Marketing, Australia: Cognizant’s Digital Transformation and User Experience Experts Say Human-Centric Design Thinking Powers Creative Problem-Solving

Theo Forbath, Global VP, Digital Transformation, and Kipp Lynch, AVP, UX Research and Design, Cognizant Digital Works, Cognizant

“Creativity and problem solving are not individual endeavors, nor do they occur in isolation. Fortunately, companies are beginning to embrace new ways of fostering innovation. Instead of approaching a new product or service creation by defining a set of requirements, many companies are seeking first to understand the human needs behind the product or service, to develop an overall experience,” write Cognizant Digital Works’ Theo Forbath, Global Vice President of Digital Transformation, and Kipp Lynch, Assistant Vice President of UX Research and Design. Excerpts:

“This approach ― often called ‘design thinking’ ― is based on developing a thorough understanding of what the user goals are from multiple viewpoints – emotional, psychological and behavioral. Through an iterative process of observation, ideation, rapid prototyping and testing, design thinking can help to craft an experience that is meaningful to the person engaged with it, one that seamlessly meshes the physical and digital interactions of people, processes and things. Design thinking is a mindset that draws on the interaction of all these components.

As the world gets increasingly digitized, design thinking will be critical to defining the user experience, and it is that experience ― rather than slogans, logos and marketing messages ― that defines the brand.

Today, user experience design delves much more deeply into creating an entire experience that meets users’ unacknowledged ― and often unarticulated ― needs, and mirrors how we straddle both the digital and physical worlds.

Design thinking is really a new way of acting and behaving. It becomes real when embodied in the team and is expressed as a new way of ‘doing’. Even though many people say they can’t draw and are reluctant to create a simple sketch, the very act of ‘doing’ dramatically changes not only team members’ understanding, but also individuals’ understanding. This ‘thinking aloud on paper’ can help crystallize thoughts.

Design thinking doesn’t end when the product or service is launched; it can and should be incorporated into the experience itself, and used continuously to refine and enhance the experience.

While the human element is critical to design thinking, intelligent devices and sensors can provide additional eyes and ears to what happens when the individual engages with the product or service, in a way that would otherwise be impractical, intrusive and unwelcome.

The experiences that result from a design thinking process are not superficial; they necessitate changes to be made in supporting business processes, technologies and organizational structures. The new customer experiences that arise will require an integration and re-orchestration of how the company relates to customers on all channels.”

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