When you read this book, or even if you just glance through it, it’s almost certain that you will want to get down to work and apply the process and the tools described here. In that case, be kind enough to allow us to make a few suggestions.
First, here are the three pillars, restated:
• Aside from all the methods, models, tools and processes, understanding the user and getting out of your own shoes and the reality of your business or project is the pillar on which you can develop good ideas (or understand whether it’s worth continuing or not).
• Testing and realising your ideas is the only way to achieve your goals. The sooner you do this, the sooner you will be closer to fulfilling your objective (or finding more fresh ones).
• Remember that error is always lying in wake on this road, and you must be ready to face your mistakes and learn from what has happened (failure as a lesson and essential process) and move on.
In short, Designpedia will help you make your way along the innovation road and to generate/build ideas. It will provide you with a map so you can plan your journey, but don't forget that what matters is not the destination, but the road and the generation of knowledge. Create, share and develop visually as you advance, so that with every step forward you gain in awareness and more and better skills to manage what you are developing.
Designpedia – or Design Thinking by default – as a work philosophy, helps us to understand the problem rather than define solutions. The solution is the definition or visualisation of a thought process.
And in the wake of these hints, some final words of advice:
1. All that glitters is not gold.
Using the framework offered by Designpedia does not guarantee the creation of ideas that lead to a product, service and/or business. There are times when the Design Thinking process leads us to realise that the problem on which we are working either has no solution, or achieving the solution is complex and too expensive or indeed just to laborious too embark upon.
2. If you wish to use this process, but are starting from what is a clear solution for your goal, then simply don’t bother.
Design Thinking provides a framework of tools whereby you can learn while you do, or in other words, learning occurs while you are dismantling and understanding the initial problem and seeking/constructing a solution.
Allow yourself to be surprised, to advance, retreat, test, fail … until you find the end solution, or perhaps until you understand that it is not possible to understand the problem and why.
3. Planning before the plan.
Using the tools is not in itself the goal. What matters is, on the one hand, the thoughts and dialogues they generate, and on the other, the capacity to create documentation or intangible information and thoughts.
4. Be water, my friend.
The process is shapeless. There is no single correct usage procedure or application pathway among the tools collected here. The Design Thinking process is chaotic and intuitive and the instruments must be used according to the needs of each actual case.
5. The suit doesn’t make the tailor.
Be aware of the fact that behind all the processes are people. The choice of the participants for a process is as important as the selection of the correct tools for that same idea conceptualisation process. With that in mind, think hard about who should be involved on the grounds of their knowledge and abilities, and make sure that you have a team with as wide a range of different profiles as possible.
So now that it's really time to start applying what you’ve learned, don't forget that, “the limits of design are the limits of the problems” (Charles Eames). The use you make of the knowledge collected here and how you apply it depends only on you. Feel completely free to use it however you see fit, set no limits and try to use it in all kinds of contexts. Having done that, we ask you to think about your work, and create your own recipe.
