Silence. Don't tell them there is no magic in design thinking.

Do we need a new term? Design Thinking.

It wasn’t hard to find people excited about Design Thinking. They were popping up in lots of organisations.

Yet, when I asked them what they thought it meant, their answer puzzled me. They told me it was a new approach to design, focusing on problem solving with multidisciplinary teams, producing competitive end-to-end solutions that delight customers, users, and employees.

Design Thinking is a Reframing of Design

The phrase design thinkingchanged all that. To a layperson, it was completely new. While it was made up of words they thought they knew, the combination was novel.“Design thinking? What’s that?”

Adding the word ‘thinking’ to ‘design’ was a brilliant move. David Kelley and Tim Brown, the founders of IDEO who popularised the term, were smart to take advantage of the unfamiliarity of the phrase.

It changes the conversation. When you add ‘thinking’ to the word ‘design, it’s no longer about color or decoration. It’s now about process. It’s about getting to a more intentional outcome. It’s about thinking about the experience of the customer, user, and employee.

Fighting the “Design Means Make It Pretty” Meme

For decades, I’ve needed to do what every seasoned design professional has found themselves doing: explaining why design is more than just making something pretty. When I’ve worked with other designers, they get it.

But once someone who isn’t a designer — someone who is a layperson — is introduced into the mix, I’ve found I need to convince them that design isn’t only about making the thing pretty. That’s it’s about solving problems. That’s it’s about end-to-end solutions.