Hi. The goal of this project is to design an article to inform readers about the role of design thinking in modern day and age. This article critically examines the strengths and weaknesses of design thinking as a problem-solving approach and highlights the need for a more comprehensive and nuanced understanding of design challenges, as well as quantifies its potential to redefine the field of design as a whole.
The final article was presented as an essay within a publication called ‘Convergence and Divergence’ by the BA English Design Class of 2019 from Aalto University, which I was a part of. The publication was printed in two parts: ‘Convergence’ and ‘Divergence’. The future of design thinking article was published in ‘Divergence’.
A year after the publication was published, I decided to re-do the article, rewording the article and publishing it on Medium.com. Link here:
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Design Thinking: A Business Buzzword or the Future of Design?
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<aside> 💡 This portfolio entry is a 10 minute read.
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This project delves into the significance of design thinking as a popular concept in contemporary business and addresses the impact it has had on the design profession as a whole. By exploring the limitations and potential of design thinking, it encourages designers to consider its role within their own design toolkit and the potential to embrace a multidimensional approach to design challenges.
Redesigning and rewording the article could show whether or not the findings from May 2022 are still relevant today.
The design process began with learning how to navigate Adobe InDesign, its challenges and possibilities for article designs. The final graphic made for the article was based upon this art piece by Jody Barton:
In addition, the notion that the essays will be printed as a part of double-sided printing gave me the idea of exploring creative ways of utilizing this format. My four-page essay could this include graphics that utilized the middle page effectively.
I used a cut-out as the creative format for my essay. In the cut-out, I use the middle page to first show a larger graphic and then utilize the cut-out to reuse that part of the graphic and make a brand new graphic with it. For example, in the second series of pictures, the single man is used as a ‘odd-man out’, signifying someone that always jumps into the spotlight as the problem a company should be looking at. However, as we turn the page over, the ‘odd-man out’ is cut out of the first picture, and a quote is put next to it:
A brand becomes iconic not by focusing on its problems or ‘the odd man out’, but rather by looking at its strengths and making them even stronger.
The way the cut-out works can be more closely seen below:
