Design Thinking and Identifying a Problem Have you ever used a tool like a screwdriver or pencil sharpener and wished it worked a little bit better Or waited for the school bus and wished it would arrive sooner or closer to your house How about your school schedule Do you ever wonder if rearranging your courses would make it easier to learn When you find yourself asking I wonder if I could make this better you’ve found a good design problem A design problem is something you see that isn’t working as well as it could and think you can improve You can choose to complain about a problem or take it as a challenge to try and make the problem better After all what’s more fun complaining about things or thinking creatively about how to improve them You don’t have to rely on just on your own smarts to solve a problem In this book we’ll use a process known as design thinking to help you gain insights and ideas Design thinking was started by a company called IDEO in California It has used design thinking to make better shopping 4 CHAPTER ONE
Design thinking is all about improving something you use every day like your water bottle What questions might you have about the design of this water bottle 5
The average American student carries a backpack that weighs about 18 4 pounds 8 3 kilograms carts plans for natural disasters and even jeans that cool you off Today many schools organizations and companies are using design thinking to figure out how to create classes work and products that people want to use or take part in This book will help you explore the design thinking process by looking at an invention used by many students your age a backpack In each chapter we’ll explore a step in the process so that you can build a better backpack 6
Try This Get out your backpack or school bag or borrow one Fill it with the items you usually take to or bring home from school Walk around with it for 5 minutes What is comfortable and helpful about the bag’s design weight size straps and more List the possible design problems You’ll use that list to guide your work in Chapter 2 7
