Design Thinking: What It Is and Why It's So Important for Product Development

About this talk

In 1958, just four months after the launch of Sputnik and President Eisenhower’s establishment of NASA, Stanford engineering professor John Arnold gave a speech arguing that design engineering should be human-centered.

At the time, Arnold’s proposal was highly unconventional. During the Cold War, engineers were largely focused on two priorities: winning the Space Race and optimizing the hydrogen bomb.

Inspired by Arnold’s ideas, mechanical engineering professor Bob McKim, with the help of art professor Matt Kahn, created an engineering program called Product Design.

Through this program, McKim and others contributed to the development of the design thinking process, which later helped lay the foundation for Stanford’s d.school. Design thinking also became a core methodology for companies such as IDEO.

The design thinking process is not linear, and there is no single prescribed way to follow it. It is an iterative system with many variations. However, Stanford’s d.school teaches a well-tested process that provides a practical starting point for tackling problems of any level of complexity.

What you’ll explore

1. 01

   Human-Centered Design

2. 02

   Empathy

3. 03

   Experimentation and Prototyping

4. 04

   Bias Toward Action

5. 05

   Show, Don’t Tell

6. 06

   The Power of Iteration

About the mentor

Temo K. Dolidze

In the world of product design, leading a team of specialists focused on design systems. The design freak deeply involved in arts, crafts, and the nuanced world of music and sound. An avid cyclist, I thrive on offroad and downhill challenges.