Think Like a Designer?

What does it mean to think like a designer?

• Knowing that the problem can and should be redefined

• Knowing that there is never a single “best” solution

• Knowing that abductive reasoning is an acceptable path

• Understanding that users provide information... not solutions

• Being able to iterate freely

• Always returning to and questioning the problem

• Being able to abandon one line of thinking and take up another

• Realizing that an abandoned path can always be returned to

• Understanding that you must make things, many things... quickly and as early as possible

• Understanding that making things is research

• Knowing that ideas can come from strange places and looking there

• Embracing the idea that your design will be picked up by others and adapted for different uses

• Being comfortable with ambiguity

• Realizing the need to embrace complexity — simplicity is being replaced by clarity

• Knowing how to set boundaries — everything is connected but that doesn’t mean your design has to address all the connections

• Thinking in systems — look for leverage points and design them into the project

• Understanding that it’s less about the parts and more about the relationships between them