Ep 307| Critical Thinking skills for designers- A Must Designers Toolkits

Anytime, whenever you are put a assumption in front of you, or a data in front of you, or a study in front of you, it is always important being a designer to really question that in order to know whether that perspective is valid or not valid, or why it is not valid and why it is valid. The reasoning power is very, very missing in currently the generation of designers. And beyond this reasoning there is something called questioning. Beyond this questioning, there is something called analyzing. Beyond analysis, there is something called critical thinking. Critical thinking is a power what makes you really innovative and solve some of the uncommon problems which other designers or other people are not even thinking about. Using the power of critical thinking, you can able to even what you call surpass beyond any normal things which people really talk about and you can also create innovative solutions out of it. A lot of people ask me Jagdish, how should I become creative? How should I become innovative? This is the ultimate pillar for you guys. In this podcast I'm going to tell you why critical thinking is very important and why certain organizations who have improved this implemented this, has increased their revenue up to 30 percentage more and they have improved their team working ability up to 50 percentage more by using this partner for the critical thinking methodologies. And also I'm going to give you a real time case studies and that last you're going to get one live activity so that when you practice that you're automatically your critical thinking ability will start growing in a far more different way. Okay, so with this context I'm going to tell you this is a must toolkit for a designer to learn what is critical thinking. Even though we created one podcast earlier, but this is exclusively focused on the critical critical thinking aspect of it. Okay, so with this context let's dive into the topic. Welcome guys, welcome. Thank you for staying tuning here. See critical thinking, being a product designer must, must, must mandatory skill. I'll tell you why it is important. It's not just solving problem, it's also creating innovative solution. It's also making you adapt. See, many times we've been lying with an assumption. If a fact, if a stata, if a statistics or a data is given to you, you'll just see, okay, this much of people are not this much of people are having the problem. Let me go and build a website or a solution for it. That's what people really get into the solution, right? See I will tell you if you are having that kind of a mindset and a habit towards solving a problem, you are ending nowhere. You are design career is not going to Be very creative and you will be only monotonously solving one set of problem with every designer out there are doing it. But when you are thinking about, okay, if 80% of the people are having this problem, what about the 20 percentage people? Okay, they are comfortable. What makes them comfortable? Okay, this is a reason for their comfortness. Okay, why not? I bring this reason also into this to make the 80 percentage experience better. See, only a small questioning ability has made you think in a very different way. It's not just solving problem, it's also bringing out the out of box solution which people so called out of box in box. I don't know what is this box? But you really become innovative by just questioning. You don't become innovative by scratching your brain for a lot of time. You become innovative only by asking the right questions at the right time to the right people to get the right information. Once you're getting that question and answer automatically your new perspective will open, your neurons will start behaving in a different way. And if you continuously do this again and again and again, each and every brainstorming when you're sitting, I'm telling you guys, you are going to become a great critical thinker in this entire design world. What people are really thinking about. But a lot of people don't know about this aspect. That is the very reason I'm recording this podcast. Okay, so first of all, what is this critical thinking? See, whenever you are analyzing, evaluating, synthesizing information and then you make a reasoned judgment before coming into the assumption. This is called critical thinking. What are the essentials for it? First of all, you need to identify the root cause of the problem and try to weigh the options, what is there in front of you and analyze it from a multiple perspective. From a government perspective, from a people behavior perspective, from a business perspective, from a user perspective, from a technology perspective, from a cost perspective, everything matters a lot. If you wanted to get a detailed breakdown of the skill, guys, I would recommend you to go to my YouTube channel and watch it out because I've detailed it out a very one hour session for showcasing at least five to six real time examples to do it because audio is one part. But majorly you will get even more clarity once you're seeing the screen and sharing with me. And we did a live debating also like we took a topic and then we debated on the two sides so that you are getting a two sided perspective of one particular problem and also the third is predicting the outcomes. If you wanted to become a really a good critical thinker, you need to know how to predict the outcomes and try to weigh the options in order to find the root cause. This is what is called critical thinking. Now let me explain you the five factors and the principles of this Critical thinking for designers.

