Re-defining design thinking for creating innovative and sustainable experiences
Design Thinking enables designers and non-designers to think in a user-centric way, building empathy with users throughout the design/creation process. Along with a handful of other designers, I saw an opportunity to apply planet-centric thinking alongside traditional design thinking methods to create experiences which are not only delightful, but created to be sustainable too.
Creating the design toolkit
I first started by creating my own artefacts, such as planet-centric persona maps and brainstorming techniques and using these with clients. I then teamed up with a handful of other IBMers around the globe who shared similar interests and together we began creating the Sustainable Enterprise Design Thinking toolkit.
The toolkit evolved to include 16 activities including modified design thinking activities and new activities which drew on circular design and product strategy principles. This included activities to serve as workshop ice breakers, problem explorers, sustainability goal setting, brainstorming prompts and idea assessment. I have also created a custom global training course to teach IBMers how to use the activities and apply them to client problems, which is now being delivered by design thinking leaders.
What we created and launched within the business included:
16 design thinking activities including artefacts, mural boards and guidance for usage.
Full workshop packs ready for use.
Pitch presentations - to communicate the value of the process.
Internal marketing materials - we launched within internal sites, the design thinking community and the sustainability garage community.
The creation of a sustainable enterprise design thinking Slack community, which had 500+ members in early 2022 and is growing rapidly!
The creation of a formal 2 day training course, delivered to 60+ practitioners between October 2021 and April 2022.
The creation of an online learning course and digital badge to be issued by IBM, alongside the design thinking badges.
Outcomes of the work
We worked alongside global IBM design leadership to formalise these materials and learning and it has been promoted globally within design and innovation teams. It is also currently progressing for publishing externally, to serve as education to the global design community.
The addition of this toolkit to the existing Enterprise Design Thinking modules enables Enterprise Design Thinking to become more competitive in the face of sustainability challenges for our clients. 60% of executives today consider sustainability to be an essential competitive advantage (IBV 2020) - this toolkit enables us to think competitively. I have used this toolkit on multiple workshops and design processes with clients which has resulted in product ideas for maximum impact, and have had wide recognition within IBM for providing innovation to the business.
This toolkit serves as an example of my thought leadership within the design profession and my passion to work on side projects which serve the design community for good.