizations are increasingly embracing them to change the status quo and to stay ahead.

This module is part of a series of innovation programs by The Idea Factory and focuses on social innovation and the application of innovation tools and processes to deliver solutions that can make a difference to society.

Over the two days, we did some fun activities like building a tower using fruits and sticks, and constructing a duck using 6 Lego blocks. Through these activities, we learnt the importance of being open-minded in group discussions as a great idea is one that has been consistently built upon. The social innovation in this workshop refers to new strategies, ideas, concepts and/or organisations that will meet social needs of all kinds, and that will strengthen and enrich our society. Ultimately, our aim was to apply what we learnt on designing better lifestyle for the Elderly.

On the first day, we did an interview with our customer, an old lady who leaves alone. She seemed quite contented with the life she led at that point of time. However, after much inquiry, we gained some important information for improving her life. For example, we learnt that she depends too much on her maid and she could not take things that are high on top in her messy storeroom. Also, she cannot read without a magnifying glass.

The next day, we discussed as a group on how to solve the problem that our customer faces. Eventually, our group invented 3 items and created their respective prototypes to address her needs. Firstly, we created the model of a storage closet that functions like a vending machin in order to save her the trouble of getting stuff that are far to reach. Secondly, we made a prototype of Wii Tai Chi, a program that allows her to exercise at home. Last but not least, we invented an iBook, a gadget that automatically enlarges the words which you stare at.

In my opinion, I have acquired a lot of useful skills which can be used in our RESL from this workshop. One of the most important skills is to infer the needs of the customers from their perspective because most of the time, our needs are too subtle to be expressed in market surveys. This is especially important to us when we design solutions to the water problems of the village in Quang Nam.

In conclusion, this is a meaningful part of the learning journey in our RESL and I look forward to other similar workshops!