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Write down this. This is the most most important thing. The first is curiosity. Second is analysis. Third is logic. Fourth is open mindedness and fifth is decision making. See the moment when you're very curious about asking question and understanding, you will automatically see the critical thinking ability going insanely different. For you guys, I'm telling you for sure, this is a great, great skill which you can able to develop in a very, very short span of time. Okay Jagdish, how should I ask? Question? First of all, you need to be very curious towards solving a particular problem. If your curiosity is coming down automatically, that enthusiastic expression towards going and assuming or when questioning a particular thing will come down. So first be very, very curious. Guys. See if people are saying like let's say 70% of the people are abandoning their website cart in the checkout page. You should ask why? Why these people are abandoning. There are certain people who are also taking up the decision, right? Ask why? Why certain people are taking this decision. Why certain people are not taking. Okay, they may be using mobile application because the user experience may be bad. How much people are using mobile? 80% of the traffic is mobile. Guys, this is by the way real time statistics. Okay, 80% of the people while they're using the mobile cart for my shopping application, why they are abandoning this? Because user experience is bad. Why my user experience is bad? Because the color choices, the composition, the spacing is bad. Why my color choices and composition is bad? Because the design not done well. Why my design is not done well because of the programming and coding is not adapted properly for the different responsive screen. That is why it's not happening. Why why the responsiveness is not happening well, because the design system is not optimized well. Why the design system is not optimized well, because the system, what people have really built for that particular product and service is not consistent across website and mobile app and tablet. See now we are getting into the root of the problem by asking why, why, why, why, why? Sometimes even when you're doing this why, why, why analysis, you may end up somewhere else. Like let's say, okay, it's not the mobile, it's not the web, it's not the user experience. It's because it's a month end. People are not able to abandon to buy the product because their salary Potential is very low. Or maybe this is not a good offer time. Or maybe your product is very high in the market. The prices is so high. Okay, then you need to give an input saying okay, users are not able to buy this product because it's very expensive compared to the market other competitor brand. Let's do an analysis and then we'll come up with the best price. This is the insight which you have to give guys. See, you will get these questions answered only when you talk to people. Only when you analyze the behavior. It's not always user experience. Let me change the color, Let me change the graphics. Let me change the website. No, no, no. Don't scratch your head like this. That's why I told you. Asking a right question and thinking from a different critical perspective will only solve this problem. Scratching your head in one angle will not give you solution. First, okay, this is called curiosity. Second, analysis. Once you know the answer, then you try to analyze the problem. Break down the complex into a small small parts. Analyze the behavior of the user and then go to the logical situation. Use evidences. See, always use Socratic thinking, guys. Always question. Bring evidence. Take a logic. If one method is good, one team is saying in your design, another team is saying this method is good. Try to put A B split testing. Use the same conditions and put A different variables and test it out. If A performs better, you can use it. If B performs better than A, then you can use that tree. Always test it out and build a logic around the evidence. Then fourth, open mindedness. You have to always consider a different perspective, guys. Okay. Why people are not able to buy from the cart? Okay, Maybe this is a climatic condition. Like let's say you are putting sweaters as a product for the offer. Maybe it's a summer season, people are not able to buy it, right? Oh my God. I have positioned this product at the wrong season. Your website is good. Your cart is good. Your user behavior is good. Your user is able to spend the money. Everything is there. But you've wrongly positioned at the wrong time of this product. See, See guys, People will not think about it. But being a designer, when you talk to people and analyze these facts, the very reason I'm telling you about this critical thinking is you will be able to integrate lot more different things compared to other design, other departments like engineering, testing, sales, marketing, research, everything. There is nothing called we are a superpower. No, I'm not telling this. I'm telling you will be able to integrate a larger perspective and add a whole new different innovative thinking around Your product. And once the team started seeing that you are thinking critically like this and bringing value, they will respect you like anything guys. And