Defining Design Thinking

Listening to an interview with Sir George Cox, chairman of the UK’s Design Council, on ABC Radio’s By Design this morning, he gave a great definition of Design Thinking – something that I often struggle to articulate in a simple way.

This is my paraphrased version of what he described. Yes, it’s multipart, but to me that is what makes it more meaningful as it explains the  different elements that make up Design Thinking:

• Creativity is coming up with new ideas.
• Innovation is introducing new ways of doing things.
• Design is channelling creativity for a purpose.
• Designers are people who have been trained to reframe problems and approach them from different angles.
• Design Thinking is a way of using design methodologies to find new and innovative solutions to problems.

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