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Design Thinking: Past, Present and
Possible Futures
Ulla Johansson-Sköldberg, Jill Woodilla and
Mehves Çetinkaya
This paper takes a critical look at the design thinking discourse, one that has different
meanings depending on its context. Within the managerial realm, design thinking has been
described as the best way to be creative and innovate, while within the design realm, design
thinking may be partly ignored and taken for granted, despite a long history of academic
development and debate. In the design area, we find five different discourses of ‘designerly
thinking’, or ways to describe what designers do in practice, that have distinctly different
epistemological roots. These different discourses do not stand in competition with each other
but could be developed in parallel. We also observe that the management discourse has three
distinct origins, but in general has a more superficial and popular character and is less
academically anchored than the designerly one. Also, the management design thinking discourse seldom refers to designerly thinking and thereby hinders cumulative knowledge construction. We suggest further research to link the discourses.
Introduction
D
‘
esign thinking’ is a concept used both in
theory and practice. In the management
realm it is so closely related to practice that
some researchers say that there is no theoretical body, a comment frequently heard at the
2011 Cambridge Design Management Conference. Certainly there is an extensive literature,
both academic and practitioner-oriented, in
books, journals and the news media, and
recently the popular press and semi-academic
literature has displayed a zeal for the concept
as if ‘design thinking’ is a panacea for the
economy. Turning to the academic literature
for a more reasoned treatment, we find, to our
surprise, there is no sustained development of
the concept. And even though there must be
some relationships between the academic discourses of design(erly) thinking and the management discourse based on the same
concepts, there are seldom references linking
the two. It is as if design theorists such as
Richard Buchanan (1992) and management
writers such as Roger Martin (2009) coined the
label of ‘design thinking’ to describe the
thought processes of designing completely
© 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd
independently of each other. This might be
possible, but is hardly plausible.
It is therefore easy for the temporarily intensive discourse to be dismissed as hype or a fad
(Johansson & Woodilla, 2010), thereby implying that design thinking is not an enduring
concept to be used in academia or the management world. This path seems even more
certain as some of the more prominent prophets of design thinking have renounced the
concept, like Professor Bruce Nussbaum of
Parsons – The New School of Design, formerly
associate editor at BusinessWeek, who has
turned away in favour of ‘creative intelligence’
(Nussbaum, 2011); Professor Fred Collopy of
Case Western Reserve University, who has
become increasingly ‘bothered’ by the term
(Collopy, 2009), and Dean Roger Martin,
Rotman School of Management, University of
Toronto, who continues to explore different
varieties of executive thinking. Continuing in
this way, however, would be to make a messy
situation too easy; instead, we propose stepping back and surveying the field to explore
the roots and development of the discourse.
The paper is structured as follows. First, we
discuss the demographics of the discourse,
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how it has grown and what types of literature
have been published, followed by the description and characteristics of the two main discourses, the designerly and the management
discourses of design thinking. We identify five
sub-discourses of the designerly thinking discourse and three origins of the management
discourse, and critically review their content
and contributions. Finally, we discuss relations
between the two discourses and suggest possible research directions.
The Demographics of the Literature
In our previous work we observed two distinct discourses on design thinking: one in the
design-based, scholarly literature, and the
other in the widely accessible business media
(Johansson & Woodilla, 2010). In this article
our research questions centre around relationships between the two discourses and their
sources: the types of literature, rather than the
specific content. We searched the literature
until we were satisfied and had reached the
level of saturation.
We started with questions like, ‘What is the
literature on design thinking? What are the
discourse streams and relative strengths, and
What is different about the presentation in
the different media?’ We were interested in
uncovering trends, recognizing important
authors to follow, and appreciating differences
in how the concept has been treated in the
academic and non-academic press. We anticipated that there would be different discussions
about the use of design thinking in education
and empirical work with potentially different
methodologies. We were also interested in
uncovering what has been forgotten and
themes that had potential for further
development.
Our initial scoping search using academic
electronic databases, journals, book publishers’ lists and informal methods such as Google
Scholar cast light on the structure and different streams in the overall discourse. We
searched for ‘design thinking’, ‘design’ or
‘thinking’ in the title, subject, abstract or keywords, and reviewed the findings with a
subject-matter expert. The resulting literature
base provided the history of the development
of the design thinking discourse. Later, when
examining the character and structure of
various sub-discourses, we refined the list by
selecting academic and practitioner journal
articles, and refereed conference papers available in the public domain that included
‘design thinking’ in the title, abstract or keywords, and books that were referenced frequently in scholarly papers. For this article,
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some sources from the literature base were
ignored as not directly related to our interests
and others were added because they were key
references for sources from our original list or
written after our original search.
Identifying the Populations
The literature base consists of 168 items, of
which more than 80 per cent date from after
the year 2000. It includes books (31), academic
refereed papers (48), professional/practitioner
articles (28), refereed conference papers (7),
magazines and newspaper articles (39) and
web blogs (15). The numbers gradually
increase by year, starting from Simon’s (1969)
foundational work about the nature of design,
then design theorists’ publications beginning
in the 1980s, becoming more numerous
around 1999, and reaching a high point in
2009. Management scholars first showed an
interest in links between business and design
in the mid-1980s, followed by scholars in other
areas. The subject gathered popular media
attention starting around 2004 and peaked in
2009. The development of the broad field is
shown in Figure 1. Here the literature is
divided into three genres: (1) books (black
column), (2) substantial articles in academic
(peer-reviewed) and respected practitioner
journals (dark grey column), and (3) short
pieces in the business press and online media
(light grey column). Appendices A and B
elaborate on the base literature list by categorizing the entries.
Books provide an elaborated argument
where the author demonstrates proficiency in
the field. Some books are theory-driven (e.g.,
Simon, 1969): the early books tend to be of this
nature due to the publication norms of the
field at the time. Other books present cases
and examples that elaborate and develop
theory (e.g., Rowe, 1987), or are ‘recipes’ for
‘how to do design thinking’ for practitioners
(e.g., Leidtka & Ogilvie, 2011) or textbooks for
students (e.g., Ambrose & Harris, 2010), with
simplified arguments, diagrams and checklists, but little theory development. Most
recent books are of this nature.
Articles in scholarly or academic journals
and respected practitioner or professional
journals are the foundational ground for any
subject. We located articles that discussed the
development of the design discourse, excluding those with an industrial or computer engineering technical focus because, as scholars in
‘design management’, we were unprepared to
evaluate them appropriately. Not surprisingly,
most of the articles developing theory on
design thinking were in design journals, in
particular UK-based Design Studies and
US-based Design Issues. Some academic man© 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd
DESIGN THINKING: PAST, PRESENT AND POSSIBLE FUTURES
123
Figure 1. Timeline of Publications by Type
agement journals included conceptual articles
related to design thinking, while professional
journal articles tended to be explanations
or case studies of successful practice. Two,
Harvard Business Review and Design Management Review, deserve special mention: the
former for its prestige among US executives
and managers, and the latter for its longstanding focus on ‘demonstrating the strategic
role of design in business’ (www.dmi.org).
Finally, a few scholarly conference papers were
included in our review to gauge trends in
theory development; here our selection forms
a convenient sample.
Using the ‘trade’ and ‘popular’ literature,
culled from magazines, the business press and
reputable online sources, is controversial as
part of an academic literature review. We
included these sources to gain a sense of the
scope and timing of interest in the topic
outside of academe and professional practice.
Determining the total number of contributions
in these areas is difficult, but the overall trendline is revealing. The news media comment on
changes in firm strategy or personnel (e.g.,
Birchall, 2008): the same event is likely to be
taken up across several publications, effectively ‘promoting’ the use of design thinking
in context. Magazines include interviews with
‘experts’ on the topic (e.g., Tischler, 2009): the
interviewee is ‘newsworthy’ in some way or
other, effectively establishing expertise in the
field. Finally, many publications support
regular blogs by subject-matter experts (e.g.,
Bruce Nussbaum at BusinessWeek, or Fred
Collopy at Fast Company): this is the space
where opinions are stated and viral news
begins, such as the ‘hot news’ that ‘design
thinking is dead!’
© 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd
The Nature of the Two Discourses:
Designerly Thinking and
Design Thinking
A simple way of discussing the discourse of
design thinking is as two distinct discourses:
• One we call ‘designerly thinking’. This
refers to the academic construction of the
professional designer’s practice (practical
skills and competence) and theoretical
reflections around how to interpret and
characterize this non-verbal competence of
the designers. Designerly thinking links
theory and practice from a design perspective, and is accordingly rooted in the academic field of design.
• The other discourse is ‘design thinking’. We
reserve this term for the discourse where
design practice and competence are used
beyond the design context (including art
and architecture), for and with people
without a scholarly background in design,
particularly in management. ‘Design thinking’ then becomes a simplified version of
‘designerly thinking’ or a way of describing
a designer’s methods that is integrated into
an academic or practical management
discourse.