I'll tell you when you find out the real reason and find out the product positioning is bad. And once the company change the product positioning and put the right product there, automatically their sales will skyrocketing. Imagine that CEO or the manager or the product team leader. Somebody will get totally stunned by the thought process what he brought. The way in which your respect will be there in the company will totally, totally change. Why? Because you have applied the critical design thinking method methodology and then you are becoming open minded to take a decision. Finally the final step is making decision. Once you evaluate all these things carefully, automatically you will take the best possible solution. Guys. Okay, so remember this five facts, whatever I told you, curiosity, analysis, logic, open mindedness. And then you take a decision making. Once you do this guys, automatically you will be able to get a far more different route. Okay, you can use this five way techniques. You can use this questioning method, Socratic questioning. You can use mind mapping using the tools like Miro, invision and figjam and all these things. You can use SWAT analysis for your competitors. You can have like let's say red team, blue team, like let's say team one will only support, team two will only debate the opposite of it. If you have the two sided teams for a debating a topic, you will be able to see the two sided perspective of a team. Once if you're able to do this kind of activities guys, you will see a huge difference in your product design thinking methodology. Because teams are exactly going to bring you the lot more different perspective for it. Okay, so that is the major objective of bringing this critical thinking methodology. See you can take any examples guys, you can take all the real time examples you can take. You can take the Google search engine evolution how this happened. See, it is irrelevant Searches Results in early 2000s sometimes iteratively improved over the algorithm via a B split testing. What happened is in Google there was so much of irrelevant searches happening in early 2000s when they launched this product. First they iteratively improved it via splitting test with AB methods. And then Google has found out users are engaging this kind of a content. Let us produce a result in this way. They have changed the algorithm and they have improved their product in a whole new different level. You can take the Ikea product. Initially they were expensively in shipping cost and then they redesigned the entire flat packaging and they started putting the parts as a disassembled parts and Sending it as a package and then people were able to afford it with a lower cost and they were able to bring it to their home and they were able to repackage it. See, See, it's not about product design, it's about how transportation cost is going high for Ikea. See, if IKEA would have not thought in this perspective, they would be still shipping products costly and they would be still scratching their head what went wrong, why people are not buying, why people are not buying. Think about it. Gu. This is what IKEA designers have did this. IKEA is a Scandinavian brand, okay? Google is a global brand. Think about it. I can able to even give you an example of Slack. See overwhelmed users due to excessive notification. What Slack did is for this problem. They customize the notification setting based on the user feedback. They iteratively improved it. You can take a playground design by Kompan. See the approaches. They ensured the accessibility for the children, for all the disabilities can be adjusted in this playground. And they have completed this by doing a very, very proper analysis with all the children, took the data, implemented it, analyzed it and then they solved the problem. See, this is how you go deeper into a particular problem and think about it. Like let's say Starbucks, the user, the user journey for a customer in the Starbucks was having a lot of problems. They identified what is the user journey for each of the people who are coming into the coffee shop. Starting from the lighting, starting from the air conditioning, starting from the colors, what they see, starting from the service, what they get, starting from the payment method, what they put, starting from the way in which they are served, starting from the experience, what they're while sitting on the couch of the Starbucks and started paying the amount and getting out of it and are they getting any cashbacks or rewards and after they go to the go out of the shop, what are the messages and the thankful rewards, what they're getting. So everything. Starbucks has mapped it. Once they were able to do it, they created each and every part of this user journey. A very good experience for that Starbucks. That is why a simple coffee is costing 300 rupees, guys. Why would somebody pay 300 rupees for a coffee? It's all about user experience, right? So if you are thinking critically and understanding how we can able to create this for my designs, you will be able to operate at a far more different level, guys. Okay, so now let's come for the small activity. Find out a design failure and identify the missed opportunity in your part. Like let's say it could be a Physical design or digital design.

