Design Thinking offers a way to create things – whether products or services – differently through practical and creative problem-solving techniques. We are all too familiar with the concept of thinking outside the box but Design Thinking teaches us how to think outside the box. Design Thinking helps designers carry out the right kind of research, create prototypes and test out products and services to uncover new ways to meet users’ needs.

Designing through Design Thinking can be applied to systems, procedures, protocols, and customer experiences. It transforms the way leading companies create value. The focus of innovation has shifted from being engineering-driven to design-driven, from product-centric to customer-centric, and from marketing-focused to user-experience-focused. A great design has the “wow” factor that makes products more desirable and services more appealing to users.

In recent decades, it has become inevitable to develop and refine skills which allow us to understand and act on rapid globalisation, innovation and transformation that are constantly taking place in our social and economic environments. Design Thinking owes its popularity to the success of many high-profile global organizations such as Apple, Google, Alibaba and Airbnb. It has also become a component of study in many leading universities and adopted at every level of business.