The Academic Discourses of
Designerly Thinking
For the business world, design thinking might
seem like a new concept from this side of the
millennium, but within design research characteristics of designers’ work and practice
have been discussed for at least 40 years, while
the management discourse of design thinking
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developed over the last decade is only slightly
related to the earlier discourse. The designerly
part of the discourse forms an academic
stream, with contributions from both designers and related disciplines (architecture, planning, design history, etc.). The aim has been
purely academic, either understanding for its
own sake or for communicating such understanding to students. The consultancy genre
that is typical of the management discourse is
generally absent and normative elements are
much more rare. The writing style with excessive praise found in the management discourse is absent.
Theoretical perspectives can be categorized
into five sub-discourses, identified as having
clear roots and a substantial academic following, with the foundational work(s) within
parentheses:
1. Design and designerly thinking as the creation of artefacts (Simon, 1969).
2. Design and designerly thinking as a reflexive practice (Schön, 1983).
3. Design and designerly thinking as a
problem-solving activity (Buchanan, 1992
based on Rittel and Webber, 1973).
4. Design and designerly thinking as a way of
reasoning/making sense of things (Lawson,
2006 [1980]; Cross, 2006, 2011).
5. Design and designerly thinking as creation
of meaning (Krippendorff, 2006).
1. Design and Designerly Thinking as the
Creation of Artefacts
Simon (1916–2001), winner of the 1978 Nobel
Prize in Economics for his critique of the optimizing model of rational decision making and
its replacement with the concept of bounded
rationality, earned an international reputation
as a founder of artificial intelligence. His
research extended from computer science to
cognitive psychology, business administration
and economics, with design becoming an
interest in his later years. Simon understood
‘design’ to encompass all conscious activities
to create artefacts, and thereby differentiated
it from natural science, social science and
humanities – but not from engineering. His
main concern was about research – what constitutes the character of design research? His
point of departure was that design is about
creation, while other sciences deal with what
already exists. What, then, is research about
creation? His seminal work, The Sciences of the
Artificial, was an answer to that question, and a
legitimization of an experimental approach to
design research in academia.
As far as we know, Simon himself never
used the term ‘design thinking’. However,
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with his cognitive approach to decision
making and his often-quoted definition of
design as ‘the transformation of existing conditions into preferred ones’ (Simon, 1996: 4),
he is a reference point for the academic writings about design and design thinking. He is a
foundational father of design research in the
way Taylor was for management research.
What is striking about Simon’s view of
‘design thinking’ is that he distinguished
between activities that create something new
and activities that deal with existing reality,
but not between artistic creation and engineering. The difference between designers’ and
engineers’ ways of thinking, something that is
noticed and problematized in practice, therefore became a non-issue for Simon.
Another issue is Simon’s epistemological
platform. He was critical of positivistic
approaches both in economics and in design.
However, he created his argument within a
neo-positivistic and rationalistic realm in
order to have the positivists understand that
their arguments were incorrect. Maybe it is not
surprising that the neo-Simon movement (e.g.,
Hatchuel, 2002; Hatchuel & Weill, 2003) originated in engineering schools rather than from
design management or design.
2. Design and Designerly Thinking as a
Reflexive Practice
Schön (1930–1997) was originally a philosopher with pragmatism as his theoretical frame
of reference. He first focused on the logics of
inventions and later, with Argyris, turned to
organizational learning. The last 20 years of his
life were devoted to practice theory. In The
Reflective Practitioner, Schön (1983) challenged
both researchers and practitioners to reconsider the role of technical knowledge versus
‘artistry’ in developing professional excellence. The book can be read in many ways,
such as from an organizational competence
perspective or from a practice perspective
(e.g., Schön & Wiggins, 1992). From a design
thinking perspective, it is a critique of Simon’s
cognitive perspective. At a time when there
was a big division made between positivism
and hermeneutics, Simon, with his analytical
reasoning, was close to positivism, while
Schön, with his philosophical pragmatism,
was close to hermeneutics. In contrast to
Simon, Schön constructed a picture of the
designer through a practice-based focus on the
relation between creation and reflection-uponthe-creation that allows for constantly
improved competence and re-creation. Such
reflection, which Schön found in the work of
both architects and psychoanalysts, became
understood as the core of design work. This
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DESIGN THINKING: PAST, PRESENT AND POSSIBLE FUTURES
reflection was not something that was separated from the practice as such, but was understood as part of the practice.
Schön also considered management practice, and noted that managers are well aware of
the important areas of practice that fall outside
of technical rationality. While managers deal
with decisions under uncertainty through
intuition, they build up an essentially unanalysable capacity for problem solving through
long and varied practice rather than through
studying theory or techniques. Managers
reflect-in-action, but they seldom reflect on
their reflection-in-action.
Differences between Simon and Schön’s
views of design have been discussed frequently (Bousbaci, 2008; Dorst, 1997). In our
view, Simon created an objective framework
for the field of design, while Schön fleshed it
out with descriptions of designers in practice.
Their writings, therefore, belong to quite different worlds from an epistemological point of
view.
3. Design and Designerly Thinking as a
Problem-Solving Activity
Buchanan’s (1992) article about ‘wicked problems’ in design has become a foundational reference not only for the discourse about design
thinking, but also for the whole design area.
Buchanan presented designers’ professional
way of thinking as a matter of dealing with
wicked problems, a class of social systems
problems with a fundamental indeterminacy
without a single solution and where much
creativity is needed to find solutions.
Buchanan was the first to really take a
designerly perspective on design thinking,
building on Rittel and Webber’s (1973) wicked
problem approach as an alternative to the
accepted step-by-step model of the design
process with its two distinct phases: an analytic step of problem definition, followed by a
synthetic sequence of problem solution. Buchanan introduced the concept of placements to
describe the process of contextualization.
Placements are ‘tools’ for intuitively or deliberately shaping a design situation, identifying
the views of all participants, the issues of
concern, and the intervention that becomes a
working hypothesis for exploration and development, thereby letting the problem formulation and solution go hand in hand rather than
as sequential steps. As Wylant (2010) notes,
design thinking is the discipline of cycling
through many contextual exercises of placements to understand ‘how sense can be made
of something and given this, the designer is
then in a position to choose which contexts
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should dominate and the manner in which they
should’ (p. 228). The notion of placements in
response to worked problems dissolves the
boundaries between modernist and postmodernist design thinking.
Buchanan’s process perspective is concerned with gaining a deeper understanding
of design thinking in an increasingly complex
technological culture, so there can be communication among all participants engaged in the
process of design. He suggests four distinct
areas of design thinking as places of interventions where problems and solutions could be
reconsidered: (1) symbolic and visual communications (or graphic design), (2) material
objects (or industrial design), (3) activities and
organizational services (or service design), (4)
complex systems or environments for living,
working, playing and learning (or interaction
design).
4. Design and Designerly Thinking as a
Practice-Based Activity and Way of Making
Sense of Things
Lawson and Cross, who both trained as architects, each described and reflected on practical
cases of designers thinking and working. Their
interests spanned many years: Lawson’s book,
How Designers Think: The Design Process
Demystified, has had four revisions since 1980,
and Cross’s research included design thinking
workshops at Delft University of Technology
in 1991, continued with a series of articles on
‘designerly ways of knowing’ (see Cross, 2006)
and, recently, his book Design Thinking (2011).
Cross works from ethnographic research to
reveal what designers do during the activity of
designing, while Lawson draws on the psychology of creative design processes to turn
his research knowledge into forms designers
can use.
Lawson and Cross could be seen as part of
the reflexive tradition started by Schön.
However, their texts are within a different
discourse: they are practice-based through
presenting examples rather than taking a
philosophical perspective. Both Lawson and
Cross use abductive processes to make sense
of and generalize from observations, and
hence find patterns that are grounded in practical experience and can be described through
practical examples. Ultimately each scholar
suggests a ‘model’ of the design process:
Lawson in a number of process-driven steps
that attempt to describe the complex processes of designing (2005: 289–301), and Cross
in a recursive representation of the design
strategy followed by creative designers
(2011: 78).
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Table 1. Comparison of Five Discourses of Design Thinking
Founder
Background
Economics & political
science
Schön
Philosophy & music
Buchanan
Art history
Lawson & Cross Design & architecture
Krippendorff
Philosophy & semantics
Simon
Epistemology
Rationalism
The science of the artificial
Pragmatism
Postmodernism
Practice perspective
Hermeneutics
Reflection in action
Wicked problems
Designerly ways of knowing
Creating meaning
5. Design and Designerly Thinking as Creation
of Meaning (rather than Artefacts)
Starting from a philosophical and semantic
background, Krippendorff (2006) defined
design and designers’ work as a matter of creating meaning (rather than artefacts as in
Simon’s notion). Compared with Simon, one
could say that Krippendorff reversed the relation between the design object and its intention. For Simon the artefact is at the core, and
he would probably say that meaning is an
attribute, while for Krippendorff meaning is
the core of the design process and the artefact
becomes a medium for communicating these
meanings.
