With the rise of design thinking as a mean to solve problems or innovate, everyone seems to be a designer, creator or ideator. It seems as learning how to empathize, to ideate, to prototype or to test makes us suddenly designers. In just few hours of design thinking training, we are transformed and are ready to change the world. Those who keeps on drinking this Kool-aid fail to realize that that learning the tools of a designer does not make them designers. Learning how to do surgery does not mean you qualify to operate anyone. Furthermore, we sometimes think or act as designing is just about making products intuitive, beautiful or simpler. It is about time that we realize that a designer, a good designer is one who is able to ask the right question, name or articulate the right problem and deduct the right insight.
That is why a good community organizer is a good designer because everyday he has to be able to recruit his peers to build capacity. That is why a good journalist is a good designer because he opens your sense of curiosity. This skillset take times to hone and develop and no few hours of trainings, even with David Kelley, will make you a designer. I understand that design thinking is the new buzz word of the industry and many consultants use it to expand their clientele on the basis of false promises. Thus, the next time you attend a design thinking workshop or designer workshop in general , just keep in mind that designing is not just about beautification or simplification. It is also about being able to ask the right question, to articulate the right problem and to derive the right insight. It is a traveler’s journey.
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