Design thinking - A paradigm

Linda Nhu Laursen*, Christian Tollestrup

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to book/anthology/report/conference proceedingArticle in proceedingResearchpeer-review

4 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Design thinking has received an increasing amount of attention in both practice and academia. Previous research has successfully pointed out design thinking is vaguely and diversely defined, presenting eight different discourses. Although design thinking has been viewed from different perspectives with diverse results, much current research use the terms of design thinking without clarification of the relation to one another; this creates confusion. With this paper we clarify design thinking. Through a review of key literature and a conceptual synthesis, we show design thinking is not merely a process or either of eight suggested discourses-but all of them. Thinking like a designer is a paradigm, which may materialize in various forms. It is a way of seeing and interacting with the world. It is a world-view. By categorising central themes from key literature, we add to the current discussion with a coherent conceptual framework of design thinking. A taxonomy of the design thinking paradigm, which provide clarity of levels, since there in current literature are no clear distinction between the fundamental paradigm, methods and practical tools and techniques of design thinking.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings of the 21st International Conference on Engineering Design (ICED 17) Vol 2: Design Processes, Design Organisation and Management, Vancouver, Canada, 21-25.08.2017
EditorsAnja Maier, Stanko Skec, Harrison Kim, Mikael Kokkolaras, Josef Oehmen, Georges Fadel, Filippo Salustri, Mike Van der Loos
Number of pages10
Volume2
PublisherDesign Society
Publication date2017
EditionDS87-2
Pages229-238
ISBN (Print)22204342 22204334
ISBN (Electronic)978-1-904670-90-2
Publication statusPublished - 2017
Eventthe International Conference on Engineering Design, ICED, 2017 - University of British Columbia (UBC), Vancouver, Canada
Duration: 21 Aug 201725 Aug 2017

Conference

Conferencethe International Conference on Engineering Design, ICED, 2017
LocationUniversity of British Columbia (UBC)
Country/TerritoryCanada
CityVancouver
Period21/08/201725/08/2017
SeriesProceedings of the International Conference on Engineering Design, ICED
ISSN2220-4334

Keywords

  • Design methodology
  • Design methods
  • Design theory

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