Krippendorff is concerned with the textual
and intertextual matter of discourse, ‘the artefacts it constructs and leaves behind . . . (and)
the connections created between these artefacts’ (2006: 23–4). Design thinking concerns
him only as articulated by designers, that is,
when it creates a text that becomes part of the
discourse of the design community. ‘The
primary aim of a discourse is to stay viable . . .
to be kept alive within a community of its
practitioners . . . [and] to justify its identity to
outsiders’ (2006: 24).
Unlike Simon’s ‘design science’ (an explicitly organized, rational and wholly systematic
approach to design, not just the utilization of
scientific knowledge of artefacts, but design in
some sense a scientific activity in itself), or
Cross’s ‘science of design’ (with accurate representations of design practices, designers,
institutions of design, aesthetic conventions or
history of particular designs), the semantic
turn leads to Krippendorff’s ‘science for
design’, as ‘a systematic collection of accounts
of successful design practices, design
methods, and their lessons, however abstract,
codified or theorized, whose continuous rearticulation and evaluation within the design
community amounts to a self-reflective reproduction of the design profession’ (2006: 209).
The semantic roots of Krippendorf’s approach
to meaning-making distinguishes it from the
practices roots of Lawson and Cross.
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Core Concept
Verganti (2009) extended Krippendorff’s
work to innovation processes, arguing that
innovation in meaning is as important as technological innovations that are mostly related to
the concept of innovation. One of his examples
is Alessi’s commercially successful kitchenware that gives radical new meanings to commonplace objects like a corkscrew and a lemon
squeezer. Before they were designed, the
company had an extensive collaboration with
a psychologist, and the way the objects look –
as stylized products rather than mundane
tools – was based on frame theories of
boundary objects to which individuals were
especially attached (Verganti, 2009: 40–3). Nintendo’s Wii is another example of a product
that could not have been conceived by video
game players before its appearance in the
market, yet the console was a radical innovation in meaning, from an entertainment gadget
for children to active physical entertainment,
in the real world, through socialization
(Verganti, 2009: 4–6). In other innovation
research, winemakers have deliberately
altered meanings for new wines (Dell’Era &
Bellini, 2009), and design students have radically changed meanings of gender conveyed
through chairs or objects to sit on (Jahnke &
Hansson, 2010).
Comparison of the Five Discourses of
Designerly Thinking
The five discourses of designerly ways of
thinking can be compared as in Table 1. An
argument could be made for collapsing these
five discourse streams into three: creating a
single practice-based approach by combining
the frameworks of Schön, Buchanan, and
Lawson and Cross, and placing ‘designerly
thinking in practice’ in contrast to the rationalized, systematic study of design by Simon,
and the meaning-creation of Krippendorff’s
hermeneutic approach. We prefer treating the
practice-related approaches as three different
discourse streams, based on the level of theoretical focus: Schön examines the designer’s
reflection-in-actions of problems encountered
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DESIGN THINKING: PAST, PRESENT AND POSSIBLE FUTURES
in practice from an objective stance, theorizing
‘about’ the practice. Buchanan examines the
nature of the problems themselves, and the
designer’s use of placements as ‘tools’ to intuitively or deliberately shape a design problem,
while Lawson and Cross’s empirically-based
studies focus on the designer’s specific awareness and abilities. We suggest that further
theoretical investigation is needed to connect
the three approaches in a meaningful and
coherent manner.
Design scholars continue to discuss theoretical developments in the leading design
journals, with one or two articles a year, out of
a total of about 50 articles a year, and more
infrequent articles in other journals and conference papers. Different theoretical perspectives have been used in research into
designerly thinking: one stream of articles discusses research through protocol analysis to
catch the ways designers are making sense of
their own working processes (Galle & Kovács,
1996; Ho, 2001); another examines methods for
teaching designerly thinking to design students through normative decision-based protocols (Leong & Clark, 2003; Oxman, 2004). In
conceptual research, Liu (1996) followed the
neo-positivistic tradition and considered
designing as a combinational search based first
on Simon’s model, and then on Schön’s ways
of seeing, while Louridas (1999) drew on
Schön’s reflective practice, but also hinted
towards a meaning-making perspective. In
general, there has been a move towards the
hermeneutics and practice perspective. We
now return to the management focused and
more popularized discourse.
‘Design Thinking’ within the
Management Discourse
In general, the management design thinking
discourse is less thoughtful and robust than
contributions to the designerly thinking discourse that have been argued and reflected on
by scholars over several decades. ‘Design
thinking’ is much younger than ‘designerly
thinking’, but it has grown rapidly. In one
interpretation, ‘design thinking’ may also be a
way for managers to ‘understand design’ in a
more straightforward way than through the
design management discourse that is built on a
managerial platform.
When design management started as an
academic area in the 1970s, it was taught by
designers aiming to help management scholars and practitioners understand what design
is and why it is relevant. The designers chose
to talk about design in a managerial way, referencing Porter (Olson, Cooper & Slater, 1998),
considering design as a metaphor (Leidtka,
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2000), or through descriptions of successful
cases (e.g., McCullagh, 2006). This approach
using the management discourse might be
understandable, but the result was probably
counterproductive as such positivistic descriptions stripped design of its constructionist and
contextualized meanings.
Both the design-based ‘designerly thinking’
and the management-oriented ‘design thinking’ discourses do the opposite. They start
with the designers’ way of thinking and invite
managers to come and share this world rather
than the opposite (Cooper, Junginger &
Lockwood, 2009). Some authors highlight
differences between the two functions and
suggest ways to come together (Martin, 2007a;
Leidtka, 2010). Managers became curious
about designers’ way of making sense of
things on the designers’ own terms.
The concept of ‘design thinking’ became a
portal for the whole design area to contribute
to innovation, and design thinking enabled
innovation to supersede strategic management
as a way to deal with a complex reality. Design
as a strategic tool was first mentioned in 1984
(Kotler & Rath, 1984), but it was not until
another 20 years later that there was any sustained discussion (cf., Fraser, 2007; Junginger,
2007; Martin, 2007a) with wicked problems
(Camillus, 2008) and design thinking (Brown,
2009; Holloway, 2009).
The academic innovation area, anchored
within engineering, and much occupied with
statistical relationships and rational models of
innovation (Johansson & Woodilla, 2009) was
in need of more creativity. IDEO (www.ideo.
com), the world’s largest design company,
started to market itself as ‘an innovation
company’ rather than a design company: its
practical experience made it trustworthy, and
its co-operation with Stanford University provided academic credentials. This, plus a view
of a more complex rationality than strategy
could offer, boosted a design interest in the
innovation discourse (Bruce & Bessant, 2002;
Feldman & Boult, 2005; Ward, Runcie &
Morris, 2009; Stevens & Moultrie, 2011).
With some experience from design practice,
we find it hard to think about innovation
without including design. And it is from an
innovation perspective that the popularity of
‘design thinking’ has to be understood, as here
the concept captures the design practice and
the way designers make sense of their task,
and ‘a way of thinking’ that non-designers can
also use, or as a source of inspiration
(Johansson & Woodilla, 2009), rather than
being limited to a professional group of
designers as Schön might argue. And here
might be one of the keys to the popularity of
the concept just after the millennium.
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These various ways of working with design
in the management area connect to three different origins of the design thinking discourse:
1. Design thinking as design company IDEO’s
way of working with design and innovation
(Kelley, 2001, 2005; Brown, 2008, 2009).
2. Design thinking as a way to approach indeterminate organizational problems, and a
necessary skill for practising managers (Dunne
& Martin, 2006; Martin, 2009).
3. Design thinking as part of management theory
(Boland & Collopy, 2004a).
1. Design Thinking as Design Company IDEO’s
Way of Working with Design and Innovation
Stories of IDEO’s way of working successfully
with product development innovations told by
Tom Kelley, the founder’s brother and general
manager (Kelley, 2001) and the various
persona and roles played by members of the
design teams (Kelley, 2005) introduced the
company’s work to a broader audience than
their local network. The books provided
‘lessons in creativity’ starting from the particular, then generalized to IDEO’s point of view, a
‘design practice’ perspective using their ‘secret
formula’ of a blend of methodologies, work
culture and infrastructure. The CEO, Tim
Brown, labelled the concept as ‘design thinking’, detailing steps in the process (2008), and
providing stories to help everyone use IDEO’s
methods, particularly business people and
social innovators (Brown & Wyatt, 2007).
While Brown’s stories are compelling, there
is no published theoretical framework other
than his description of the circular process.
Naturally there are links between the IDEO
discourse of design thinking and the designerly discourses described earlier, even if they
are not explicitly spelled out in references.
