Analytical by Design: How Design Thinking Made Me a Better Thinker
Creative, technical, or both? If you fall into that final category, you may find yourself failing to fit in. But it’s this blend of the creative and the analytical that has led me to some of my most valuable breakthroughs—and one of the most powerful tools I’ve found for bridging these two worlds is design thinking.
Design thinking is a creative problem-solving approach that puts the user at the center of the process. It involves understanding the user’s needs, challenging assumptions, and iterating on solutions to create meaningful and innovative outcomes. The Interaction Design Foundation defines design thinking as “a non-linear, iterative process that teams use to understand users, challenge assumptions, redefine problems, and create innovative solutions to prototype and test.”
Pattern matching & labeling
Pattern matching and labeling involves recognizing and categorizing recurring themes, behaviors, or problems in user research and feedback. By identifying patterns, we uncover insights that inform our understanding of the user’s needs and guide our ideation process.
Finding patterns speeds up learning
For example, when I volunteered to do graphic design work for a nonprofit, I quickly realized that I was out of my depth. Design wasn’t my area of expertise, and I knew I had a steep learning curve ahead of me.
To get up to speed, I started collecting images that spoke to me about the industry and the type of design I was aiming for. But simply gathering inspiration wasn’t enough. I needed to make sense of what I was seeing.
That’s where the power of pattern matching and labeling came in. I took the time to carefully categorize the images I had collected, looking for common themes, styles, and motifs. This process of organizing and naming what I saw helped me identify the key design languages and metaphors that most effectively communicate the nonprofit’s message.
Armed with this understanding, I was able to create designs that not only looked great but also aligned with the organization’s brand and values. By taking the time to analyze and categorize my inspiration, I had given myself a framework for making design decisions that were both creative and strategic.
180 pivot: disagree with yourself
Disagree with yourself!
As someone who actually got a Master of Science degree in Communication and (of all things) Rhetoric, I am not a stranger to proving a point. That often means hypothesizing, considering multiple perspectives, and challenging my own assumptions. But it wasn’t until I started applying this “disagreeing with yourself“ principle to my professional work that I realized just how powerful it could be.
Avoiding getting attached to initial ideas or solutions is crucial in design thinking. By actively seeking out opposing viewpoints and questioning one’s own biases, we expand our thinking and generate more diverse and innovative solutions.
Hypothetical example
Imagine you’re working on a marketing strategy for a new product launch. Your initial instinct, based on market research and past experience, is to focus your messaging on the product’s cutting-edge features and technological innovations. You create a draft campaign that highlights these aspects front and center.
But then, you decide to “disagree with yourself.“ You ask, “What if we approached this from a completely different angle? What if, instead of focusing on the technology, we focused on the human impact of the product? What stories could we tell about how it makes people’s lives better, easier, or more meaningful?“
With this new perspective, you return to the drawing board. You conduct interviews with potential customers, seeking to understand their deepest needs and desires. You look for ways to connect the product’s features to real human outcomes, like saving time, reducing stress, or fostering connection.
As you develop this human-centered approach, you realize that it resonates much more deeply than your initial tech-focused campaign. By disagreeing with your own assumptions and considering the problem from a different angle, you’ve arrived at a more authentic, compelling strategy (one that you wouldn’t have discovered if you’d simply gone with your first instinct.
Allowing breakthroughs in
Of course, this is just one hypothetical example, and the specific details will vary based on your own experiences and industry. But the core principle remains the same: by actively questioning our own assumptions and considering alternative perspectives, we can often arrive at insights and solutions that are more nuanced, more creative, and more effective.
So the next time you find yourself approaching a problem from a single, familiar angle, ask what other perspectives you might be overlooking and explore how those alternative viewpoints could shed new light on the challenge at hand. You might be surprised at the breakthroughs that emerge when you open yourself to this creative self-disruption.
Embracing iteration
The most successful products don’t aim for perfection right out of the gate. Instead, they focus on rapidly prototyping, testing, and refining their ideas based on feedback and real-world performance.
In design thinking, the goal is not to create a perfect solution on the first attempt but rather to rapidly prototype and test ideas to learn and iterate. By embracing iteration, we can create solutions that are more closely aligned with user needs and preferences.
This iterative approach can also be incredibly valuable when applied to analytical thinking. Too often, we get caught up in trying to find the perfect solution or the most comprehensive analysis before taking action. But by treating our analyses and recommendations as hypotheses to be tested rather than sacred truths, we allow ourselves to move quickly, experiment, and learn from our successes and failures.
This might mean:
Launching a small-scale pilot program to test a new marketing strategy before rolling it out across the board
Sharing a draft of an analysis with colleagues or stakeholders to gather feedback and identify blind spots
Implementing a new process or tool on a trial basis, with the understanding that it may need to be refined or replaced based on performance
The key is to approach these iterations with a spirit of curiosity and continuous improvement. Every test, every piece of feedback, every data point is an opportunity to learn and evolve our thinking.
Get messy!
Of course, this iterative approach requires a certain level of comfort with ambiguity and imperfection. It means letting go of the idea that our first attempt will be our best attempt and embracing the messy, non-linear nature of real-world problem-solving.
But in my experience, the rewards of this approach are well worth the discomfort. By embracing iteration, we not only arrive at better solutions faster but also cultivate a more adaptable, resilient mindset that serves us well in all areas of our work and lives.
Empathy & human-centered thinking
As someone who is passionate about creating impactful brand experiences, I know that empathy and human-centered thinking are essential. The most effective marketing strategies start with a deep understanding of the people we’re trying to reach. That includes their needs, desires, and pain points.
I’m also someone who often has epiphanies. Recently, I discovered a blind spot in my thinking: I was focusing on how data could support decisions, which often led to a quest for more data. But then it hit me: data could also be used to support motivations, leading to stronger teamwork and more meaningful outcomes.
This shift in perspective isn’t just about applying the golden rule or being nice. It’s about rethinking how we approach problem-solving. Instead of starting with what we want to achieve, we need to start with a deep understanding of the real people behind the problem.
We can move beyond surface-level metrics and quick fixes when we align our efforts with human needs and motivations. By putting the user at the center of the design thinking process, we create more meaningful, relevant, and impactful solutions to address the root causes of problems and drive lasting change.
Ask yourself…
So, to all the data-driven marketers out there, I encourage you to take a step back and ask yourself: are you using your analytical superpowers to support decisions or to support people? The answer to that question might just be the key to unlocking your most impactful, insightful work yet.
