I’ve never really warmed to the term “design thinking” so I agree with some of what Don Norman says here: Design Thinking: Useful Myth.
Design thinking is a public relations term for good old-fashioned creative thinking. It is not restricted to designers. Great artists, great engineers, great scientists all break out of the boundaries. Great designers are no different.
Don goes on to argue it’s a useful myth – useful for design agencies, that is. Personally, I find references to “design thinking” can be tiresome and excluding… as if it’s not something that all of us can do, at least in some contexts.
Much of what we humans do effortlessly, in an ordinary way, can be rather remarkable. But when we label it as remarkable, and especially when we start explaining it in complicated ways, I think we miss the magic.
When I do improv, it’s a constant reminder to stop trying to be special, to put down my clever, and do the ordinary. So maybe we can take design thinking off its little altar and get on with our lives…
Hat tip: @dominiccampbell tweet