Members of IDEO are all inspired by designers’ work processes that are the grounds for
the five designerly discourses, even if they are
not all trained as professional designers (on
the contrary, ‘pure’ designers are in the minority at the company). Maybe it is the experience
of designers and non-designers working with
the design process that inspired Brown to
suggest that, ‘everybody could do it’ just by
following the steps.
While no formal links exist between Palo
Alto-headquartered IDEO and Boston-based
Design Management Institute (DMI), many
articles published by DMI (cf., Lockwood,
2009, 2010) communicate the same intention,
to make the practices of designers accessible
and meaningful to managers. Most often
without theoretical grounding, at best they
provide insightful anecdotes or lists of best
Volume 22 Number 2 2013
practices that readers may wish to try for
themselves.
2. Design Thinking as a Way to Approach
Indeterminate Organizational Problems, and a
Necessary Skill for Practising Managers
A closely related, yet very different discourse
emanates from Roger Martin, Dean of the
Rotman School of Business at the University of
Toronto and a strategy consultant with a longterm interest in the cognitive processes of successful executives and their need for more
than analytical thinking (Martin, 2007b).
Working with IDEO led Martin to use the
concept of design thinking to reconceptualize
his earlier models (Martin, 2009), and promote
teaching how to do design thinking to management students (Dunne & Martin, 2006).
Martin placed his arguments within the
context of management, using examples of
company successes, and returned to these
same companies to illustrate his model of ‘the
knowledge funnel’ and the need to use both
the right and left halves of the brain. His
message gained widespread acceptance
among practising managers, who from there
became curious about design thinking. Design
thinking in this discourse, as an ongoing cycle
of generating ideas (abduction), predicting
consequences (deduction), testing, and generalizing (induction), became a way to approach
indeterminate organizational problems, a necessary skill for practising managers familiar
with cognitively grounded arguments, and
hence a necessary component of management
education. At the same time, for all its clarity
welcomed by managers, Martin’s argument
has been stripped of the ‘messiness’ of a
designer’s approach, and thereby separated
from connections with IDEO.
Dunne and Martin (2006) brought the
notion of teaching design thinking into the
Academy of Management, while the business
press highlighted design-based, interdisciplinary programs (Wong, 2009). Similarly to the
theoretical discourse, the education streams
have remained separate (Melles, Howard
& Thompson-Whiteside, 2012), with design
thinking within design-based education
drawing on Schön (Oxman, 1999, 2004), or
Simon for engineering applications (Dym
et al., 2005), and management-based offerings
being concerned with pedagogical foundations (cf., Wang & Wang, 2011).
As a result of Martin’s wide reach as a
speaker and author, design thinking has been
promoted as a useful process in different
disciplines, including library administration
(Bell, 2008), in hospitals (Uehira & Kay, 2009),
legal practice management (Szabo, 2010), and
© 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd
DESIGN THINKING: PAST, PRESENT AND POSSIBLE FUTURES
HR (Birchall-Spencer, 2010). In the management area he has influenced work in strategy
(Fraser, 2007) and organizational change and
development (Sato et al., 2010), and has
inspired the creation of a design thinking
toolkit for managers (Leidtka & Ogilvie, 2011),
although these authors later comment that for
best results designers should lead the process
(Leidtka & Ogilvie, 2012).
3. Design Thinking as Part of
Management Theory
A third use of the term ‘design thinking’ emanates from Richard Boland and Frank Collopy,
who are academic researchers and professors
in management information systems. Their
inspiration came from architect Frank Gehry’s
way of working on the new building for
Weatherhead School of Management in Cleveland, and subsequently captured in a book of
essays by scholars invited to a workshop to
celebrate the opening of the building and
reflect on ways managers are designers as well
and decision makers (Boland & Collopy,
2004b). Boland and Collopy interchangeably
use the concept ‘design thinking’ and ‘the
design attitude’ (expectations and orientations
one brings to a design project; 2004b: 9),
thereby pointing less towards design as a way
of working or a work process with distinct
characteristics (as stressed in the IDEO
version) and more towards cognitive characteristics (similar to Martin). Previously in
organization and management theory, design
had been considered at the organizational
level (cf., Romme, 2003).
Boland and Collopy credit Simon with
developing a theory of the design attitude for
managers, and subsequently distinguish this
from a decision attitude. If there is a common
foundation for the various essays, it may be
found in Simon’s notion of design projects as
‘the urge to change an existing state of affairs
into a more preferred one’ (2004b: 10).
However, most of the contributors to this
more theoretical but yet quite diverse discourse stream are world-renowned scholars
who use the design situation as an application
of their own frameworks of thinking and theorizing. Boland (2004) himself looks upon
organizations in general and states that managing is very similar to designing in more
general characteristics: like art, it is all but a
rational process.
One insightful comment highlights the
extent to which we are limited by our vocabularies, quoting Cooperrider, ‘words are fateful
– words make worlds’ (Boland & Collopy,
2004c: 266), hence they conclude the book with
suggestions for a new ‘design vocabulary for
© 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd
129
management’ based on the work of the conference. Yet there seem to be no traces of this new
vocabulary reported in business or academic
texts, maybe because the sources of individual
concepts come from different epistemological
orientations.
The legacy of this opportunity to reflect on
‘managing as designing’ is difficult to assess. It
may be inferred as one impetus for special
journal issues relating design or designing to
organization science or development (e.g.,
Dunbar & Starbuck, 2006; Bate, 2007; Jelinek,
Romme & Boland, 2008). Also academic conferences have provided calls or opportunities
for scholarly conversations connecting designing with managing, for example, the Academy
of Management 2011 Professional Development Workshop ‘Creating Design Thinkers’,
the Cambridge Academic Design Management
Conference 2011, or the theme of the European
Group for Organization Studies 2011 Colloquium ‘Design!?’ Maybe a more robust academic conversation on ‘design thinking’
within the management realm will emerge
with time.
Comparison of the Three Management
Discourses of Design Thinking
The management discourses of design thinking can be compared as in Table 2.
Other frameworks exist that synthesize the
area ‘design thinking’. Following a literature
review concentrating mainly on the practicebased literatures, Hassi and Laakso (2011) concluded that the concept of design thinking in
the management discourse consists of three
elements: (1) a set of practices, (2) cognitive
approaches and (3) mindsets. Rylander (2009)
compares the two discourses of ‘design thinking’ and ‘knowledge work’ and considers
‘design thinking’ as practical knowledge,
open-ended problems, a social identity of celebrating creativity, and visual forms of dominant sensemaking modes. These statements
make the dominant management discourse of
‘knowledge work’ appear purely cognitive
and lacking ‘embodied knowledge’ that is so
important to designers. Kimbell’s (2011) critical review of the entire literature found three
different ways of describing design thinking:
(1) as a cognitive style of individual designers
engaged in problem solving, (2) as a general
theory of design as a field or discipline focused
on taming wicked problems, and (3) as an
organizational resource for businesses and
other organizations in need of innovation. She
proposes attending to the situated, embodied
routines of designers and offers a useful way
to rethink design thinking. Any of these
frameworks can be the starting point for
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130
Volume 22 Number 2 2013
Table 2. Comparison of the Three Management Discourses of Design Thinking
Originator
Audience
Discourse Character
Company managers
(potential customers)
IDEO success cases
(written for managers)
Roger Martin
Educators (academics &
consultants) Company
managers
Success cases from production
companies used to illustrate
theory development
(managerial thinking)
Richard Boland &
Fred Collopy
Academic researchers &
educators
Short essays where established
(management) scholars apply
their theoretical perspective
to the design area
Relation to Practice
Grounded in experience
rather than research
Connections to innovation
research
Grounded in cognitive science
& management science
Builds on planning theories
(‘wicked problems’)
Kelley: How ‘we’ (IDEO) do
design thinking
Brown: how anyone can use
design thinking
How successful production
companies do design
thinking
How ‘any’ company
(manager/individual) can
do design thinking
Design thinking as analogy
& alternative
© 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd
Grounded in individual
researchers’ own
theoretical perspectives
Inspired by Gehry’s
architectural practice or
contact with design
CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION MANAGEMENT
IDEO design company
(Tom Kelley &
Tim Brown)
Academic Connections
DESIGN THINKING: PAST, PRESENT AND POSSIBLE FUTURES
further investigation. However, we think it is
important to look closely at the discourse roots
and maintain epistemological clarity.
Relation between ‘Designerly
Thinking’ and ‘Design Thinking’
Similarities and Differences
Both designerly thinking and design thinking
refer to an ongoing design practice, a reality that
is not a discrete and coherent practice, and is
far from standardized, but is nevertheless the
basis for generalizations, descriptions and
theories made in both discourses. They belong
to different genres of writing. The designerly
discourse is a more scholarly discourse, where
the different authors refer to and quote each
other, either as followers or in opposition/as
alternatives. Two of the design thinking discourses are written for a business or managerial audience, where convention does not
require strict referencing and positioning the
text in relation to other texts. Consequently,
scholars need to treat much of what is written
in the design thinking discourse as anecdotal,
rather than theoretically or empirically based.
