Thinking about “Design Thinking” by Fred Collopy
I grow more bothered by the week with the phrase “design thinking.” I know full well that I am fighting a losing battle, but I think it is an unfortunate term for describing what designers have to offer to other disciplines, which seems the most common reason for using the term. As is a way of talking about what designers can contribute to areas beyond the domains in which they have traditionally worked, about how they can improve the tasks of structuring interactions, organizations, strategies and societies, it is a weak term.
Instead Collopy proposes “to invite lawyers, doctors, politicians and business people to **design** rather than to engage in design thinking”
Reminds me of the word “wiki” which – like design – is much more powerful when understood as a verb, an activity than just a noun.
