Value Centered Design
What’s the point of design thinking? We use design thinking as a shorthand for a certain mindset, approach, and methods. But many conversations about design thinking (including many of my own comments) seem to be at a theoretical level, where the end goal of design thinking is fairly vague - something like ‘enlighten those poor ignorant business folk’. In many other conversations, innovation seems to be the goal of design thinking - the creation of novel products and services. But design thinking theory and even innovation both need to focus on what really matters: creating value.
Value-centered design recognizes that the point of our work is to generate value. And not just bottom line cost savings, or top line sales through new products. True value comes at the intersection of business goals and human needs. Most design thinking descriptions include a human-centered approach - but really what we need is a balanced approach that uses human-centered design to frame business problems in terms of human needs, wants, hopes, dreams and desires.
By providing Return on Investment for business and Return on Experience for users we can create long term sustainable value. We realize that value through the offering we create and the delivery of that offering to the individual. Of course, this is simply good design. But reframing the conversation so that shared value is the key means that design thinking isn’t just a philosophical meme out of touch with business realities.
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