My recent paper co-authored with civic designer Stephanie Wade explores the growth and impact of using design in city government.
My recent paper co-authored with civic designer Stephanie Wade explores the growth and impact of using design in city government.
The tools of design thinking are intellectual and conceptual, and while design thinking toolkits can be incredibly useful, they don’t guarantee “mastery” of design or design thinking. It’s a nuanced process that takes time and instruction to build design cognition, a sharp eye, and skilled hands.
Project work demands that we focus on the specifics of a user experience, trying to understand what motivates choice and particular behaviors. But, the meaningful differences often lie in social and cultural norms that make us tick such as perceptions, beliefs, rituals, and values.
A closing essay for a 2012 booklet on the experience and value of frog’s immersive form of design research is a chance to reflect about the deeper motivations for doing this kind of work.
A brief conversation about a new class at The University of Texas covers important questions to consider when choosing a design course.
The act of finding meaningful patterns in qualitative data borders between banal and inspiring. Doubt persists until you feel the rush of discovering insight.
Design thinking can benefit from Legitimacy Theory, a means to frame and evaluate the efficacy of design in an organization.
Empathy takes time and results from more than just user interviews. Team dialogue, agreements, disagreements, and judgment calls build its foundation.
Wicked problems, short project schedules, small qualitative data sets, and the possibilities of data science are trends that influence our choice of design methods today.
Nuanced service interactions at a classic American drive thru make a large order go smooth on a busy Friday evening.
Design methodologist Horst Rittel offers three helpful perspectives on the discipline of design research.
In his seminal book from 1960, urban planner Kevin Lynch uncovers how we build mental models of our places and spaces.
Health narratives can provide the plot, characters, and outcomes for our care strategies. But why is it so hard to create them with our caregivers and providers?
The rich data sets from sensed behavior might enable products and services to continuously tailor features and functions in response to changing user behaviors.
Our frog team recently spent a day teaching design thinking and sensemaking to three cohorts of Harvard graduate students.
In their 1973 paper, Horst Rittel and Melvin Webber defined “wicked problems” and clarified their role in an increasingly complex society.
Contemporary Catholicism and Christianity takes a retail form during Mass. Today’s design principles may favor posturing and projection over staid symbolism and habitual practice.
A Q&A with a grad student at a leading US design school covers the emerging interest and broad application of design thinking to industry.