In Change by Design, Tim Brown shares the stories of his organisation in working with clients to develop innovative products and solutions to problems.
This is not a book on technique and methodology – it is essentially a collection of case studies from IDEO and other design agencies and organisations punctuated with Tim’s opinions and predictions for the future. His vision is that design thinkers (people who employ the approach, mindset and techniques of design) will rise from all aspects of business, organisations and citizenry and play a part in tackling the big issues of today – although he maintains that there will still be a place for professional designers as facilitators who will co-design solutions with consumers, users and citizens.
In summarising Part One of his book, Tim says:
“In each of the preceding chapters I have tried to identify techniques that originated in the design community – field observations, prototyping, visual storytelling – that lie at the center of a human-centered design process. In the course of these studies I have made two arguments: First, that it is time for these skills to migrate outwards into all parts of organisations and upward into the highest level of leadership. Design thinking can be practised by everybody. There is no reason why everyone, up to and including [CEO] cannot master these thought processes as well”
Change by Design is a light but still interesting read. I read over a dozen books concurrently so whilst I insist on reading every book cover to cover some will fall to the bottom of the pile if they lose my interest. I kept picking this book up until I finished it and whilst I didn’t learn any new design techniques I certainly felt inspired by it by a better understanding of how design is positively changing the world to be a better place.
// purecaffeine.com: user experience design, social experience design, social media, Gov 2.0, design thinking and service design blog by designer Nathanael Boehm, Canberra, Australia. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 Australia License.