Further research may examine the assumptions and connections, but the material itself
cannot be taken as the foundation for further
research. The third origin of the design thinking discourse – Gehry-inspired and facilitated
by Boland and Collopy – uses Simon as the
point of theoretical departure, then connects to
other organization and management concepts.
Boland and Collopy use design thinking not
so much with interest or focus on the designers’ way of thinking, or for giving managers
inspiration to think like designers, but more to
demonstrate that managers already do think
like designers (which happens only on a very
abstract level).
What’s left out in Translation
Design thinking can be seen as a translation of
designerly thinking into a popularized, management version. As with any translation,
nuances of meaning may be left out, and
acknowledging these ‘left out dimensions’ is
important academic work. We have found two
dimensions that are strikingly omitted in
translating ‘designerly thinking’ into ‘design
thinking’:
1. Design thinking is often equated to creativity: Sometimes the popular version ‘design
thinking’ is presented as a way to make
managers think more creatively. But being
creative is only part of the competence and
practice of the designer’s work.
© 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd
131
2. Design thinking is often equated to a
toolbox: Sometimes the popular versions
focus on the designer’s specific methods
taken out of context, as tools ready for use,
but the person using the tools must have the
knowledge and skill – competence that
comes with training – to know when to use
them.
To talk about design and leaving the designer
out is like talking about musicians and leaving
the music out: a musician is identified by his
or her instrument and the style of music
played. Just as there is never a generic ‘musician’, the design thinking discourse is not one
but many, as are the designerly discourses.
Therefore there is little use in trying to find a
single definition or description of the practice
of design thinking. To do so would be to concentrate on an elegant model ‘to know’,
without the ability to turn it into action
through ‘doing’ detailed processes (Pfeffer &
Sutton, 1999).
Possible Futures: How Design Thinking can
be Nurtured by Closer Connections with
Designerly Thinking
As with many novel ideas and processes promoted by business consultants (such as management by objectives or business process
re-engineering), the design thinking discourse
will most probably die if it does not acquire a
scholarly base that relates more to designerly
thinking. Firm academic links will preserve
valuable parts of the practice for managerial
use and provide designers with fresh insights
into how to make connections with the management world. Below we suggest avenues for
further research.
Example 1. Teamwork has been an important aspect of IDEO’s work, and accordingly
an implicit part of the design thinking discourse as presented by Kelley and Brown.
Teamwork is already an important area of
research within the management area (e.g.,
Hackman, 1989), and also an area with
research efforts within the designerly discourse (e.g., Stempfle, 2002). Therefore the
design thinking discourse would gain from a
deeper relation to existing theories of teamwork. For example, we would welcome an
empirical study of multidisciplinary teamwork practices, as at IDEO, conducted by
established teamwork researchers with connections to both design and management.
Example 2. Design and innovation is
another theme within design thinking. Here
the non-theoretical but popular discourse of
design thinking would benefit from a closer
relation with the hermeneutic stream of the
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CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION MANAGEMENT
132
designerly thinking discourse. Looking at the
whole design process as a matter of meaning
creation provides new perspectives on both
design and innovation (Verganti, 2009; Jahnke,
2012). We therefore would welcome studies of
designers’ meaning creation in the practice of
innovation from a designerly point of view.
Example 3. The design thinking discourses
build upon a notion that managers’ ways of
thinking and problem solving are different
from designers. At the same time, Boland and
colleagues maintain that managers are quite
capable of using designers’ ways of reasoning
as well: a statement that assumes that the differences are complex and probably inherit
some ambiguity and paradox. As a way to
investigate both differences and similarities,
the whole design thinking area would gain
from close ethnographic research that could
replace descriptive anecdotes and build up an
academic body of knowledge. One possibility
could be situations similar to that at Intuit, as
described by Martin (2011), but using an ethnographic approach and an analysis framework that draws from the tradition described
by Cross (cf., Cross, 1999). The objective of
such a stream of research would be to attempt
to understand what is happening naturally in
the setting, and to interpret the data gathered
in a systematic way to see what implications
could be formed from the data.
Concluding Reflections
As social constructionists we regard an
approach that begins with the question, ‘What
is design thinking?’ as an essentialist trap. We
do not believe that there is a unique meaning
of ‘design thinking’, and accordingly we
should not look for one. Instead, we look for
where and how the concept is used in different
situations, both theoretical and practical, and
what meaning is given to the concept. In this
article we have identified multiple discourses
with distinctly different meanings and
assumptions given to the concept ‘design
thinking’: five scholarly discourses grounded
within the design research area, and three discourses within the managerial area, of which
two are grounded in management research
and one in design practice.
The five designerly discourses are all aware
of the others, being followers, alternatives or in
clear opposition to each other. There is also
some awareness between the three identified
management discourses: Martin links to
IDEO, the Boland and Collopy-inspired discourses have common ground in Simon,
with interpretations that spread in different
Volume 22 Number 2 2013
directions depending on the theoretical tradition of the author.
When it comes to links between the design
and management discourses (‘designerly
thinking’ and ‘design thinking’) there are few
links between them. Out of the three management discourses, two (IDEO and Martin) are
linked to design practice by IDEO – but do not
refer to academic research within design (even
if there must be some connections because
both IDEO’s founder and design research
come from similar experiences in industrial
design education). Within the design discourses, we have located a single reference to
the managerial discourse of design thinking –
as a ‘business model’ (Piotrowski, 2011).
The Designerly Ways of Thinking
The five different discourses with different
epistemological underpinnings that we refer
to collectively as a ‘designerly way of thinking’
each have both forerunners and followers that
exist as parallel tracks. Anyone wishing to
make an academic contribution therefore
needs to have this pluralistic perspective in
mind, because without recognizing the plurality and identifying the specific perspective, it
is impossible to make an academic contribution. Academic knowledge always needs to
take earlier knowledge into consideration, and
to build upon a similar epistemology (this
holds even for a critique that takes distance
from a specific discourse). From an academic
perspective, this plurality in discourses within
designerly ways of thinking is not a sign of
weakness but rather a sign of maturity.
The Management Discourse of
‘Design Thinking’
The management discourse of ‘design thinking’ is united as a fad, yet there is far from a
single meaning. Rather, the concept of design
thinking seems to consist of different streams
that are united only because they are not analytical. Perhaps those designers and design
researchers who are not comfortable with the
concept ‘design thinking’ associate it with a
more cognitive approach and a distinction
between thinking and doing. Conversely,
management practitioners like the concept
‘design thinking’ because it gives a label to
something that is needed within management,
but unless it is articulated, it remains undervalued. The normative descriptions are written
with industrial leaders as the target group.
Though it is understandable that many people
would like a clear-cut definition of design
thinking, such a quest for unity is counterproductive for the academic development of the
area that we believe it deserves.
© 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd
DESIGN THINKING: PAST, PRESENT AND POSSIBLE FUTURES
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the Special
Issue Guest Editor and two anonymous
reviewers for their constructive comments that
greatly improved our paper.
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Simon, H. (1996) The Sciences of the Artificial, 3rd
edn. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.
Stempfle, J. (2002) Thinking in Design Teams – An
Analysis of Team Communication. Design Studies,
23, 473–96.
Stevens, J. and Moultrie, J. (2011) Aligning Strategy
and Design Perspectives: A Framework of
Design’s Strategic Contributions. The Design
Journal, 14, 475–500.
Szabo, M. (2010) Design Thinking in Legal Practice
Management. Design Management Review, 21,
44–6.
Tischler, L. (2009) Ideo’s David Kelley on ‘Design
Thinking’ [WWW document]. URL http://www.
fastcompany.com/magazine/132/a-designertakes-on-his-biggestchallenge-ever.html
[accessed on 15 July 2011].
© 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd
DESIGN THINKING: PAST, PRESENT AND POSSIBLE FUTURES
135
Uehira, T. and Kay, C. (2009) Using Design Thinking to Improve Patient Experiences in Japanese
Hospitals: A Case Study. Journal of Business Strategy, 30, 6–12.
Verganti, R. (2009) Design-Driven Innovation.
Harvard Business School Press, Boston, MA.
Wang, S. and Wang, H. (2011) Teaching Design
Thinking through Case Analysis: Joint Analytical
Process. Decision Sciences Journal of Innovative
Education, 9, 113–18.
Ward, A., Runcie, E. and Morris, L. (2009) Embedding Innovation: Design Thinking for Small
Enterprises. Journal of Business Strategy, 30, 78–84.
Wong, V. (2009) How Business is Adopting Design
Thinking. BusinessWeek.com [WWW document].
