Why people are at the center of design thinking

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Design Thinking—it’s not just the latest buzzword. It’s a new mindset, a new way of approaching problems. It puts people at the center of everything.

And putting people at the center of everything is at the heart of what we call the Business of Experience (BX)—creating experiences that meet customers’ frequently changing needs and enabling them to achieve their desired outcomes.

It’s the way we’re working and harnessing the power of change as we lead the world’s top companies into the New.

5 elements of Design Thinking

The guiding principle behind Design Thinking is putting users and their needs at the center of business. It’s about designing for change and creating new value.

Instead of designing a product and trying to find ways it will make people’s lives better, you start by looking at what users really want and need and work toward that goal. You look at the whole user experience from their perspective. And the more complex the project gets, the closer you need to look.

Focusing first on the experience rather than simply rushing ahead to just “solve the problem” leads to faster, more successful solutions and results.

There are five key elements of the Design Thinking process:

1. Human-centered. If you don’t understand the person who will be using the thing you’re trying to create, it simply won’t work. This principle starts with empathy and focuses on research to really understand people—clients, customers and users.
2. Creative and playful. Creating an open, playful atmosphere is critical to fueling creativity. It allows you to frame the problem in a new way, look at it from different perspectives and consider a variety of solutions.
3. Iterative. Once you’ve come up with a solution or product, it’s important to keep challenging and reframing the problem. Test, iterate, test and test again. Early rounds of testing and feedback helps ensure you are delivering solutions that people will love.
4. Collaborative. People with diverse perspectives work together, creating multidisciplinary teams that encourage different viewpoints and client co-creation. Working in a flat hierarchy.
5. Prototype driven. A prototype can be used to communicate and test your data. Whether it’s a sample product or an idea drawn on paper, creating tangible representations of your solutions allows for sharing and gathering feedback.

Design Thinking in action

Right now, an experience renaissance is afoot—one that is galvanizing companies to push beyond the customer experience (CX) philosophy and organize the whole business around the delivery of exceptional experiences.

Our people are gaining invaluable experience in Design Thinking—designing for change centered around people. They’re helping clients become obsessed with their customers’ needs, and using that as their compass for everything they do.

Innovate and change the customer experience with the work you do, every day. Find your fit with Accenture.

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This content is provided for general information purposes and is not intended to be used in place of consultation with our professional advisors.