A presentation I gave on design thinking for technology, business, and entrepreneurship students at NYU. These slides were accompanied by a lot of group participation, Q&A, and a design challenge, so some slides may feel a little sparse. These slides are adapted from a design thinking presentation co-authored with Melanie Kahl in 2011. Thanks for viewing!

1. Design Thinking.
NYU AMBITION
NYU-POLY
JEFF WENZINGER
MARCH 23, 2012

3. MECHANICAL ENVIRONMENTAL ENERGY
ENGINEERING COMPLIANCE ENGINEERING
CAPSTONE PROJECT ENGINEERING IN BUILDINGS
RESPONSIBLE INSTITUTE FOR CLEAN
BUSINESS SOCIAL ENERGY
CONSULTING ENTREPRENEURSHIP EDUCATION

4. MECHANICAL ENVIRONMENTAL ENERGY
ENGINEERING COMPLIANCE ENGINEERING
CAPSTONE PROJECT ENGINEERING IN BUILDINGS
PRODUCT PROCESS SYSTEMS
DESIGN DESIGN DESIGN
RESPONSIBLE INSTITUTE FOR CLEAN
BUSINESS SOCIAL ENERGY
CONSULTING ENTREPRENEURSHIP EDUCATION
SERVICE DESIGN THINKING EXPERIENCE
DESIGN WORKSHOP DESIGN

5. I create social impact through design and
engineering.

6. I CAN’T COVER ALL OF DESIGN THINKING
IN ONE HOUR...
But I can give you terms,
examples, and tools to
empower you to use
design thinking in your
work.

7. FOR THE NEXT HOUR...
Re-framing design
A new way of thinking
Design Thinking tools
Design challenge
Discussion

8. Amtrak, the U.S. passenger rail corporation, was preparing
to launch its Acela high-speed train service along the
Boston-to-Washington metropolitan corridor. It asked
IDEO to design the interior of its Acela rail coaches.
Amtrak wanted a railcar that was more attractive and
functional than the interior of the passenger airliners that
were Amtrak's primary competition.
Your turn: if you were IDEO, how would you help
Amtrak?

9. ABOUT THE EXPERIENCE
LEARNING
PLANNING
STARTING
ENTERING
TICKETING
WAITING
ONLY ABOUT BOARDING
THE RIDE RIDING
ARRIVING
CONTINUING

10. WHICH AIRLINE IS THIS?

11. THE WORLD IT’S UP TO YOU TO
OFTEN ASKS YOU DISCOVER THE
TO SOLVE THE RIGHT PROBLEM
WRONG PROBLEM. TO SOLVE.
DESIGN THINKING
TEACHES YOU TO
EXPLORE COMPLEX
SITUATIONS AND
DISCOVER HIDDEN
CUSTOMER NEEDS.

12. SO,
What is “design thinking?”

13. FIRST,
What is “design?”

15. “”
YOU’VE GOT TO
START WITH THE
CUSTOMER
EXPERIENCE AND
WORK BACKWARDS
FOR THE
TECHNOLOGY.
–Steve Jobs

16. “”
IN MOST PEOPLE’S VOCABULARIES,
DESIGN MEANS VENEER. IT’S INTERIOR
DECORATING. IT’S THE FABRIC OF
THE CURTAINS AND THE SOFA. BUT TO
ME, NOTHING COULD BE FURTHER FROM
THE MEANING OF DESIGN. DESIGN IS THE
FUNDAMENTAL SOUL OF A MAN-MADE
CREATION THAT ENDS UP EXPRESSING
ITSELF IN SUCCESSIVE OUTER LAYERS OF
THE PRODUCT OR SERVICE.
–Steve Jobs, CNNMoney/Fortune, January 24, 2000

17. “”THE ANGLO-SAXON
IN
LANGUAGE THERE’S
ONLY ONE WORD FOR
DESIGN, WHICH IS
“DESIGN”...

