Techblog
Embracing design thinking - developing user-centric products and services
Businesses can gain a competitive edge by thinking like a designer and understanding consumer trends to develop user-centric products and services.
In today's fast-evolving markets, organisations that stay ahead of the competition are those that can anticipate, understand and adapt swiftly to changing customer needs.
Companies face a more pressing need to recognise current trends and anticipate future ones as early as possible, in order to develop products and services that can connect with consumers. While trends cannot predict the future, they can inspire product design and drive strategic direction.
Getting beneath the surface
"When you are looking at trends, you are looking at the social and cultural influences that are going to be the precursors of business innovation," says Ms Genty Marshall (below), founder of New Black Global Trends, a Melbourne-based design
trend consultancy dedicated to tracking cultural and societal developments around the world.
"If you are producing something that is going to hit the market and appeal to the audience, it has to tap into the feelings of the time, their desires and needs. It helps to have a very clear idea of what the market wants," she adds.
Ms Marshall explains that trend analysis, in many ways, is design thinking, which is a human-centred approach that puts the end user at the centre of the innovation process. "With design thinking, you start asking questions and identifying the problem and need. Trend analysis allows you to explore a little deeper," she notes.
Using the example of furniture design to explain how changing consumer trends can present new opportunities for businesses, Ms Marshall says that businesses need to take into account how changing lifestyles can influence product design.
"The couch is more than just a place of rest - it has become an extension of my office and social life. I’m sitting there with my laptop and phone, so now my couch is expected to encompass all these other roles," she says. "Now, it is important to me that I have a power outlet nearby and an arm rest for my laptop. If I am a producer of couches, I will need to know how to capitalise on these new needs."
Creating an open environment
Besides identifying customer needs, organisations also need to translate inspiration into implementation, and turn design thinking into "design doing". "Companies must be careful not to be bogged down by the rhetoric. Someone has to actually do the design for these processes to mean anything," adds Ms Marshall.
The process of design doing is not about establishing rules and limits, but a cultural shift. As great design always involves risktaking, creating an open-minded culture where staff members are willing to explore radical possibilities will lead the business in a new direction.
"Don’t expect to get real business innovation if you tell your team what to do, instead of giving them the power to do something amazing. Having regular brainstorming sessions with your designers or marketing department allows these ideas to be expressed," says Ms Marshall.
A worthwhile investment
But before companies launch a revamp of their processes, Ms Marshall recommends that companies take a step back to identify what customers really need. While developing aesthetically attractive products is important; it may not always raise revenues.
"It is not always about the design," she says. "You can have a great product but still not achieve the sales targets that you want. What your business may need could be better marketing strategies or a brand new corporate identity. Design thinking allows you to see the entire situation and identify what the business really needs."
"If you are producing something that is going to hit the market and appeal to the audience, it has to tap into the feelings of the time, their desires and needs. It helps to have a very clear idea of what the market wants."
Although many businesses do invest in some form of innovation, they tend do so in small ways. The fear of taking risks, as well as the misconception that design is a costly investment, may be some reasons why companies do not embrace design thinking.
"Investing a small amount in design thinking at the beginning of the process will save you a lot of money eventually, because it is expensive to produce products that don’t sell. There is no viability in selling products that don’t understand what the customer wants," says Ms Marshall.
Organisations can no longer count on quality, performance or price alone to sustain leadership in the market. Design has emerged as a new competitive advantage and key driver of innovation.
Find out how you can deliver human-centric solutions, products and services with SPRING's Design Engage Programme at www.designforenterprises.sg.
Reproduced from SPRINGnews May 2012 Issue. Published by SPRING Singapore.