The Hartford Business Review recently published an article on their website by Warren Berger entitled Four Phases of Design Thinking . Warren Berger is the author of GLIMMER: How design can transform, business, your life, and maybe even the world (Penguin Press). He edits the online magazine GlimmerSite.com too. His article was so informative, we thought it was well worth our time to review how designers work to create successful innovative ideas.

Throughout the world of design, there are some shared behaviors that top designers follow in order to achieve significant breakthroughs. Second nature habits that were found to be common among expert designers and to their ability to transform an original idea into a successful innovation included; asking questions, caring, connecting and committing. If you’re a designer you will recognize these shared behaviors and if you’re looking for design work to be done, these are the steps that a top notch designer will most likely follow.

Designers Ask LOTS Of Questions

• Seasoned designers ask lots of questions.
• They work to raise questions in order to begin their design project.
• Designers strive to challenge the current reality or assumption in an industry.
• The creative mind works to learn the mainstream obvious and then figures out a way twist or morph it into an original idea that will turn into a successful innovative idea.
• A creative individual will often ask basic “why” questions that might seem naive and sometimes puts people on the defense.

When a designer asks why, they are really encouraging people to step back and reconsider old problems or practices that might be out of date. This gives the designer the ability to re-frame and steer thinking in a new direction. By striving to stretch the question of why to all facets of a project, they are able to rethink the basic fundamentals of a business. In the current economy and ever so volatile marketplace, this breeds innovation that gives birth to success.

A Great Designer Cares

• Designers do their best work by stepping out of the corporate bubble.
• They immerse themselves in the lives of their target market or audience.
• By observing and paying close attention to the customer they are trying to reach, they are able to dig out the consumer’s deep unspoken needs.
• Designers work hard to be present in people’s lives.

Lots of companies can say they care about their customer’s needs. Focus groups and questionnaires don’t really scratch the surface as to what makes an individual choose to buy a product. In order to reach a consumer on an emotional level, you have to empathize with them. This is the leverage that a good designer brings to the creative table. They strive to learn how their customers feel, how they think and how they live. By doing so, a seasoned designer learns what pushes a person to buy a product, join a marketing campaign, or become a faithful follower and consumer.

Designers Are Able To Connect

• A designer works to synthesize ideas.
• The creative thought process can take existing elements or ideas and combine them together in new ways.

Hiring a designer doesn’t always mean that a business will be forced into a new set of marketing materials or professional identity. It’s the job of a designer to also consider their clients current business elements and think laterally. Sometimes new ideas are not born fresh or invented from scratch. New ideas can be found by searching for new ways to combine current or older ideas. Designers do this by connecting them in a new way. They generate a new idea that is often comprised of scattered or mismatched ideas that didn’t seem to go together. This can be a shortcut to innovation. By combining previous ideas, this can help a business retain their original identity and brand, and simply strive for a new look, new message or re-tool their branded look to be more attractive to the public.

Designers Achieve Success Through Commitment

Designers are able to commit early to an idea.

They take original ideas and move them beyond imagination by giving them Form.

This Form makes an idea Real.

Designers are comfortable with putting an idea out into the marketplace when it’s young and imperfect.

A designer knows how to accept short-term failure.

Creative professionals have the ability to “fail forward”.

Some of the greatest designers have gone back to the design board more than once to tweak an idea into success. With their focus on commitment, the creative mind is often very comfortable with risk, more so than the average person is. They know that small failures are useful tools that provide a process for learning what needs fixing. In times of fast dynamic change, many companies need a confident designer on their team that can operate in a “test and learn” environment. In this type of work situation a designer will be required to create multiple or rapid prototypes. In design, the name of the game is often—Change it—Revise it — Until it STICKS!

Businesses and designers can look forward to forging a profitable partnership when they work towards a common goal. One way to do that is for the designer to explain what they will be doing, how they work their process and why they follow certain steps to achieve success. Through the use of an open line of communication, businesses can learn how to apply their designers behavioral habits to their own creative process. Being able to generate innovative and fresh ideas that  are attractive to consumers can push a business from hum-drum to sensational and victorious!

We welcome new ideas and you might inspire us for our next blog post! Share your thoughts and tips by posting comments for us. Thanks for reading!

By Sara Hassler

His words also tell us not to give up hope, whatever our personal obstacles, and to persevere with hope, kindness and intelligence.

Martin Luther King Jr. in his own words:

“Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think.”

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

And, the words that could almost be the Oozil motto: “Almost always, the creative dedicated minority has made the world better.”

Thanks, Dr. King, for making the world a better place.

By Elizabeth Kelly, with generous assistance from Dr. King