The PDMA Handbook of Innovation and New Product Development, 4th Edition

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE RE-THINKING DESIGN THINKING:THE TRANSFORMATIVE ROLE OF DESIGN THINKING IN NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

Marina Candi, Claudio Dell’Era, Stefano Magistretti, K. Scott Swan, and Roberto Verganti

23.1 What Is Design Thinking?

Scholars and practitioners acknowledge the central role of design as a driver of innovation and change (Brown 2008; Candi 2016; Liedtka 2015; Magistretti et al. 2022; Martin 2009). The importance of design as a source of value creation has been explored for decades (Hirschman 1986; Peterson et al. 1986). Early on, most investigations viewed design as the aesthetic and symbolic dimension of products, that is, design as form, identity, and emotions, attributing it only a marginal role in innovation studies (Capaldo 2007; Dell’Era and Verganti 2009). What has driven the recent and considerable increase in attention to design in the business community is a change in perspective: design not only as an aesthetic component of innovation but as a comprehensive innovation management practice fostering new processes, mindsets, and capabilities within organizations (Dell’Era and Verganti 2010; Verganti 2009, 2017). Design Thinking encompasses many principles and tools to address innovative problem-solving from a design perspective and has gained substantial interest in the business world, particularly in the last decade. Design Thinking is now practiced ...