WHAT IS DESIGN THINKING?
Creativity, imagination and innovation are the fundamental drivers of our economy and society.
For some, design thinking is “cutting through the clutter.” Others describe it as “getting to the essence or the heart of an issue.” At RISD, it is seen as an intense, focused process of looking at design to solve a problem, produce a new strategy or create value in a product or process.
Design thinking begins with defining, or redefining, the topic. It can be a problem an industry partner is having with a specific design or something more general, like a question about expanding into a new market. It calls for challenging assumptions, reframing questions and generating ideas, ideas, and more ideas. Capturing and allowing multiple perspectives and allowing “happy accidents” to occur, evolves the process of design and innovation beyond the originally considered approach. As Dr. Linus Pauling said, “The best way to have a good idea is to have lots of ideas.”
As some of RISD’s professors explain, design thinking is “design at its best.” It is at the very heart of the innovative process and is what attracts so many industry partners to collaborate with RISD.
WORKING WITH THE CDB AND RISD
The CDB facilities design thinking work in six different areas:
• In classroom studies
• Commercial Partnerships
• Custom Projects
• Long Term Research
• Thought Leadership
• Resident and member programs
IN CLASSROOM STUDIES-SPONSORED STUDIOS
For nearly 40 years, RISD has partnered with major corporations for in-classroom work, otherwise known as “sponsored studios”.
Sponsored studios consist of approximately 15 students and a faculty member, along with the participation of sponsoring executives. A sponsoring firm and the RISD faculty members scope the range of the challenge to explore and outline the project expectations and deliverables.
The emphasis for all participants is on discovery and learning. Sponsoring firms immerse themselves in the design process, learning the capabilities and skills needed to engage in design thinking projects. They gain invaluable creative insights on customer needs, new products, business model innovation and emerging ideas. The outcome from sponsored studios can range from physical product concepts or identity, defined new market opportunity, customer experience, or identify new areas for exploration.
Sponsored Studios are usually a single semester in length, although a number of them have spanned several semesters and even years. The Fall and Spring semesters are twelve weeks long and the winter term is a six-week period of intensive study. There is also the possibility of working during the ten-week summer for intensive development of projects or planning for Fall studios.
RISD students and faculty have worked with a broad range of firms on a diverse number of design challenges.
COMMERCIAL PARTNERSHIPS
The RISD community, in its work inside and outside the classroom, generates strategic insight, product opportunities, and solutions to complex challenges.
As a vibrant creative community, it is a marketplace of new ideas.
The CDB seeks to assist this community in locating knowledge, financial, and strategy partners key to bringing ideas to market. The CDB is a resource for the idea generators—RISD students, faculty and alumni—and external partners in search of new idea and insight.
Areas explored and concepts researched are wide and varied. They can include projects related to sustainable materials, transportation, affordable housing, and packaging, to name but a few.
CUSTOM PROJECTS
For many external partners, the timing and duration of classroom projects is not optimal. For these partners, the CDB facilitates custom projects, teaming together RISD resources such as faculty members or alumni or students or some combination thereof. Additionally, custom projects can include executive training and seminars.
LONG-TERM RESEARCH
Collaborative, long-term research is critical for developing and testing new ideas and solutions. The CDB facilities such research in the corporate, academic and government fields.
Spanning several years, involving numerous institutions, long-term research requires sustained commitment of partners to explore emerging areas and offer solutions.
These research projects can be corporate, as in the five-year Universal Kitchen project that explored how changing demographics and tastes will fundamentally alter the role of the kitchen.
They can also be academic in nature as in RISD’s interdisciplinary partnership with Brown University to explore scientific visualization tools and processes.
Lastly, they can be government sponsored research as RISD has done over 15 years with NASA and as it does with municipalities in its “city-state” program.
THOUGHT LEADERSHIP/KNOWLEDGE DATABASE
As an extension of RISD, the RISD-CDB has learning and teaching at its core. The RISD-CDB seeks to share its learning and experience with as broad an audience as possible through its conferences, seminars and publications.
The RISD-CDB holds an annual Success by Design conference highlighting and exploring design’s critical importance in addressing global business challenges.
In addition, the RISD-CDB holds numerous seminars throughout the year on specific topics and research ideas. The RISD-CDB offers a growing, searchable database of case summaries in design thinking which are available on the RISD-CDB website. Lastly, the RISD-CDB distributes a monthly newsletter highlighting its findings, case studies and industry trends.
RESIDENTS AND MEMBERS
Residents of the RISD Center for Design and Business are independent, commercial enterprises actively engaged in using “design thinking” principles to enhance their customers’ experiences, create market value and re-define their industry. As the name implies, these firms reside in the offices of the RISD-CDB.
Residents are typically firms in the early low-revenue stage that can attract capital for their own growth. In the firm’s early work, or in the key prinicpals’ careers, residents will have demonstrable examples of “design thinking” in leading a company to key strategic insights in re-defining their industries.
Most importantly, a relationship with RISD will provide a significant asset to the resident and the resident will provide significant opportunities for learning and teaching for the RISD community—its students and faculty.
Other firms, not physically located with the RISD-CDB, can share in the benefits of residency as members of the CDB.