The use of design thinking in non-design contexts - a journey and experience: International Association of Societies of Design Research Conference 2019

Design thinking is gaining momentum for developing solutions to issues in many areas, eg, health, education and business management. It is seen as a tool for improving creativity, addressing complex or wicked problems and a method for promoting interdisciplinary working among students and professionals. In this paper, we focus on the experiences of four academics on their design thinking journey as part of a European project. This aimed to share design thinking skills and processes for peer training and application with non-design student cohorts. Important is the fact that none of the participants are trained designers. The four have been participants, facilitators and teachers and been subject to and used design thinking tools and techniques in a variety of contexts, together and individually. By reflecting on these experiences and drawing out lessons learned the paper argues that design thinking is useful in a non-design context and has become well enough defined to be applied by people whose background is not design. The paper concludes with some key factors in delivering design thinking workshops for the future as well as identifying areas for further research.