Design firms employ a unique development process. Development is anchored in the users’ needs and a holistic approach to the challenge that considers all relevant aspects and stakeholders within the context. The development process is always focused on identifying the actual problem.

The challenge is addressed in a multidisciplinary approach. Because multiple – different – brains think better than just one brain. Most challenges require the consideration of a wide variety of
stakeholders and conditions. Design firms can offer the professional facilitation of the process that is necessary for handling a high degree of complexity.

Design firms can convert data and knowledge about users, trends and technologies into specific solutions that make sense both to the recipients (users and customers) and the suppliers (private companies and public-sector organisations).

A design-driven approach leads to solutions with maximum innovation that fit the successful implementation of products and services.
 

MINDSET

The design-driven approach is characterised by being holistic, user driven, future oriented and multidisciplinary. On the video below four designers talk about the characteristics:

• Pia Bech Mathiesen, CEO, Danfoss Universe
• Lars Thøgersen, CEO, CPH Design
• Mikal Hallstrup, Chief Visionary Officer, Designit
• Nicolai Sørensen, partner, Harrit-Sørensen

A holistic mindset creates holistic solutions
Design thinking has a holistic approach to problem-solving. It relates to the full context of a product or a service, from user needs to the internal organisation culture. It identifies the possibilities, added value and limitations of a given solution. That leads to viable and durable solutions.
 

The user drives the process
Design thinking is user-driven. In design thinking, the users are a key driver for solutions. Users are seen in a broad sense, including the enduser (e.g. the patient), the super-user (e.g. the nurse) and a variety of stakeholders (e.g. manufacturers and buyers). Design thinking identifies previously unacknowledged needs, especially by means of observing users in their context.

Focus on the future
The design-driven approach includes perspectives that reach beyond the near future. It considers the demands to a solution now and in the future. Important aspects in the futureoriented focus are new technologies, mega-trends and political developments that create possibilities for radical innovation.

Multidisciplinary cooperation without boundaries
Multiple brains think better than one. But the best results are achieved with multiple different brains. Including different types of experiences and skills makes it possible to analyse issues and potential solutions from different points of view. That creates fertile ground for entirely new combinations and ensures consideration for all stakeholders.
 

PROCESS TOOLS

Do good ideas grow on trees?
Idea development includes all the stages of the process, from the early creative and innovative thoughts and ideas to the actual development and implementation of the surviving idea. In order to bring out the best ideas, open-ended methods such as brainstorming are employed to ensure a full and complete investigation of the challenge at hand.

Do you see what I mean?
A picture says more than a thousand words. That is why visualization is such a strong tool for illustrating and communicating the ideas, concepts and information that emerge throughout the design process.
 

Can we prototype the future?
Prototyping constructs a potential solution based on the selected concept with the purpose of determining which aspects, functions or partial processes meet the proposed requirements. Modelling tools include graphic techniques such as software programs, process diagrams and physical models.
 

Does it work?
A functional design solves a problem and optimizes a given functionality. While aesthetics offers a very immediate first-hand understanding of the solution in all its simplicity, function is a more complex matter. The functional aspects of a solution are assessed on whether the individual elements work together and are naturally dependent on each other’s outcomes.

What about the form factor?
Form is an essential aspect of good design. A strong form factor ensures a sensory appeal and an added value that is an absolute must for selling the product.

Are you seduced?
An aesthetic product holds inherent fascination and has an immediate sensuous pull. Aesthetics has to do with whether both the visual expression and the content of a solution, an object or a service hold a positive emotional appeal for the user. It may be relevant to test the aesthetic expression with users during the process.

The three rings offer clarity and consistency
The three rings provide the basis for design-driven work. They are an essential tool for identifying challenges and creating coherent and applicable solutions.

A holistic approach is crucial for creating new and better answers to society’s challenges. These issues
typically exist in complex systems. Therefore, the development process must span the entire system and accommodate the full context of the system. This is necessary to ensure that the solution to the problem actually works in real life.

Successful solutions to problems in complex systems range all the way from the product solution over the system that the solution has to work within – organisational structures, IT systems and working procedures – to the behaviour and the mindset that sustain the solution.

The design-driven approach is based on holistic solutions. In every regard. That makes for superior outcomes.

COMMUNICATION – behaviour & mindset
SERVICE – system & organisation
PRODUCT – specific solution