Adviser Update Adviser Update Spring 2017 | Page 7
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For me the answer was design
thinking. A five-step process
that begins with empathy and
emphasizes human-centered
enquiry, typically it begins
with off-the-record (but
well-documented) empathy
interviews, then
defining a problem,
working in groups
to suggest ideas
(ideating), prototyping
a solution, testing
it with users, and
frequently, going back
to square one and
doing it again.
(spoiler alert: It’s not really
about a better bag.) We weren’t
discussing refugees; we were
establishing a mindset: Here’s
how we can think, work in
groups, use low-cost tools (Post-
Its and Sharpies), generate ideas,
consider out-of-the-box answers.
Instead of “no, but,” students
were encouraged to say “yes,
and …?” A drone that follows
your plane with your carry-on?
A 3-D printer in your room with
toiletries on demand? Ditch your
passport and embed the data in
Radically for us
as journalists and
educators, design
thinking isn’t really
about the product; it’s
about the process.
We began with a
classic d.school
exercise, redesigning
the carry-on bag
Student reporter Tailor Liedtke (center, with notebook) interviews young refugees at the Stalingrad encampment in central Paris. Photo by Andy Wiener