URL http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/
content/sep2009/id20090930_853305.htm
[accessed on 9 February 2012].
Wylant, B. (2010) Design Thinking and the Question
of Modernity. The Design Journal, 13, 217–31.
Ulla Johansson-Sköldberg is the Torsten
and Wanja Söderberg Professor of Design
Management and founder of the Business
and Design Lab, a co-operation between the
School of Design and Crafts and the School
of Business, Economics and Law at Gothenburg University. Her research interests
include gender, methodology, critical management, art and management and design
management.
Jill Woodilla is a Visiting Professor at the
School of Business, Economics and Law,
University of Gothenburg. Her ironic perspective provides her with a critical view of
the multiple realities of any situation, Her
research interests include the theoretical
underpinnings of design management, varieties of organizational discourse and innovative pedagogy.
Mehves Cetinkaya is writing her PhD
dissertation on the effects of financial investments made in design in large companies
and how that affects companies’ brand
recognition levels. Her general research
interests cover design and branding relationships in SMEs and large companies,
design and innovation, and design thinking.
© 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd
Volume 22 Number 2 2013
CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION MANAGEMENT
136
Appendix A. Literature Demographics (Figure 1): Categorized Articles,
Books and Presentations
DESIGNERLY THINKING
Stream
Medium
1-Creation of artefacts
Book
Prof Jnl
1-Creation of artefacts
& 2-Reflexive Practice
1-Creation of artefacts
& 5-Creation of
Meaning
2-Reflexive Practice
Acad Jnl
Acad Jnl
Acad Jnl
Book
2-Reflexive Practice &
5-Creation of
Meaning
Volume 22 Number 2 2013
Acad Jnl
Reference
Focus
Simon, H. (1969) The Sciences of the
Artificial. MIT Press.
Vogel, C. (2009) Notes on the Evolution of
Design Thinking: A Work in Progress.
Design Management Review, 20, 16–27.
Dorst, K. and Dijkhuis, J. (1995)
Comparing Paradigms for Describing
Design Activity. Design Studies, 16,
261–74.
Liu, Y, (1996). Is Designing One Search or
Two? A Model of Design Thinking
involving Symbolism and
Connectionism. Design Issues, 17,
435–49.
Louridas, P. (1999) Design as Bricolage:
Anthropology Meets Design Thinking.
Design Studies, 20, 517–35.
Rylander, A. (2009). Design Thinking as
Knowledge Work: Epistemological
Foundations and Practical Implications.
Design Management Journal, 5, 7–19.
Schön, D. (1988) Designing: Rules, Types
and Words. Design Studies, 9, 181–90.
Schön, D. & Wiggins, G. (1992) Kinds of
Seeing and their Functions in Designing.
Design Studies, 13, 135–56.
Schön, D. (1984) The Reflective Practitioner:
How Professionals Think In Action. Basic
Books.
Schön, D. (1986) The Design Studio: An
Exploration of Its Traditions and Potentials.
Intl Specialized Book Service Inc.
Bousbaci, R. (2008) ‘Models of Man’ in
Design Thinking: The ‘Bounded
Rationality’ Episode. Design Issues, 24,
38–52.
Conceptual
Conceptual
Conceptual
Conceptual
Conceptual
Conceptual
Conceptual
Conceptual
Conceptual
Conceptual
Conceptual
© 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd
DESIGN THINKING: PAST, PRESENT AND POSSIBLE FUTURES
137
Appendix A. Continued
DESIGNERLY THINKING
Stream
Medium
Reference
3-Problem
Solving
Activity
Acad Jnl
Buchanan, R. (1992) Wicked Problems in
Design Thinking. Design Issues, 8, 5–21.
Ho, C. (2001) Some Phenomena of Problem
Decomposition Strategy for Design
Thinking: Differences between Novices
and Experts. Design Studies, 22, 27–45.
Owen, C. (2007) Design Thinking: Notes on
its Nature and Use. Design Research
Quarterly, 2, 16–27.
Oxman, R. (2004) Think-Maps: Teaching
Design Thinking in Design Education.
Design Studies, 25, 63–91.
Whyte, J., Ewenstein, B., Hales, M & Tidd, J.
(2008) Visualizing Knowledge in
Project-Based Work. Long Range Planning,
41, 74–92.
Ambrose, G. & Harris, P. (2010) Basics Design:
Design Thinking. AVA Publishing.
Shamiyeh, M. (Ed.) (2010) Creating Desired
Futures: Solving Complex Business Problems
with Design Thinking. Birkhäuser
Architecture.
Owen, C. (2005) Design Thinking. What It Is.
Why It Is Different. Where It Has New
Value. International Conference on Design
Research and Education for the Future, the
Gwangju Design Biennale.
Junginger, S. (2007) Learning to Design:
Giving Purpose to Heart, Hand and Mind.
Journal of Business Strategy, 28, 59–65.
Owen, C. (2006) Design Thinking: Driving
Innovation. The Business Process
Management Institute, White Paper,
September.
Dörner, D. (1999) Approaching Design
Thinking Research. Design Studies, 20,
407–15.
Buchanan, R (Ed.) and Margolin, V. (Ed.)
(1995) Discovering Design: Explorations in
Design Studies. University of Chicago Press.
Wylant, B. (2008) Design Thinking and the
Experience of Innovation. Design Issues, 24,
3–14.
Book
Conf
Prsnt
Prof Jnl
3-Problem
Solving
Activity
Report
3-Problem
Solving
Activity &
4-Way of
Reasoning
Acad Jnl
3-Problem
Solving
Activity &
5-Creation of
Meaning
Book
Acad Jnl
© 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd
Focus
Conceptual
Empirical
Conceptual
Design Education
Empirical
How-to
Conceptual
Conceptual
Design Education
for Management
Conceptual
Conceptual
Conceptual
Conceptual
Volume 22 Number 2 2013
CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION MANAGEMENT
138
Appendix A. Continued
DESIGNERLY THINKING
Stream
Medium
Reference
4-Way of
Reasoning
Acad Jnl
Carmel-Gilfilen, C. and Portillo, M. (2010).
Developmental Trajectories in Design Thinking:
An Examination of Criteria. Design Studies, 31,
74–91.
Cross, N. (1990) The Nature and Nurture of
Design Ability. Design Studies, 11, 127–40.
Dorst, K. and Cross, N. (1999) Creativity in the
Design Process: Co-Evolution of
Problem–Solution. Design Studies, 22, 425–37.
Galle, P. And Kovacs, L. (1996) Replication
Protocol Analysis: A Method for the Study of
Real-World Design Thinking. Design Studies, 17,
181–200.
Gloppen, J. (2009) Perspectives on Design
Leadership and Design Thinking and How They
Relate to European Service Industries. Design
Management Journal, 4, 33–47.
Goldschmidt, G. (1994) On Visual Design
Thinking: the Vis Kids of Architecture. Design
Studies, 15, 158–74
Goldtschmidt, G. (1995) The Designer as a Team of
One. Design Studies, 16, 189–209.
Stempfle, J. & Badke-Schaub, P. (2002) Thinking in
Design Teams – An Analysis of Team
Communication. Design Studies, 23, 473–96.
Taura, T, Yoshimi, T. & Ikai, T. (2002) Study of
Gazing Points in Design Situation: A Proposal
and Practice of an Analytical Method Based on
the Explanation of Design Activities. Design
Studies, 23, 165–85.
Cross, N. (Ed.) (1992) Research in design thinking.
Delft Univ Press.
Lawson, B. (2005) How Designers Think: The Design
Process Demystified, 4th edn. Architectural Press.
Rowe, P. (1991) Design Thinking. MIT Press.
Thackara, J. (1997) Winners!: How Today’s Successful
Companies Innovate by Design. Gower Pub Co.
Johansson, U. & Woodilla, J. (2009) Towards an
Epistemelogical Merger of Design Thinking,
Strategy and Innovation. 8th European Academy
Of Design Conference
Krippendorff, K. (2005) The Semantic Turn: A New
Foundation for Design. CRC Press.
Verganti, R. (2009) Design Driven Innovation:
Changing the Rules of Competition by Radically
Innovating What Things Mean. Harvard Business
Press.
Book
Conf
Prsnt
5-Creation of
Meaning
Volume 22 Number 2 2013
Book
Focus
Empirical
Conceptual
Conceptual
Conceptual
Case
Conceptual
Conceptual
Conceptual &
Empirical
Empirical
Anthology
Conceptual
Conceptual
Case
Conceptual
Conceptual
Conceptual
& Case
© 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd
DESIGN THINKING: PAST, PRESENT AND POSSIBLE FUTURES
139
Appendix A. Continued
DESIGNERLY THINKING
Stream
Medium
Reference
Focus
No Specific
Category of
Designerly
Thinking
Acad Jnl
Personal
Experience
No Specific
Category
Acad Jnl
Leong, B. & Clark, H. (2003) Culture-Based
Knowledge Towards New Design Thinking and
Practice – A Dialogue. Design Issues, 19, 48–58.
