While UX is not rocket science and that is where also the problem lies. It gets complicated when spoken in one breath 'UX/UI'. There is a lot of confusion between the terms Design/UI/UX/UX-design/UX-research for people outside the domain. Here is a short write-up on the state of the industry.

The premise of this article is based on understanding the genesis of the modern-day work culture and how to infuse creative thinking in an organisation as it prepares for the emergent reality. Let’s first begin with understanding the evolution of the modern-day work culture and how the industrial revolution was instrumental in designing it.

Blue Ocean strategy helps in defining the macro-direction of opportunities, but how do you identify and assess the various independent variables at play? Design Thinking provides the necessary logic for identification of the stakeholder needs and the necessary iterations for crafting a solution. From ‘empathy’ with users that Design Thinking hinges on, Blue Ocean Strategy helps shift the focus towards ‘non-users’ as well, to extract a winning proposition.

As India lost plot of ‘Make in India’, even after China losing the ‘Factory of the World’ tag, focus on ‘design’ is a natural outcome. Design, and not ‘R&D’ alone, is the new trump card that can help India leap ahead. Apart from the external benefits, there are a host of internal reasons, why India must pick up the slogan ‘Design First’.

Takeaways from the D'IVE session on ‘Digital Transformation & Design Thinking’ – 25th May 2019

Organizations are devoting significant time, effort, and money to digitally transform. But, effort does not necessarily translate into benefit and we see many organizations continue to struggle on account of poor strategy & implementation. It is much more than implementing discrete technologies which has been the mandate of the software industry so far.

Design Thinking emanated out of Industrial Design. The complex world of design had to be flattened out into seemingly few simple steps for the wider businesses and organizations to adopt it. Thousands have lined-up taking myriad online courses on Design Thinking. But many have already realized that ‘online learning’ is nowhere close to ‘hands on’ experience. It is like taking swimming lessons ‘online’ without dipping into the pool. However, now that we have some critical mass of early practitioners of Design Thinking ready, it is important that a few advanced concepts that have been the corner-stone of Design practice all this while, are understood and practiced.

What makes Apple Inc. tick?

Apple had already made a case for ‘good design is good business’ several years back. Gratitude! But with every launch of a new product from Apple now, world is getting divided into two- those who believe Apple is still a ‘buy’ and those who don’t care. Interesting stuff is unfolding. Here is my take on recent unveiling of iPhone X and the Series 3 watch ‘cellular’.

A team member shares how they got started with Design Thinking.

Design Thinking is finally a ‘knowledge creation’ process. As a ‘knowledge process’, it is literally a new born child, when one looks at it from an ancient land of India, with thousands of years of history of codified human knowledge. Indian thinkers and philosophers thought of minute details around people, objects, emotions and existence. Design Thinking, as a way of understanding a problem comprehensively and solving it creatively, one wonders if Indian wisdom had something to offer in this space. Here is one clue through Pramanas.