18. “” IN HOLLAND, WE HAVE TWO WORDS FOR
DESIGN.
Vormgeving is more to make things look nice. So
for instance, packaging for a perfume or for
chocolate in order to make things fashionable...
While ontwerpe means, and the Anglo-Saxon
word, but its stronger, means engineering.
THAT MEANS YOU AS A PERSON TRY TO
INVENT A NEW THING—WHICH IS
INTELLIGENT, WHICH IS CLEVER, AND
WHICH WILL HAVE A LONG-LIFE. AND
THAT’S CALLED STYLISTIC DURABILITY. IT
MEANS YOU CAN USE IT FOR A LONG
TIME.
-Gert Dumbar

19. design vs. Design

20. design vs. Design

21. design vs. Design

22. design
MORE THAN VENEER
ENGINEERING, EXPRESSION
design vs. Design

23. SO,
What is “design thinking?”

24. “”
DESIGN THINKING REFERS TO THE
METHODS AND PROCESSES FOR
INVESTIGATING ILL-DEFINED PROBLEMS,
ACQUIRING INFORMATION, ANALYZING
KNOWLEDGE, AND POSITING SOLUTIONS
IN THE DESIGN AND PLANNING FIELDS.
AS A STYLE OF THINKING, IT IS
GENERALLY CONSIDERED THE ABILITY
TO COMBINE IN A HOLISTIC MANNER:
EMPATHY FOR THE CONTEXT OF A
PROBLEM, CREATIVITY IN THE
GENERATION OF INSIGHTS AND
SOLUTIONS, AND RATIONALITY TO
ANALYZE AND FIT SOLUTIONS TO THE
CONTEXT.

25. human-centered
connection seeking
bias towards action
process of discovery

26. design thinking.
discovering brainstorming prototyping
the problem ideas solutions
challenging and evolving

27. Some overlap with:
user experience design
customer development
the lean startup

28. OKAY, SO...
How can I learn this way
of “thinking?”

29. “”
IF THE ONLY TOOL YOU HAVE IS A
HAMMER, YOU TEND TO SEE EVERY
PROBLEM AS A NAIL.
–Abraham Maslow, psychologist
DESIGN
YOU ARE HERE YOU ARE HERE
ENGINEERING BUSINESS
DISCIPLINES STAKEHOLDERS
}
PERSPECTIVES

30. The solutions that emerge from Human-
Centered Design should hit the overlap
of these three lenses: they need to be
Desirable, Feasible, and Viable.

31. Design
Engineering Business
See holistically across
disciplines

32. + Enthusiasm

33. Cultivate your T-Shape
broadened perspectives
LEARN (KINDLE + COMMUTE, GOOGLE READER)
HANG OUT WITH MULTIDISCIPLINARY PEOPLE
TRAVEL OFTEN
ASK QUESTIONS OF DISCOVERY
connect disparate ideas
“YES AND...” IMPROV COMEDY
LEARN BY DOING - EXPERIMENT
LOOK FOR DUCT TAPE “SOLUTIONS”

34. How do I apply “design
thinking” to the real world?

35. “”
DESIGN THINKING REFERS TO THE
METHODS AND PROCESSES FOR
INVESTIGATING ILL-DEFINED PROBLEMS,
ACQUIRING INFORMATION, ANALYZING
KNOWLEDGE, AND POSITING SOLUTIONS
IN THE DESIGN AND PLANNING FIELDS.
AS A STYLE OF THINKING, IT IS
GENERALLY CONSIDERED THE ABILITY
TO COMBINE IN A HOLISTIC MANNER:
EMPATHY FOR THE CONTEXT OF A
PROBLEM, CREATIVITY IN THE
GENERATION OF INSIGHTS AND
SOLUTIONS, AND RATIONALITY TO
ANALYZE AND FIT SOLUTIONS TO THE
CONTEXT.

39. “ When my husband left me, I had nothing.
Today, everyone knows me. I am
someone. ”

40. design thinking
realizes everybody
has a story.
and human-centered
solutions are rooted
in stories.