Papantonopoulos, S. (2004) How System Designers
Think: A Study of Design Thinking in Human
Factors Engineering. Ergonomics, 47,1528–48.
Senturer, A. & Istek. C. (2000) Discourse as
Representation of Design Thinking and Beyond:
Considering the Tripod of Architecture – Media,
Education, & Practice. Journal of Art & Design
Education, 19, 72–85.
LeMasson, P., Weil, B. and Hatchuel, A. (2005)
Strategic Management of Innovation and Design.
Cambridge University Press.
Margolin, V. (Ed.) and Buchanan, R. (ed.) (1996)
The Idea of Design. MIT Press.
Wigum, K. (2009) Radical Design Thinking: Thoughts
and Tools for Long Term Solutions. VDM Verlag.
Book
Engineering
Conceptual
Conceptual
Anthology
How-to
DESIGN THINKING
Stream
Medium
Reference
1-IDEO’s Way
of Working
Acad Jnl
Callaghan, E. (2008). Personalities of Design
Thinking. Design Management Journal, 4, 20–32.
Berger, W. (2010) CAD Monkeys, Dinosaur Babies,
and T-Shaped People: Inside the World of Design
Thinking and How It Can Spark Creativity and
Innovation. Penguin.
Brown, T. (2009). Change by Design: How Design
Thinking Transforms Organizations and Inspires
Innovation. HarperBusiness.
Esslinger, H. (2009) A Fine Line: How Design
Strategies are Shaping the Future of Business.
Jossey-Bass.
Gaynor, G. (2002) Innovation by Design: What It
Takes To Keep Your Company on the Cutting Edge.
AMACOM.
Kelley, T. with Littman, J. (2001) The Art of
Innovation: Lessons in Creativity from IDEO,
America’s Leading Design Firm. Crown Business.
Kelley, T. with Littmann, J. (2005) The Ten Faces of
Innovation: IDEO’s Strategies for Defeating the
Devil’s Advocate and Driving Creativity
Throughout Your Organization. Doubleday.
Book
© 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd
Focus
Conceptual
Conceptual
& Case
How-to
Conceptual
Conceptual
Case-based
Case-based
Volume 22 Number 2 2013
CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION MANAGEMENT
140
Appendix A. Continued
DESIGN THINKING
Stream
Medium
Reference
Prof Jnl
Brown, T. (2008) Design Thinking. Harvard
Business Review, 86, 84–96.
Brown, T. and Wyatt, J. (2010). Design
Thinking for Social Innovation. Stanford
Social Innovation Review, pp. 31–5.
Lockwood, T. (2010) Design Thinking in
Business: An Interview with Gianfranco
Zaccai. Design Management Review, 21,
16–24.
McCullagh, K. (2006). Stepping Up: Design
Thinking Has Uncovered Real
Opportunities. Design Management Review,
21, 36–9.
Porcini, M. (2009) Your New Design Process
Is Not Enough – Hire Design Thinkers!
Design Management Review, 20, 6–18.
Sato, S. (2009) Beyond Good: Great
Innovations through Design. Journal of
Business Strategy, 30, 40–9.
Sato, S., Lucente, S., Meyer, D. & Mrazek, D.
(2010) Design Thinking to Make
Organization Change and Development
More Responsive. Design Management
Review, 21, 42–52.
Uehira, T. & Kay, C. (2009) Using Design
Thinking to Improve Patient Experiences in
Japanese Hospitals: A Case Study. Journal
of Business Strategy, 30, 6–12.
Ward, A, Runcie, E. & Morris, L. (2009).
Embedding Innovation: Design Thinking
for Small Enterprises. Journal of Business
Strategy, 30, 78–84.
Lockwood, T. (Ed.) (2009) Design Thinking:
Integrating Innovation, Customer Experience,
and Brand Value. Allworth Press.
Beckman, S. & Barry, M. (2007) Innovation as
a Learning Process: Embedding Design
Thinking. California Management Review, 50,
25–56
Dunne, D. and Martin, R. (2006) Design
Thinking and How It Will Change
Management Education: An Interview and
Discussion. Academy of Management
Learning and Education, 5, 512–23.
Oster, G. (2008) Derailing Design Thinking.
International Journal of Leadership Studies, 4,
107–15.
1-IDEO’s Way of
Book
Working & 2-Skill
for Managers
2-NecessarySkill
Acad Jnl
for Practicing
Managers
Volume 22 Number 2 2013
Focus
How-to
How-to
Case
Case
Case-based
Conceptual
Conceptual
& Case
Empirical
Case-based
Anthology
Conceptual
Conceptual &
Promotional
Conceptual
© 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd
DESIGN THINKING: PAST, PRESENT AND POSSIBLE FUTURES
141
Appendix A. Continued
DESIGN THINKING
Stream
Medium
Book
Prof Jnl
© 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd
Reference
Martin, R. (2009) The Design of Business: Why Design
Thinking is the Next Competitive Advantage. Harvard
Business School Press.
Neumeier, M. (2008) The Designful Company: How to
Build a Culture of Nonstop Innovation. Peachpit Press.
Prahalad, D. and Sawhney, R. (2010). Predictable Magic:
Unleash the Power of Design Strategy to Transform Your
Business. Pearson Prentice Hall.
Bell, S. (2008) Design Thinking: A Design Approach To
The Delivery Of Outstanding Service Can Help Put
the User Experience First. American Libraries, 39, 44–9.
Birchell-Spencer, M. (2010) Companies That Employ
Design Thinking Will Tap into Innovations, Longevity
and Competitive Advantage, says Roger Martin. HR
Professional, 27, 51–7.
Carr, S., Halloday, A., King, A., Leidtka, J., and
Lockwood, T. (2010). The Influence of Design
Thinking in Business: Some Preliminary Observations.
Design Management Review, 21, 58–63.
Clark, K. and Smith, R. (2008) Unleashing the Power of
Design Thinking. Design Management Review, 19, 8–15.
Cooper, R., Junginger, S. and Lockwood, T. (2009).
Design Thinking and Design Management: A
Research and Practice Perspective. Design Management
Review, 20, 46–55.
Drews, C. (2009) Unleashing the Full Potential of
Design Thinking as a Business Method. Design
Management Review, 20, 38–44.
Fraser, H. (2009) Designing Business: New Models for
Success. Design Management Review, 20, 56–65.
Hackett, J. (2009) Innovation is Good, Fitness is Better.
Journal of Business Strategy, 30, 85–90.
Holloway, M. (2009) How Tangible is your Strategy?
How Design Thinking can Turn your Strategy into
Reality. Journal of Business Strategy, 30, 50–6.
Leavy, B. (2010) Design Thinking – A New Mental
Model of Value Innovation. Strategy & Leadership, 38,
5–14.
Martin, R. (2010) Design thinking: achieving insights via
the ‘knowledge funnel’. Strategy & Leadership, 38,
37–41.
Merholtz, P. (2010). Why Design Thinking Won’t Save
You. Harvard Business Review, 88, 18.
Szabo, M. (2010) Design Thinking in Legal Practice
Management. Design Management Review, 21, 44–46.
Focus
Conceptual
Conceptual
Conceptual
Promotional
Promotional
Empirical
Promotional
Conceptual
Empirical &
Promotional
How-to
Conceptual
Case
Conceptual
Conceptual
Critique
Promotional
Volume 22 Number 2 2013
CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION MANAGEMENT
142
Appendix A. Continued
DESIGN THINKING
Stream
Medium
Reference
3-Part of
Management
Theory
Acad Jnl
Romme, G. (2004) Action Research,
Emancipation and Design Thinking. Journal of
Community & Applied Social psychology, 14,
495–9.
Boland, R. and Collopy, F. (eds.) (2004)
Managing as Designing. Stanford Business
Books.
Rasmus, D. (2010) Management by Design:
Applying Design Principles to the Work
Experience. Wiley.
Lockwood, T. (2009) Frameworks of Design
Thinking. Design Management Journal, 4, 3.
Lockwood, T. (2009). Transition: How to
Become a More Design-Minded Organization.
Design Management Review, 20, 28–37.
Walton, T. (2010) Insights on Business and
Design Thinking. Design Management Review,
21, 3.
Book
3-Part of
Management
Theory
No specific
category
Book
Acad Jnl
Prof Jnl
Focus
Conceptual
Conceptual
How-to
Editor
Introduction
Editor
Introduction
Editor
Introduction
NOT CLASSIFIED INTO EITHER DESIGNERLY THINKING OR DESIGN THINKING
Volume 22 Number 2 2013
Medium
Reference
Focus
Acad Jnl
Brereton, M. and McGarry, B. (2000). An
observational study of how objects support
engineering design thinking and
communication: implications for the design of
tangible media. CHI’00. Proceedings of the
SIGCHI conference on Human factors in
computing systems
Bross, J., Acar, A., Schilf, P. And Meinel, C.
