Even before the term “design thinking” gained popularity and businesses began considering it as a serious driving force in maintaining industry leadership. Some visionary brands were already practicing it. Their leadership teams challenged traditional beliefs and assumptions with creative solutions or concepts designed from the customer’s standpoint. Its leading to disruptive outcomes and pioneering ideas. Lets examine how design thinking elevates the brand experience
Design thinking, which has evolved rapidly over the last twenty-odd years. Resolves business challenges by approaching the problem situation through the customer’s lens and deploying the appropriate tools and technologies to derive the most innovative results. It considers factors like people’s ethnographic backgrounds, cultural sensitivities, behavioral patterns, motivations, and buying desires. This problem-solving methodology of arriving at out-of-the-box solutions by empathizing with the target audience paves the way for higher product quality, better customer connections, and a positive impact on sales. It has a wholesome effect on various facets of brand management, from product to process to people to profit!
It boosts productivity
When design teams challenge stereotypes and move around human biases that block the exercise of imagination. The design environment undergoes a transformation. Bright new ideas emerge, the monotony of traditional data analysis reduces, and the team members productively engage in dynamic, customer-centric product development.
It helps the brand delight the customer
Design thinking arises from and revolves around the customer. It stands to reason, therefore, that a lot of thought goes into anticipating and fulfilling not just stated consumer needs, but even latent and implicit ones. Due to a fundamental shift from a business-centric engineering standpoint to a customer-focused outlook while developing the product. The design thinking takes product quality up a notch. Painstaking feedback collection during the prototyping phase immediately helps highlight the red flags or mismatches with consumer pain points. The process thus enables design teams to go back to the drawing board at an early stage of product development and make changes to accommodate the customer’s ask(s). That is how the final product becomes a lot more aligned with customer expectations and desires than if it were to be developed with a traditional mindset.
The whole philosophy is aimed at serving a purpose. creating value for the customer, and being in sync with business goals rather than just being aesthetic in appearance. What is unique about design thinking is that when understood well. It lends itself to application across any department other than design-finance, legal, customer service, or sales. And when teams across the board throughout the company adopt the methodology. The pursuit of excellence becomes a common goal-meaning the customer gets to enjoy an extraordinary experience. Both in terms of service, as well as with regards to the product.
It enhances brand perception
The more widespread the design thinking culture becomes across a company, the more its reputation gets a boost. A brand that is perceived to listen to its audience enjoys enhanced customer engagement. Over time, the brand image begins to evoke positive emotions among its current users as well as its target audience even through the simplest of marketing content or brand identity display.
As this deceptively simple concept permeates further and the design of things gives way to the design of ideas. The world-class customer experiences are created. As brands raise their commitment to design thinking. It is vital that their creative and branding partners have the wherewithal to match their pace. At Manipal Digital, our technological prowess is complemented by top-notch creativity and innovation fueled by design thinking at its best. From discovery to ideation, and design development to brand guideline deployment. We provide end-to-end solutions to our global customers across industries. Get in touch today to discuss the ocean of possibilities! With leading global brands adopting radical methods for creating value for business and customers, the era of design thinking has come into its own!
