10 tips for improving innovation with design thinking

Innovation management is guided by megatrends like climate change, digitalization, and urbanization that require new products and services to meet new needs. As such, businesses are using design thinking methodologies like service design to simplify and humanize services that offer value in use instead of counting sold items. Large consulting organizations are acquiring small design firms to apply design thinking for front-end of innovation, where problem statement definition, uncertainty reduction, and stakeholder commitment are the key challenges. Design thinking creates hypotheses, iteration, and learning through experimentation, which leads to better customer understanding, lowers marketing costs, decreases risk, and fosters improved relationships. Service design, on the other hand, improves existing services and experiences by a multidisciplinary and holistic view. The different models that are applied in service design process are all based on a double diamond model developed by the UK Design Council in 2005.