(2009) Spurring Design Thinking through
Educational Weblogging. Proceedings of the
International Conference on Computational
Science and Engineering.
Cao, Q. and Protzen, J-P. (1999). Managing
Design Information: Issue-Based Information
Systems and Fuzzy Reasoning System. Design
Studies, 20, 343–62.
Casakin, H., Davidovitch, N, and Roberta, M.
(2010). Creative Thinking as a Predictor of
Creative Problem Solving in Architectural
Design Students. Psychology of Aesthetics,
Creativity and the Arts, 4, 31–35.
Eckert, C. and Martin, S. (2000) Sources of
Inspiration: A Language of Design. Design
Studies, 21, 523–38.
Engineering
Engineering
Engineering
Design
Education
Not relevant
© 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd
DESIGN THINKING: PAST, PRESENT AND POSSIBLE FUTURES
143
Appendix A. Continued
NOT CLASSIFIED INTO EITHER DESIGNERLY THINKING OR DESIGN THINKING
Medium
Reference
Li, M. (2002) Fostering Design Culture Through
Cultivating the User-Designers’ Design Thinking and
Systems Thinking. Systemic Practice and Action
Research, 15, 385–410.
Maier, J. & Fadel, G. (2009) Affordance Based Design: A
Relational Theory for Design. Research in Engineering
Design, 20, 23–7.
Morozumi, M., Shimokawa, Y. & Homma, R. (2002).
Schematic Design System for Flexible and
Multi-Aspect Design Thinking. Automation in
Construction, 11, 147–59.
Nagai, Y. & Noguchi, H. (2003) An Experimental Study
on the Design Thinking Process Started from Difficult
Keywords: Modeling the Thinking Process of Creative
Design. Journal of Engineering Design, 14, 429–37.
Oxman, R. (2002) The Thinking Eye: Visual
Re-Cognition in Design Emergence. Design Studies,
23, 135–64.
Smith, G. & Browne, G. (1993) Conceptual Foundations
of Design Problem Solving. Systems, Man and
Cybernetics, 23, 1209–19.
Tovey, M. (1986) Thinking Styles and Modelllng
Systems. Design Studies, 7, 20–30.
Ulusoy, Z. (1999) To Design Versus to Understand
Design: The Role of Graphic Representations and
Verbal Expressions. Design Studies, 20, 123–30.
VanDerLugt, R. (2000). Developing a Graphic Tool for
Creative Problem Solving in Design Groups. Design
Studies, 21, 505–22.
Vyas, K. (2006). Design History: An Alternative
Approach. Design Issues, 22, 27–34.
Yang, M. (2009) Observations on Concept Generation
and Sketching in Engineering Design. Research in
Engineering Design, 20, 1–11.
Not
Classified
Focus
Article not
available
Engineering
Engineering
Engineering
Not relevant
Engineering
Article not
available
Design
Education
Not relevant
Not relevant
Engineering
Medium
Reference
Focus
Book
Blaszxyl, R. (2002) Imagining consumers: Design and
innovation from Wedgewood to Corning (Studies in
industry and society). The Johns Hopkins University
Press.
Eris, O. (2004) Effective Inquiry for Innovative Engineering
Design: From Basic Principles to Application. Springer.
Jones, A. (2008) The Innovation Acid Test: Growth through
Design and Differentiation. Triarchy Press.
Mitchell, T. (1996). New Thinking in Design: Conversations
on Theory and Practice. Wiley.
Not relevant
(Design)
© 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd
Engineering
Engineering
Design
Volume 22 Number 2 2013
CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION MANAGEMENT
144
Appendix A. Continued
NOT CLASSIFIED INTO EITHER DESIGNERLY THINKING OR DESIGN THINKING
Not
Classified
Medium
Reference
Focus
Conf Prsnt
English, S. (2006) Design thinking – value
innovation – deductive reason and the designers
choice. Proceedings of DRS2006 Design
Research Society.
Eris, O. (2003) Asking Generative Design
Questions: A Fundamental Cognitive
Mechanism in Design Thinking. International
Conference on Engineering Design ICED 03
Stockholm.
Janis, N. (2000) Design as a framework for
innovative thinking and learning: how can
design thinking reform education? IDATER
Conference, Loughborough.
Oxman, R. (2006). Digital Design Thinking: In the
New Media is the New Pedagogy. CAADRIA,
Kumamoto, Japan.
Wong, C. (200) Some Phenomena of Design
Thinking in the Concept Generation Stage Using
Computer Media. Proceedings of the Fifth
Conference on Computer Aided Architectural
Design Research in Asia Singapore, pp. 255–63
Kotler, P. and Rath, A. (1994) Design: A Powerful
but Neglected Strategic Tool. Journal of Business
Strategy, 5, 16–21.
Feinberg, B. and Thomke, S. (2009) Design
Thinking and Innovation at Apple. Harvard
Business School Cases.
Engineering
Prof Jnl
Teaching
Case
Engineering
Education
Design
Education
Engineering
Article not
available
Case
Note: Shaded references are used in the article text.
Acad Jnl = Academic or scholarly peer reviewed journal
Prof Jnl = Professional or practitioner journal
Conf Prsnt = Peer reviewed conference presentation
Appendix B. Literature
Demographics: Newspaper,
Magazine and Web/Blog Posts
(Not Classified)
Magazine Articles
Anon. (2004) Audi Design Foundation. Design
Week, 19(Apr30), 4.
Anon. (2007, Oct5) Sustaining the Dream. BusinessWeek, p17.
Anon. (2007) Nussbaum says design thinking
must be integral part of business. Design
Week, 22(27), 4
Volume 22 Number 2 2013
Anon. (2008) Design Thinking + Doing. Creativity, 16(11), 28.
Anon. Priestman Goode. Design Week,
19(Sep30), 14.
Armit, G, (2010, Jun3) Beyond Design Thinking: Why Hybrid Design Is the Next New
Thing. FastCompany http://www.fastcom
pany.com/1656288/beyond-design-think
ing-why-hybriddesign-is-the-next-newthing
Boult, J. (2008) Inspired. Design Week, 23(15), 10.
Brady, D. (2007, Mar6) Taking On the Global
Food Crisis. BusinessWeek, p4.
Brown, (T. 2007, Dec19) Strategy by Design.
FastCompany
http://www.fastcompany.
com/magazine/95/design-strategy.html
© 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd
DESIGN THINKING: PAST, PRESENT AND POSSIBLE FUTURES
Brunner, R. (2009, Jun6) Design Is Too Important to Be Left to the Thinkers FastCompany.
http://www.fastcompany.com
Chan, D. (2010, Sep1) Hybrid Thinking:
Designed Thinking. http://catalystsdr.
com/2009/09/hybrid-thinking-designedthinking
Cooperrider, D. (2008). Sustainable Innovation.
BizEd Jul/Aug, 32–38.
Dziersk, M. (2008, Jul8) Design Thinking . . .
What is That? FastCompany http://www.
fastcompany.com/resources/design/
dziersk/design-thinking-083107.html
Dziersk, M. (2010, Apr10) Why Design Thinking Is the Next Competitive Advantage.
FastCompany
http://www.fastcompany.
com/1628107/a-worthy-read
FastCompayStaff (2007, Dec19) The Power of
Design.
http://www.fastcompany.com/
magazine/95/open_design-index.html
Grace, R. (2010) ‘Design thinking’ drives
Dow Corning change. Plastics News, 21(44),
12.
Hempel, J. (2007) How Venture Philanthropists Use Design Thinking To Help Solve
Real-World Problems. Business Week, Mar
12, pp.8–13.
Katayama,L. (2010, Sep8) 5 Ways iPad’s Pulse
App Creators Applied Design Thinking to
Their Business. FastCompany http://www.
fastcompany.com/1687400/5-design-tipsfrom-ipads-pulseapp-creators-andstanford-design-school
Kunur, P. (2008) Design Thinking in Government. Creativity, 16(11), 36.
Lee, L. (2008, Feb14) Innovation at Risk. BusinessWeek, p15.
Lovett, G. (2009) Ideo collaborative publicsector pilot heads for roll-out. Design Week,
24(10), 7.
Lowe, C. (2005) The NHS needs design. Design
Week, 20(3), 13.
McConnon, A. (2006, Nov6) Want a Master of
Design with That? Business Week, p.15.
Merritt, J. & Lavelle, L. (2005, Aug1) Tomorrow’s B-School? It might be a D-School.
BusinessWeek, p80–81.
Rae, J. (2008, Jul29) P&G Changes Its Game.
BusinessWeek, p9.
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