What Exactly is Design Thinking?
Design thinking has moved beyond buzzword status to become a powerful methodology for innovation—but what does it actually mean? According to Michael G. Luchs, design thinking is “a systematic and collaborative approach for identifying and creatively solving problems” (Luchs, 2020). At its core, it means approaching challenges the way a designer would: with empathy, creativity, and a willingness to experiment.
Unlike traditional linear processes, design thinking embraces nonlinearity and iteration. Designers “quickly generate possible solutions, develop simple prototypes, and then iterate on these initial solutions—informed by significant external feedback—toward a final solution” (Luchs, 2020). This stands in contrast to conventional approaches like the Stage-Gate™ process, where prototyping happens late in development primarily to test manufacturability rather than to gather market insights.
The Six Principles of Design Thinking
Design thinking isn’t just a process—it’s a mindset. Luchs identifies six essential principles that characterize effective design thinking:
- People-centric: A shift from product-focused to human-focused thinking. Products and technologies are viewed as enablers of solutions that follow from customers’ needs, not the starting point.
- Cross-disciplinary and collaborative: Using diverse teams with varied backgrounds and perspectives. The best insights often emerge at the intersection of different disciplines.
- Holistic and integrative: Seeing connections between seemingly unrelated ideas and understanding how parts interact within a system.
- Flexibility and comfort with ambiguity: Embracing uncertainty in problem definition and solution development—essential when tackling ill-defined challenges.
- Multimodal communication skills: Willingness to communicate through sketches, prototypes, and physical expression, not just words and numbers.
- Growth mindset: Viewing “failure” as learning opportunities and testing ideas without fear of imperfection.
The Four Essential Elements: Discover, Define, Create, Evaluate
Luchs’ framework organizes design thinking into two major phases with four interconnected modes:
1. Discover Mode: Finding the Real Problem
This is where you gain deep empathy with customers by immersing yourself in their world. Instead of asking “How can we improve our product?” you ask “What are our customers really struggling with?” This mode relies on qualitative research to uncover latent, undiscovered needs that customers may not be able to articulate themselves.
2. Define Mode: Crafting the Right Problem Statement
Now you distill those insights into clear problem statements that include:
- Who the customer is
- What unmet need they have
- Why it matters (the insight)
For example: “A busy parent of teenagers needs a way to reconcile and integrate the dynamic schedules of all family members because the lack of reliable, up-to-date information leads to missed activities and unnecessary stress.”
3. Create Mode: Prototyping to Learn
This involves both idea generation and prototyping—but not the high-fidelity prototypes you might expect. Design thinkers use “low-resolution prototypes” that provide a basic experience to accelerate and improve idea generation. These might be rough sketches, cardboard models, or role-played service interactions. As Luchs explains, “prototyping is used as another activity for exploring an idea—to accelerate and improve idea generation.”
4. Evaluate Mode: Learning Through Feedback
The purpose here is “initially as a mechanism to learn more rather than merely to validate” (Luchs, 2020). You observe how people interact with your prototypes, gather insights, and use that feedback to refine your understanding and solutions. This isn’t a final step—it’s part of an ongoing learning cycle.
How Design Thinking Relates to Creativity and Problem Solving
Design thinking effectively bridges two critical domains: creativity theory and problem-solving methodology.
The Creativity Connection
Design thinking operationalizes key creativity principles:
- It embodies Amabile’s (1983) definition of creativity as “the production of novel and useful ideas” by ensuring solutions are both innovative and practical
- It leverages Guilford’s (1950) concept of divergent thinking through its emphasis on exploring multiple solution pathways
- It creates the conditions for Csikszentmihalyi’s (1996) systems model of creativity by bringing together diverse perspectives to identify domain-changing opportunities
The Problem-Solving Integration
Where traditional problem solving often assumes the problem is well-defined, design thinking recognizes that:
- Most teams jump straight to solving problems without ensuring they’re solving the right problem
- As Newell and Simon (1972) noted, problem solving involves “a search through a problem space,” but design thinking ensures you’re searching the right space
- It replaces “big bets” (investing heavily in a single solution too early) with “little bets” (Sims, 2013)—low-risk experiments to test ideas efficiently
Why This Matters for Innovation
Design thinking works particularly well when:
- The problem is unclear or poorly defined
- You’re aiming for breakthrough innovations rather than incremental improvements
- Customer needs are uncertain or latent
- You’re exploring new markets or business models
By combining the structured process of problem solving with the expansive thinking of creativity, design thinking helps teams avoid the trap of solving the wrong problem and increases the likelihood of developing solutions that truly resonate with customers.
