W04 Reflection

 This week's topic was all about Design thinking. Essentially, design thinking is a problem- solving system for discovering new opportunities in creative ways. It can be utilized by any business and in any profession and by anyone to achieve results. It consists of four basic elements:  

Define the problem

Consider all the options

Refine options (repeat)

Choose and execute

Another way to look at it is:

Empathize (or in other words, observe, engage, and immerser yourself with the population you are designing for)
Define, or unpack and synthesize your findings
Ideate, or go wide in your solution exploration
Prototype your solution, make it real
Test and refine your prototype

When we do this with empathy for and feedback from the people we are designing for, it is called Human Centered Design. 

We read Chapter 9 of How to Change the World, and learned about Erzebet Szekeres and her son, Tibor. Tibor was born in Hungary with multiple disabilities, and because of the culture in Hungary, there was not much hope for him to live a happy, successful, dignified life. His mother went to work to make a place for him, and through her persistence, tenacity, hard work and patience, wound up changing the lives of may disabled people. Reading about the conditions that disabled people were relegated to made me physically sick. I have a son who is much like Tibor, and I pictured living in Hungary being faced with the same choices, and it is easy to see how necessary it was for a loving mother to take matters into her own hands. I have endless respect for the scope of change her work was able to create. She didn't just settle for improving life for her son, but for an entire population of people. One thing that particularly impressed me was her use of Human Centered Design. The care facilities that she created gave autonomy and responsibility to the residents, getting their thoughts, input, and help with the running, governing, and maintenance. This gave the residents ownership, and increased the social skills aspect of their experience. 

• Why is design thinking an important skill in social innovation?

Design thinking allows for, even necessitates, creative problem-solving. It forces consideration of new, out of the box solutions, and guides their development to a place where the solution truly meets the needs of the population or cause. In design thinking, the designer not only takes into consideration the social issue they are seeking to change, but they actively engage the people they are seeking to help, which is a key concept in social innovation.