Welcome to my Design Thinking Hub. I personally got interested in design and innovation in 1999 when I took an Open University Business School Module:  B822 Creativity, innovation and change as part of my MBA. Since then I have been fascinated by creative processes and design and have been facilitating teams, department and organisations using a range of techniques learnt over the last twenty years or so.

This is not a definitive guide, but rather I hope, an eclectic collection of resources that will help you better understand and hopefully apply the ideas from within design thinking into your world. If you have any recommendations, please do let me know below and I will take a look and consider including them.

The following is a set of websites that should help you explore the history, processes and tools/techniques of design thinking.

  1. Jo Szczepanska has developed a good article that provides an overview of the development of Design Thinking over time including key influencers.
  2. The Nielson Norman group page provides a good overview support by graphics and short videos of what design thinking is.
  3. Libby Hoffman provides THIS nice simple Medium post exploring 10 design thinking models.
  4. IDEO provides a good overview of “modern design thinking”. They are one of the powerhouse consultancies of design thinking and have certainly helped popularise the ideas and tools behind design thinking.
  5. Design Kit has been developed by Ideo and this is their public design thinking techniques library.
  6. The Design School at Stanford is a very well known educator in the design thinking space. The link sends you to their comprehensive set of papers and articles. You will also find their methods library here. You can find their blog on design thinking over on Medium.
  7. This is design thinking is a collection of articles, resources and stories around its use. There is a broad range of authors supporting the site.
  8. Design Sprints from Google mashes design thinking with agile methodology to get rapid design thinking going. A very solid site.
  9. Design Thinking for Libraries, is at the name suggests focusing the usage in the library area. The content and processes are valid for all fields.
  10. Design Thinking for museums has a great range of resources and links to other sites around the topic.
  11. Workshopper has some nice resources around design thinking, including a playbook.
  12. Circular Design Guide is a website created to consider design from a circular economy perspective.
  13. Clearly design thinking is not a panacea. THIS article by Rafiq Elmansy is a well rounded critique. THIS medium past by Lee Vinsel is a stronger critique. Both are worth reading!

The following are books I have read and would consider as solid reads for better understanding or applying design thinking.

  1. Design Thinking Playbook: Mindful Digital Transformation of Teams, Products, Services, Businesses and Ecosystems by Michael Lewrick, Patrick Link & Larry Leifer. This is a practical and very visual book on design thinking.
  2. Graphic Design Thinking : Beyond Brainstorming by Ellen Lupton is an easy to read and practical book full of tools and techniques for design thinking.
  3. Design Thinking : New Product Development Essentials from the PDMA (product development & management association) by Michael G. Luchs, Scott Swan, Abbie Griffin, Michael I. Luchs, and Scott Swan is a book that focused on the use of design thinking in product development, but is a worthwhile read on the topic in general.
  4. Design Thinking for Strategic Innovation : What They Can’t Teach You at Business or Design School by Idris Mootee is a practical playbook for expanding the impact of design thinking into strategic innovation. The book was created to support the Harvard design thinking school’s work.
  5. 101 Design Methods: A Structured Approach for Driving Innovation in Your Organization by Vijay Kumar and Vincent LaConte is a book of tools and techniques frame around the design thinking process.
  6. Design Thinking by Nigel Cross, an influential design scholar, is a case study based book that explores the work of outstanding designers and offers insights into their thinking, processes and influences.
  7. Design for Sustainability: A Sourcebook of Integrated Ecological Solutions by Janis Birkeland. This book introduces systems design thinking that cuts across academic and professional boundaries and the divide between social and physical sciences to move towards a transdiciplinary approach to environmental and social problem-solving.
  8. This Is Service Design Doing: Applying Service Design Thinking in the Real World : A Practitioners’ Handbook by Stickdorn, Lawrence, Hormess, Markus and Schneider. This book takes a service design focus to design thinking. Very visual and practical.
  9. Transforming an Idea Into a Business with Design Thinking by Muhammad Mashhood Alam. This book provides a process and tools for applying design thinking to entrepreneurship. Very practical as a book.
  10. Design Thinking for Entrepreneurs and Small Businesses: Putting the Power of Design to Work by Beverly Ingle. This is another practical applied book that is easy to read and use.

This is a collection of PDFs / ebooks in PDF format available in the public domain. They provide a range of tools and techniques as well as overviews of the design thinking process.

  • Developed by Gavin Ambrose and Paul Harris THIS 202 page pdf provides an extensive overview of design thinking.
  • Developed by Eli Woolery from InVision THIS is a good 140 plus page introduction to Design thinking. Easy to read and digest.
  • Developed by Yolanda Zhang at Deloitte THIS 22 page guide gives a brief introduction and some design thinking techniques.
  • THIS is a short guide into the Design School at Stanford’s 5 step process.
  • Design thinking: Business Innovation by MJV a Brazilian consultancy has put THIS good 85 page overview together that is full of visuals and examples of design thinking in the real world.
  • THIS 144 page guide to design thinking from the civil service of Bhutan is a colourful pdf full of tools and techniques.
  • THIS short, ten page PDF from HBR about design thinking and the value for business.
  • Design thinking for public services is a 92 pqge developed by IDEO and NESTA. THIS provides great examples across the public sector in Europe.
  • THIS is a 74 page pdf that is a set of tools and techniques from EU4Business
  • IBM design thinking field guide. THIS is a short but punchy guide to design thinking.

https://www.ibm.com/design/thinking/ – a series of free self paced learning courses on the basics of design thinking

https://www.coursera.org/courses?query=design%20thinking – Coursera has a series of course on design thinking from different institutions

https://www.edx.org/learn/design-thinking – edX has a range of courses on designed thinking

Still aiming to build this section out, please recommend free / open education courses.

A 10 minute introduction to design thinking at IBM. This video walks through their model and key concepts:

David Kellet, one of the founders of IDEO discussing design thinking and its applications:

David Evans from Stanfoord goes beyond the model to explore the domain within which design thinking works:

Design thinking is bullshit by Natasha Jen. A critique of modern design thinking:

THIS site has a nice list of TED talks related to design thinking.

THIS is Stanford Design School thinking playlist.

Design thinking from NN group.  THIS is a series of 13 short videos on design thinking.

THIS is the AJ & SMART Design Sprint channel playlists.

Here are a few active design thinking communities I have found on the internet:

A holding place for items that don’t fit the other sections or resources I need to check out before assigning. Currently empty.

I run online and face to face workshops to teach design thinking, problem solving and innovation / change techniques. As a Professional Certified Facilitator I also bring these ideas into my moderation of events, conferences and meetings. Reach out to explore how I may be able to help your organisation.

This is one of many hub pages that I have created. To see the others visit HERE.