Three Categories of Design Thinking: Routine, Simple/Complicated and Complex

A key problem with the use of the term design thinking is to identify which kinds of design thinking methods are valid for different kinds of design situation. This paper offers a new coherent well-defined approach to dividing Design Thinking methods into three distinct non-overlapping categories each suited to a specific class of design situation. These three categories of design situation are Routine, Simple/Complicated and Complex. Each of these categories of design situation are associated with specific classes of design thinking methods. This exclusive categorisation of design thinking methods into three different classes enables designers (and design sponsors, and stakeholders) to quickly identify for any design project the appropriate design processes, organisational needs and the relative levels of resources, including staffing, time and costs. The paper concludes with a discussion of the emergence of, and reasons for, a fourth category that will require some redefinition of Design Thinking as a concept.

Keywords:

Design Theory , Design Research , Design Practice , Prediction , outcomes