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See, mainly our objective is to real world problem solving. You are not just debating, you have to just solve the problem once. If you find the real case study, try to form two teams with your co designers or colleagues and try to debate about the plus and minuses of this. See, make sure everybody is getting a different perspective and reasoning out of it. Please encourage all of them. Once you are able to bring a lot of perspective to it, then as a team try to brainstorm, bring this 5Y analysis, Socratic questioning and methods, whatever I told you and do a SWOT analysis and try to find out a lot of solution and then go and mock up a stakeholder and then try to make a role play for the solution, what you gather and then finally you take the solution once. If you're able to get the solution, then try to brainstorm it in an even more different way to get the ideas actionable into a real time solution and test it out with the user again.

Okay?

Because brainstorming ways to make a design fail, then reverse those ideas into actionable solution, it will automatically make a lot of improvements in your product. And once if you're able to deliver the solution, then it will be very, very useful for the people and nobody will be able to question it because you analyze the two perspectives plus and minus and then you implemented it.

Okay?

It's a small group activity I'm giving you because two, three people or maybe four people can do it. Take one gap in a physical tradition digital product and try to form two teams and try to debate, let's say one team could be positive, one team could be negative. And then you try to create solution out of this particular try to create more ideas out of this using 5Y analysis and other methods. And then you try to create a solution and try to test it of the real time user and then get the feedback and then do the reverse brainstorming and implement it as a solution. And then automatically you will see the improvement compared to the normal ideation session. Because normal ideation goes in a very linear way, right? But here you're, you're fighting against for the two sides and automatically when you're brainstorming ways make a design fail, then automatically you can reverse those ideas what you got from the customer and then make it as actionable solution. Sometimes the positive side will not give you the real answer. Sometimes the negative side of the discussion will give you the real answer. Yeah, that is the beauty about design critical thinking. So think about it guys. It is very, very important skill See, critical design thinking activates your prefrontal cortex, boosting your innovation automatically. Your amygdala goes down and your prefrontal cortex goes up. How many of you want to know what is prefrontal cortex and amygdala? Please listen to my earlier podcast. I would have detailed it out by the way. It's a very detailed topic.

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And because prefrontal cortex put to shot, it's a creativity for forward thinking. Amygdala is animal behavior. Okay, that's really bad. So always try to activate your prefrontal cortex. This involves an innovation. That is why critical thinking always helps you innovate being activating the prefrontal cortex.

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Structured critical thinking thinking improves innovation by 40 percentage. Guys, design cognitive journal says that teams using critical thinking complete their projects up to 20 percentage faster. Structured critical thinking reduces your cognitive load. So think about it guys. This is the most most important skill for a designer. I hope you would have understood the importance of critical thinking and you would have understood the mechanics and principles. Whatever I told you, just think about it. The moment when you are able to get this consciousness automatically, you will be able to operate in a far more different level. Remember the curiosity, analysis, logical open mind and decision making things for the critical thinking. Okay, I wish you all the best to implement it in your real time project and do the small group activity and let me know in the email what did you come across and I'll be able to give you a personalized one to one session as a gift for you guys if you're selected among the best winners. And that one to one call is going to flip your career in a whole in a different level. Some of them who have got this gift guys, the one to one call with me just with one call a clarity they have got job in next 15 days to 20 days itself. Just one small clarity call. So that is the power of that one to one I'm going to give you as a gift if you're doing this activity and pinning that to my email connected design for Change.com and also make sure you join my upcoming webinar because all of this skills and critical thinking ability you should know where this dots is connected to getting a job job being a Designer or maybe to 3x your paycheck being a designer, whatever salary you already have. Okay, I wish you all the best to implement the skill and also take part in the coming webinar before the seats fill up. Just go and register for it and subscribe to my podcast channel for getting further notified episode. Guys and I wish you all the best to go ahead.

Take care.

All the best. Bye. Bye.