41. DEFER JUDGEMENT
ENCOURAGE WILD
IDEAS
BUILD ON THE IDEAS
OF OTHERS
STAY FOCUSED ON
THE TOPIC
ONE CONVERSATION
AT A TIME
BE VISUAL
GO FOR QUANTITY
IDEO

42. TTTTT
HOW TO USE DESIGN THINKING IN THE REAL
WORLD?
Your best bet is to
cultivate and empower a
T-shaped team.

43. TTTTT
LOOK AROUND YOU.
NYU Ambition: your
T-shaped team members
are all around you.

44. So, who’s ready for a
design challenge?

45. design
MORE THAN VENEER
ENGINEERING, EXPRESSION
design vs. Design
thinking
EMPATHIZE AND BLEND PERSPECTIVES
CULTIVATE YOUR T-SHAPE
MEET OTHER T-SHAPED PEOPLE
design thinking
HUMAN CENTERED, CONNECTION
SEEKING, BIAS TOWARDS ACTION,
PROCESS OF DISCOVERY, HOLISTIC

46. What’s this?

47. Notice L/R image labeling

48. Infection
appears on
radiological
image
What about under the skin?

49. L/R image label is manually
inputted by CT operator

50. L/R errors in symmetrical
areas can go unnoticed...

51. ...which can lead to wrong-
site surgery, harm to patient,
and malpractice suits.

52. Design Challenge:
Develop a verification system to
double-check technologist’s
input and ensure L/R image
labeling is accurate on all CT
scans.
Stakeholders:
Chief Radiologist (MD), Chair of Patient Safety Committee
CT Scan Technologist (operator)
Chief Radiology Scientist (Ph.D)
Nurses with deep knowledge of patients’ needs

53. The solutions that emerge from Human-
Centered Design should hit the overlap
of these three lenses: they need to be
Desirable, Feasible, and Viable.
What do people desire?

54. Customer Needs:
1. Be highly reliable
2. Take little time
3. Be unobtrusive to patient
4. Implement in current system
5. Minimize radiation exposure
6. Minimize image streaking
Technical Concerns:
• Material (metals create streaks in images)
• Easy implementation
• Time added to procedure
• Radiation exposure
• Few Components
• Fatigue lifetime

55. Proposed Solution
1. Use headrest and footrest inserts to identify orientation
2. Implement radio frequency identification (RFID) chips (low metal content)
3. RFID receiver sends signal to compare with control room tech’s input
4. CT scan halted until signals match
5. CT process commences only when signals match
Insert appropriate headrest or RFID receiver detects insert and
footrest based on patient orientation sends double check information to
computer

56. Here’s the point:
Through discovery and design, it’s possible to find a
human-centered, low-cost, low-tech solution.
Technical knowledge is a critical part of the toolkit,
but it’s not the solution in and of itself.
Strive to frame every challenge in terms of human
needs, and combine technology and business
methods to create a holistic solution.
“”
PEOPLE DON’T WANT QUARTER-INCH DRILLS -
THEY WANT QUARTER-INCH HOLES.
– Ted Levitt, marketing guru

57. More on Design Thinking...

58. design
MORE THAN VENEER
ENGINEERING, EXPRESSION
design vs. Design
thinking
EMPATHIZE AND BLEND PERSPECTIVES
CULTIVATE YOUR T-SHAPE
MEET OTHER T-SHAPED PEOPLE
design thinking
HUMAN CENTERED, CONNECTION
SEEKING, BIAS TOWARDS ACTION,
INHERENT OPTIMISM, HOLISTIC

59. “”
DESIGN THINKING ISN’T FAIRY DUST. IT’S
A TOOL TO BE USED APPROPRIATELY. IT
MIGHT HELP TO ILLUMINATE AN ANSWER
BUT IT IS NOT THE ANSWER IN AND OF
ITSELF.
-Helen Walters for FastCoDesign

60. “ CREATIVITY IS JUST
CONNECTING THINGS.
THE BROADER ONE'S
UNDERSTANDING OF THE
HUMAN EXPERIENCE, THE
BETTER DESIGN WE WILL
HAVE. ”
Steve Jobs

61. TTTTT
Now go be awesome.
Thanks!
@jeffwenzinger
jeff.wenzinger@gmail.com
www.linkedin.com/in/jeffwenzinger