Design Doing

At this point in the semester, I decided to go back into our Art of Innovation book and see how my reaction to the book changed since I have been involved in innovation and design. I'll be honest, at first, this class really confused me! I felt like I was way behind the learning curve and lost. I feel completely different now. I think with innovation, you just have to have hands on learning to understand all of the elements, and that is exactly how we learned this semester; hands on experimentation. 

Design Doing : Here are some themes that highlight what Design Doing is and what it means to innovation:

• More value and less energy expended when possible

• Design thinking principles work because they are tested rigorously

• Design thinking key to more innovative ideas

• The business world is slower to develop learning strategic design thinking 

• Creativity is the ability to create something new 

• Design is the process of doing something new 

• Three best characteristics of a design mind: open-minded collaboration, 

courage, and conviction 

I bolded that last point because I think it is so well articulated and true.  In innovation, a closed off mind can be detrimental to development of ideas. Courage is needed because if you do not have courage, the ability to get your idea "out there" is nearly impossible. It also takes confidence. Conviction is necessary for you to believe in yourself and your product design. All of these elements were present in my group project experience. This hands on learning and experiencing innovation is what has helped me grasp these rather abstract concepts.