Design Thinking: A Human-Centered Approach to Innovation

Design thinking is a non-linear, flexible design methodology that utilizes an empathetic approach in creating innovative solutions for users. It is a human-centered and user-specific process that encourages the use of creativity, while ensuring efficiency throughout the whole process. This concept was made widely known by David Kelley and Tim Brown, founder and chair of the global design company IDEO. The effectiveness of this method led to other companies transitioning to this process and requiring employees to have refined design thinking skills.

Since 2019, the Ateneo Intellectual Property Office (AIPO) has been utilizing the design thinking method through its Ideation Support Group (ISG). ISG’s efforts in teaching design thinking through workshops and conferences have made this method more known and accessible to participants across different backgrounds, ranging from university students to aspiring startup owners. 

With many traditional design methodologies mainly utilizing a rigid, systematic approach when creating their innovations, the human-centered approach that the design thinking method harbors makes it stand out. Innovative solutions are done with more freedom and greater understanding of the user’s problem through its 5-step non-linear process: empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and test. This process is non-linear, meaning the designer has the option to backtrack, repeat, or skip certain steps based on the results they’ve achieved. Throughout these five steps, the designer’s empathy and creativity will constantly be applied, encouraging highly user-specific ideas and prototypes. 

Through the ‘Empathize’ and ‘Define’ stages, both the apparent and underlying factors to the user’s situation are further understood, explored, and organized. Similarly to other design methodologies, interviews with the user are conducted to better comprehend what their immediate needs are. Design thinking also encourages designers to dig even deeper in order to completely grasp not only their immediate needs, but also their underlying pain points. Pain points are specific challenges that result in the manifestation of the user’s immediate needs. 

Once all the data has been gathered, a user profile organizing all this information is usually made in order to easily create the problem statement. The problem statement is a singular sentence encapsulating what the user needs (immediate needs) and why they need it (pain points); this also serves as the designer’s main objective. When creating the problem statement, it’s important to remember that the user’s information should be the main focus, rather than the statistics and technicalities of it. 

In the ‘Ideate’, ‘Prototype’, and ‘Test’ phases, rapid and continuous brainstorming is encouraged at all times. A method used in design thinking that can help in starting this is the ‘How Might We’ (HMW) statement. The HMW statement turns the problem statement into actionable, open-ended questions that can enable a wider range of solutions to be done. In order to further explore these HMW statements, a variety of ideation techniques can be used such as SCAMPER, round robin, mind mapping, and many more.

In design thinking, simple and low effort prototypes are encouraged as it allows for failure with minimal loss of time and funds. This practice pushes designers to come up with more solutions and spend less time perfecting them. Throughout these three phases, communication with the user is needed as their input and feedback is key in discerning what should be done next. In addition to the user’s feedback, reflection from the designer is also required. Reflecting and understanding the positives, negatives, and areas for growth is a necessary step that pushes the designer closer to achieving the final product.

The Ateneo Intellectual Property Office has shown how easily digestible and successful design thinking can be through their workshops. Participants have shared how their workshops taught them more about design thinking and how they believe that it can be useful in their future endeavors. They acknowledged how these events have shown them a more empathetic approach to innovation.

Design thinking is simply one of the many other design methodologies that can be utilized in creating innovative solutions. However, with its empathetic process, human-centered approach, and flexible yet efficient manner, it has grown into one of the most recently used methodologies around the world. The Ateneo Intellectual Property Office aims to bring this method to even more people through the numerous workshops and conventions that their office holds. The feedback from their design thinking events have also proven how it can be successfully used by people from various backgrounds and industries. Through design thinking, innovation has gained a new perspective and has become even more impactful to users around the world.

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Experience Design Thinking in Action at Halo-Halo Bites 2025

If you’re inspired to dive deeper into design thinking and explore how it intersects with innovation, entrepreneurship, and social impact, then don’t miss Halo-Halo Bites 2025: Co-Creating the Innovations of the Future.

Organized by the Ateneo Intellectual Property Office (AIPO), Halo-Halo Bites is a one-day conference happening on Wednesday, July 30, 2025, at Ateneo de Manila University. Much like the Filipino dessert halo-halo—a colorful mix of different ingredients that blend into something delightful—this event celebrates the synergy of government, universities, and enterprises in shaping a humanity-centered future through design, innovation, and collaboration.

Join us! Register at: https://www.aipo.ateneo.edu/hhbites2025.

Learn more about AIPO’s design thinking events: www.aipo.ateneo.edu/designthinking 

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References:

BiteSize Learning. (n.d.). The SCAMPER Creativity Model, Explained. BiteSize Learning. Retrieved July 4, 2025, from https://www.bitesizelearning.co.uk/resources/scamper-model-creativity

Dam, R. F. (2025, March 13). The 5 Stages in the Design Thinking Process. Interaction Design Foundation - IxDF. Retrieved July 4, 2025, from https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/5-stages-in-the-design-thinking-process 

Dam, R. F. and Teo, Y. S. (2025, March 2). What is Design Thinking and Why Is It So Popular?. Interaction Design Foundation - IxDF. Retrieved July 4, 2025, from https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/what-is-design-thinking-and-why-is-it-so-popular

Han E. (2022, January 18). What Is Design Thinking & Why Is It Important. Harvard Business School Online. Retrieved July 3, 2025, from https://online.hbs.edu/blog/post/what-is-design-thinking

Interaction Design Foundation - IxDF. (2016, May 25). What is Design Thinking (DT)?. Interaction Design Foundation - IxDF. Retrieved July 3, 2025, from https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/topics/design-thinking

Interaction Design Foundation - IxDF. (2016, November 22). What is How Might We (HMW)?. Interaction Design Foundation - IxDF. Retrieved July 4, 2025, from https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/topics/how-might-we