Zhanna Lidtka is a professor of management at the University of Virginia, specializing in design thinking and innovation. Book “Think like a designer”, as Lidtka herself says, was written for non-designers and, in fact, reveals all the pros and cons of design thinking, which she has been using for a long time to solve certain problems.

Who is this book for

The author argues that the book will be most useful for managers, executives and business owners, because all these people from the very beginning of their careers cultivate a certain style of thinking that does not always help to cope with pressing problems. And in the case when the problem cannot be solved by the standard ways to which everyone is accustomed, design thinking should come to the rescue.

But I would expand the area of ​​the target audience to beginner designers who did not study in a specialized institution, but decided to try themselves in the field of design without basic education. The book “Think Like a Designer” reflects the entire process of developing a large project in the field of web or interface design: idea, design, prototyping, target audience survey, design, etc. Moreover, at each stage, examples are given, studying which, the reader will be able to understand the result that he must achieve at each step.

What is this book about

In her book, Zhanna Liedtka, together with Tim Ogilvy, have collected an impressive number of examples of the application of design thinking in various areas of business and management: from anti-smoking Nicorette patches to state communication systems in the United States – in each of the examples the same decision sequence was used: What is? – What if? – What’s catching? – What works?

In accordance with the above scheme of work of design thinking, the book contains 5 chapters, each of which examines in detail each stage of work on a project.

What will you learn from the book

The manager will discover a new type of thinking for himself – design. Firstly, it will help him to better communicate with the designers who carry out projects under his leadership. And secondly, he will be able to solve the tasks assigned to him more efficiently and with better results (at least so the author of the book claims), because design thinking is aimed precisely at the result.

The designer will be able to form for himself and fully understand all stages of the development of a project related to web design or interface design. After reading the book, I’m sure you will write down the basic steps on a piece of paper. What is? – What if? – What’s catching? – What works? and stick with them in your future projects.

The rest of the readers, regardless of the type of activity, will be able to understand both the principle of work of designers (that they are not idlers and their work consists not only in a beautiful picture that can be drawn in 15 minutes), and the principle of design thinking, which is inherent in creative professions, that, I’m sure it will be a big plus in any work, because each of us is a designer at heart 🙂

Buy a paper book: Ozon.ru
Download the first chapter of the book: pdf file

Author: Pavel Ryabov