Ep 189| 9 Common mistakes in Design Thinking process and How to overcome

Welcome to this Design for Change. And in fact in this last few podcast I've been recording regarding to design thinking. Okay, so design thinking is mostly underrated, guys. A lot of people don't know this, lot of people are not aware of this. A lot of people know it, but they're not applying it. A lot of people apply it, but they make lot of mistakes. So in this podcast I'm going to give you the nine mistakes, what people make and how you can correct it and how you can improve and upskill yourself. So take a lot of notes, lets jump in. We are in the 189th episode of this particular Design for Change podcast. I'm really glad and I'm really happy that more than 31 country listeners are consistently listening to this podcast. And really change is happening I strongly believe because students are getting results and recently also a lot of students are attending interviews and people will make a big difference once they follow a process and a methodology. And this podcast could be a great inhibitor. And I also have a welcome invite for people who wanted to join and work with me. Okay, so we do have a trial program. You can experience and come and you can able to take a decision after that whether you want to continue or not. Because I really help students in order to make them take the decision. It's not like you have to learn design. No. The very first question what I ask in my program is why do you want to become a designer? And if I find that reason is not strong, I'll ask the student to go and find it then and only I'll take them as a student. So if you really wanted to internally work on you and make sure whether design is for you, why don't you just give a try? Okay, so in this particular challenge, what I took is like till the episode 200 reaches, I'm going to deliver a lot of value in terms of thinking about what design thinking can do for a product designer, what common mistakes people make, what design thinking aspect which you can apply. So you can see the last three podcast, you can see that. And in the coming episodes also, till we reach 200, I'm going to go deep as much as possible on design thinking, how you can understand and how we can apply and excel it. Because this is one of the proven methodology and you can able to even redefine your design thinking definition according to you. That's the beauty of this process. It has that flexibility, it has that creative openness. But while you're going through this, there are some common mistakes also what people make this podcast is going to address you that, okay? So please, please note it down very carefully and I'm going to give you some corrections as well. The very first mistake what people do in traditional thinking is problem identification. So designers may identify problems based solely on assumption or past experience without thoroughly understanding the user need. But in design thinking, what happens is sometimes you lack empathy, sometimes you lack lot of understanding problem with the user. And designers may fail to empathize this and this leads to inadequate problem needs. Okay, this is the big mistakes in design thinking when you're doing empathy mapping and all these things. But when it comes to critical thinking, okay, so let me tell you first in traditional thinking is what common mistakes we do. Then I'll go for the design thinking so that you will be able to get a much more clarity.

Okay?

And there is another mistake in traditional thinking, what people make is linear problem solving. See, definitely we are tuned in that way in our education system, in our way in which we are living. It's like we have a set of rules, we have a set of what you call flow and a process. We solve it. But this is a very big hurdle, guys. Designers follow a linear problem solving approach without understanding the alternate perspective and without considering even multiple possibilities. So that leads to a lot of problem. And the third important mistake, what they make is over emphasis on efficiency. See, they prioritize efficiency over effectiveness. So focusing on completing the task quickly is the major, major mistake rather than producing a very good innovative creative output. So overemphasis on efficiency is not really correct. Linear problem solving is also not correct. Not understanding the problem or wrong identification of the problem is a big mistake. What people make in traditional thinking, let's do in design thinking, okay, the very first mistake, what I have seen personally also, guys, it's lack of empathy. People don't understand the need of the user or the need of the situation first. I mean, it's a huge problem with designers. You know, if you make a small mistake in identification of the problem, it will amplify a lot. In ideation, it will amplify a lot. In research, it will amplify even more. When you ideate a prototype, it will amplify even more. When you do a testing, it will amplify. When you go into a launch of the product and market will not feel the need and your product will have no value and you will be having a lot of loss and you will be blaming your marketing, sales target segmentation. But majorly, if you don't understand and empathize with the user this problem happens. Another big mistake. What design thinkers do is rushing to solutions quickly. See, design is a very what you creative field. And there are a lot of flashy things I would say here, like renders, 3D models, figma this out layers, sketches, all those fancy things people go and rush past. You can see, right? Most of the designers, they go for ui, they fall in trap with that ui, but they don't understand what's happening behind that. Designers have the ability to rush to the solutions without properly defining the problem or exploring the different possibilities or perspectives. That leads to a very, very what you call you will be a mediocre output, guys. And the third mistake I would say in design thinking is totally, it's a sixth mistake, okay? Neglecting the power of iteration. See, designers have the problem of not refining their iterations and not making their what you call process in an iterative way. They miss the feedback, they miss the testing feedback. They don't see this as an opportunity to improve and they just close their ears by that. Okay, so when it comes to critical thinking, I'll tell you what are the three common mistakes, which is the seventh mistake.

Okay?

Biased assumptions. Designers make a personal biases in terms of choicing of colors, in terms of choicing of typeface, in terms of choising of any graphics, in terms of choicing of even the user needs. They make a personal biases and they limit it to certain information and the perspectives become narrow. What happens, guys, you will go into a catastrophic, what you call bad decision when you do that.

Okay?

And acceptance of information as is, it's a eighth mistake. So designers definitely have to be really questioning. A lot of designers really accept that that information because of the face value, without understanding and questioning and considering the possible data or stat which is leading to this. And it will lead to a flawed decision making.

Okay?

