What Is Design Thinking?

Jan Auernhammer () and Bernard Roth
Additional contact information
Jan Auernhammer: Mechanical Engineering Design Group, Stanford University
Bernard Roth: Stanford University

A chapter in Design Thinking Research, 2023, pp 169-196 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract This chapter outlines and discusses different perspectives on design thinking. It provides a schema that illustrates three different understandings of design thinking: (1) methodology, (2) thinking of designers, and (3) practice-based design thinking (embodied thinking). We seek to clarify some of the substantial differences and nuances of alternative understandings of design thinking. Specifically, this chapter discusses significant nuances between structuralism (i.e., information-processing), formal logic (i.e., abductive reasoning), and Gestalt psychology (i.e., humanistic psychology). These differences are based on schools of thought that emerged in early experimental psychology and that then informed numerous design scholars. These perspectives have also informed various practice-based aspects of design thinking, such as variation-selection, meaning-making, and comprehensive design. By outlining these alternative understandings, this chapter presents answers to the question “What is design thinking?” from different perspectives. This discussion and outlined schema encourage researchers and practitioners to articulate their perspective when referring to “design thinking.”

Keywords: Design thinking; Design methodology; Thinking of designers; Design practice (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:undchp:978-3-031-36103-6_9

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/9783031361036

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-36103-6_9

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Understanding Innovation from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().