To continue my discussion from our previous post, I will now look at how design thinking responds to societal aspirations of the individual. While collective society is a sum of its parts, the sum behaves differently than the parts and therefore it is important to examine individual motivations in their own right. As collective society negotiates with global politics and economic factors, individuals look for intellectual and emotional fulfillment.
Societal Aspirations for the Individual
A Demand to Try New Things Without Negative Connotations of Failure
There seems to be a fear ingrained in us towards authority figures and disrupting the status quo. In a time when the economy is shaky and employment is unreliable, we hold tighter to what we know and what we have. But there is also a backlash that looks down at what we are grasping desperately and questions whether it is worth it, whether the safe path is really the best path. Design embraces this reconsideration and calls for experimentation without worry of negative repercussions. On the quest for innovation, let’s prototype and iterate and learn.
A Demand for Thinking Deeper
While mindless reality TV thrives and politicians who function on sensationalism rather than reason continue to rise in popularity, we strive to teach our children to be independent and objective thinkers. Designers work diligently in the “discovery” phase to identify underlying values in a population, asking “why are things the way they are?” and “is that really the best way?” How many designers does it take to screw in a light bulb?...Does it have to be a light bulb?
A Demand for Self-Worth and Meaning
Too many people cannot find the purpose of their work. As corporations grow and bureaucracies become more intricate, tasks are broken down into meaningless specializations. This distances workers from the purpose of their organization, severing an emotional connection that provides crucial motivation. Philip Kotler in his book Marketing 3.0 traces the motivations of the American public to the present day where meaning and social impact are forefront. Design, through solving problems and creating something new, has a visible impact on the world. Designers have the ability to make a difference. Additionally, within the design field is a growing social impact movement that answers a call for meaning – the powerful ability to fix the world’s most complex wrongs and linking purpose with passion.
A Demand for Individual Recognition
Related to the demand for self-worth, a demand for individual recognition is a desire for one’s unique contributions to be valued. We are not all motivated by the same things, we do not all have the same strengths and neither do we have the same weaknesses. The design field operates in ways that answer this demand in two ways. First, it relies on types of intelligences not honored in traditional education and corporate settings. And secondly, it prizes group work and collaboration that honors and capitalizes on the nuances between individuals and disciplines.
And so, if we distill aspirations and motivations behind the design thinking movement, we can more objectively understand what design thinking offers, what it can't and how it is similar to other approaches. There is never a single answer: let's move forward by comparing elements of society's complexity.
-Sarah Malin