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Design Thinking and Design Thinking Process
Have you heard the story of the Oral-B toothbrush?
Getting kids to brush their teeth can be tough for parents, and in 1996,
Oral-B saw a chance to help with this problem while growing their
business. Back then, children’s toothbrushes were just smaller versions
of adult ones, which weren’t designed for kids’ needs. To create a
toothbrush that kids would actually like, Oral-B teamed up with a
design company called IDEO. IDEO studied how kids hold toothbrushes
and found that, unlike adults, they grip the brush with their whole fist
because their fingers aren’t as strong. This led to the design of a new
toothbrush with a wider handle and a soft, easy-to-hold grip, perfect
for children. The new design, with bright colours and fun graphics, was tested in real homes
and received great feedback for being more comfortable and effective.
This process followed IDEO’s approach to design, which includes three steps: understanding
the users, brainstorming ideas, and making the final product. By deeply understanding how
kids use toothbrushes, IDEO was able to create a successful product that solved the problem.
And Oral B had the bestselling kids toothbrush in the world for 18 months.

Read more about the journey of the Oral-B toothbrush at https://medium.com/@tinaphm7/online-
reflection-week-14-human-centred-design-a827bccf375e

The above story is a great example of how a company used Design Thinking to become more innovative and
increased their market share. Let us now understand what is design thinking and the design thinking process.
Design Thinking can be defined as a process for solving problems, and it is one of the most effective ways
to create something new. A process that first understands users, identifies and analyses a problem or need,
and researches relevant information, after which ideas are explored and analysed, until an appropriate
innovative solution to the problem is found.
The design thinking process is an iterative, non-linear process that teams use to study people, challenge
assumptions, redefine tasks, and generate novel solutions. The five stages of the design thinking process are
as follows:
l Observe/Empathise/Research: The first step of design thinking focuses on user-centered research to
gain a thorough understanding of the problem at hand. By consulting experts, watching, and immersing
yourself in the consumers’ environment, you may empathise with their experiences and motives. This
technique enables design thinkers to overcome personal biases and acquire genuine insights into
consumer demands. The Empathise stage seeks to collect extensive information to inform the following
phase, ensuring a thorough understanding of the users and the underlying issues critical to developing the
desired product or service.
l Understand/Analyse/Define: The define stage enables you to address the appropriate difficulty based
on your improved understanding of your customer. It is also the stage in which you try to simplify your
empathy-related results into powerful insights. Transposing insights into questions beginning with ‘How
Might We’ lays the groundwork for encouraging feedback, recommendations, and investigation.
l Ideate/Alternate/Create: The ideation phase is an important part of design thinking where a wide range
of viewpoints are considered, and many possible solutions are generated freely, without criticism or
limitations. The main aim is to come up with as many ideas as possible, which are later reviewed and
selected for further development through prototyping and testing.
l Build/Prototype/Detail: The prototype stage involves creating simple, scaled-down versions of the chosen
ideas to explore how they might work in practice. These prototypes help identify strengths, weaknesses,
and areas for improvement before final implementation.

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