So the ninth important mistake is failure to challenge assumptions. See, designers fail to challenge the underlying assumption. If somebody is putting you a challenge, why don't you just accept like this? Why don't you just think in an alternative way? Okay, so ice cream can be only eaten through cups. Let's say people are saying why not in a plate. Have you ever thought, have you seen Cassatta ice cream? It's like a plate, right? So people would have asked this question. That's the reason why people are coming up with a different kind of a solution. So you have to just think in that way, guys. Then and only you will be able to come up with a greater solution. Okay, so the first mistake is problem identification. Second is linear problem solving. Third is overemphasis on efficiency. Fourth is lack of empathy and understanding. Fifth is rushing to solution. Sixth is neglecting the power of ideas. Seventh is biased assumption. Eighth is acceptance of information access. Ninth is failure to challenge assumptions. Okay, Jagdish, so how do I really correct it? Let me tell you guys. You need to follow a user centric approach. When you make a process, when you make a problem, you need to make consideration of the user, testing, understanding the business, understanding the user. Then and only you can define your pain points and needs. Once if you're doing this, you will get a more clarity, okay? The second thing, what you can correct is you can follow something called divergent thinking.

Okay?

It helps you narrow, it helps you broaden your perspective. It will help you diverge your thinking. That's why it's divergent. It explores many possibilities and perspectives which unconventional people don't do. And you can have a third important corrective factor which is called cross disciplinary collaboration. Okay? So please make a note of it guys, because lot of people miss this point. Cross disciplinary collaboration, they don't talk with different department design people or marketing people, sales people, testing people, engineering people. If you really go and understand, only you can able to have a good empathy over the process, okay? And the fourth is empathy building among your users. Conduct user testing and do empathy mappings and personal development in order to have a better perspective.

Okay?

So if you're not able to build this empathy guys, what happens is you will get into a big trouble. That's why it's suggested to go to field. It's suggested to go to understand the primary source of information in order to build a good empathy.

Okay?

And the fifth is have your process in a way which can be monitored by some senior, okay? Guiding, seeking a proper guidance, seeking a proper guidance so that your process can be iterative in a way. Because when you are taking a decision then sometimes the biasness will happen. So that's why it's required to keep a supervisor or accountability partner or a mentor or a senior who can able to guide you in iterating this and definitely learn from your mistakes, guys, embrace your failures always. It's not like we should not do mistakes or you should not do experimentation. You have to learn from that and make it as a good improvement, okay? And definitely start questioning assumptions and seek some evidences before you take any decision. And develop the skill of analytical. See the data, see the numbers. I mean have some analytical evaluations before you have a discussion or addition making made. Because logical side many designers are missing. We are good in creativity, that's for sure. But logical side, definitely analytically we have to improve ourselves. If you are able to correct this actions, you will be able to correct the nine mistakes what designers are making. Let me repeat to the corrective steps. User centric approach, divergent thinking improvement, cross disciplinary collaboration, building a good empathy, mapping through good field study and surveys. Have a mentor and a supervisor iterate the process in a way learn from your failures, question the assumptions, seek the evidence before taking decision and have your analytical thinking improve once. If you're able to do this guys, you'll see a lot of difference in your whole process. You can read a book called Design of everyday things. You can read Don Norman. That's one of the beautiful book and you can take it into consideration. You can read a book called what do you call emotional design. You can read a book called There is something that's a beautiful book. You can understand one one design principles of a creative designers.

Okay.

It's common mistakes what people make in UI UX design. So these things will what you call challenge your perspective. You can listen to a podcast called the Design Better. Okay, it's by invision and Design Matters by Debbie Meliman. It's a great podcast. I would say you can listen it's all very lengthy podcast, but you can able to what you call listen to the core of it. And you can take many online programs for design thinking workshops ability you can join, you can. You can use IDEO Toolkit and you can use critical thinking and problem solving on EDX EDX Logical and critical thinking on Future Learn. So these kind of things will improve your creativity. And there is another podcast which I'll suggest you which is called the Critical Thinking Initiative by Critical Thinking initiators so you're not so smart by David Mick Ranney. Okay, you can able to understand that. And there are other materials which I would say IDEO Toolkit is one of the best. Guys, please go and read about it. And you can read some design blogs like Design Modo, Smashing magazines and online platforms like Medium. Medium is a very quality good blog I would say. And you can able to read a book called Critical Thinking A concise guide by Tracy Bowell and Gary Kemp and Think Again A Power of Knowing what you don't know by Adam Grant. So these are all the materials which you can use. Guys, if you're able to use this, you can avoid the common mistakes and really lead your thinking. I'll tell you guys that design success in your career is determined by how much thinking you are able to make. How much unique and novel thinking you are able to make is what is going to make all the difference. If you really wanted to make that difference happen, you have to definitely go and work on your internal game. Find out a good reason why you wanted to become a designer, find out that proper motivation and associate with a good mentor and associate with the right process and you will be able to have a greater clarity and creativity towards thinking and creating a difference. Don't be a copycat, don't be a one such designer in the market who is already lacks and lacks of designers around the globe and in India. Okay? If you really wanted to make that difference and if you need my support as well, I would highly, highly recommend you come and experience my program Design for Change.

Okay.

And we have a varying different programs for freshers and experienced designers. And you can send that email first. We'll check your eligibility and as you are selected, we'll be taking out for your program.

Okay?

Because there is an eligibility. I mean we ask series of questions. It's not a test or any exams, but we take students were damn serious and interested. And if we found you are really interested to learn, I'll take you for my internship program and you'll be getting results in less than 90 days. And people have started making 50, 60,000 rupees per month in just less than 45 to 50 days and even 90 days. And some of them are even tripled and doubled their salaries in less than 90 days who are already designers. So if you needed to get results, if you needed a good accountability, why don't you just come and experience it?

Okay?

I welcome you for this and if you find this podcast useful, give me a best star rating in Apple and Spotify and subscribe me for further episodes and spread a word to your friends as well. Guys, take care. All the best. Bye bye.