As Luchs notes, design thinking often serves as “a clarifying lens on the oft referred to ‘fuzzy front end’ of NPD,” helping teams explore, learn, and define the right problem before committing significant resources to development.
Whether you’re developing a new product, improving a service, or exploring a new business model, understanding how design thinking connects creativity with problem solving can transform your approach to innovation—helping you create solutions that are not just novel, but meaningfully useful.
- Practical Applications and Implementation
When Design Thinking Is Most Applicable
Generally speaking, design thinking is “best applied in situations in which the problem, or opportunity, is not well defined, and/or a breakthrough idea or concept is needed” (Luchs, 2020, p. 3). This includes:
- Markets that are quickly changing with uncertain user needs (e.g., emerging markets for wearable biometric devices)
- Efforts to identify new, latent customer needs in mature markets
- Development of significant or radical innovations (as opposed to incremental improvements)
- Business model design and new venture creation
Conversely, design thinking is less ideal for “incremental innovations” that address “well-defined problems or established customer needs, such as improving gas engine fuel efficiency” (Luchs, 2020, p. 4). In these situations, a more linear, Stage-Gate process remains appropriate, though elements of design thinking may still enhance outcomes.
Real-World Implementation Examples
IDEO’s Shopping Cart Redesign: This seminal project demonstrated design thinking’s value by having researchers personally observe shoppers, interview store employees, and push carts through parking lots. They discovered pain points like difficulty maneuvering with one hand while holding a child and security concerns with abandoned carts. This led to reframing the problem from “How can we make a better shopping cart?” to “How might we create a shopping experience that begins the moment customers arrive in the parking lot?”
Airbnb’s Turnaround: In 2009, Airbnb was struggling with stagnant growth. The founders personally visited users in New York and discovered that poor-quality listing photos were a major barrier. They reframed the problem from “How can we get more users?” to “How might we help hosts present their spaces in the most appealing way possible?” Their solution—initially taking professional photos themselves—validated their insight before scaling the solution.
Embrace Infant Warmer: Students from Stanford’s d.school traveled to Nepal and Nigeria and discovered that traditional incubators sat unused due to power outages and complex maintenance. They reframed the problem from “How can we make a cheaper incubator?” to “How might we create a system that keeps premature babies warm in resource-constrained environments?” Their solution—a sleeping bag-like warmer using phase-change material—has helped over 300,000 babies across 20+ countries.
Implementation Guidance
Building Effective Cross-Functional Teams: Design thinking requires “teams with a wide variety of backgrounds and training” (Luchs, 2020, p. 15). Effective implementation involves bringing together diverse perspectives while maintaining consistent team membership throughout the project.
Creating Conducive Environments: Organizations must cultivate “comfort with ambiguity” and a “growth mindset” (Luchs, 2020, p. 15) where “failure” is viewed as learning. This requires leadership support and cultural shifts that value exploration over immediate results.
Integrating with Traditional Processes: Design thinking serves as “a clarifying lens on the oft referred to ‘fuzzy front end’ of NPD” (Luchs, 2020, p. 4). The process typically begins with an iterative design thinking approach to identify the right problems and potential solutions, followed by a traditional Stage-Gate process once enough has been learned.
Overcoming Organizational Resistance: Common challenges include resistance to nonlinearity, impatience with ambiguity, and skepticism about qualitative methods. Successful implementation requires demonstrating quick wins, providing training, and aligning design thinking with organizational goals.