Design Thinking - Defining Concept of Design Thinking

...

other uses

As shown in the pictures above the SynDaver is a result of multiple solutions to the single problem. The problem of scarcity of the bodies that are donated to science (Syndaver, 2016).

The design process behind Syndaver’s success:

Inspiration

The problem was understood to be the lack of human bodies donated to science. Before Syndaver there were anatomical guides such as the classical skeleton in the corner of the classroom, however there were no products that could be practiced upon. This thought process was gained by thinking from the student’s point of view, as there were too few real organic cadavers there were too many students per cadaver and therefore the learning process was limited.

Ideation

Syndaver first believed that creating individual tissue and muscle groups would be enough to satisfy this need of suitable practice material. This is where Syndaver had to create a new material which is both lifelike and anatomically similar to that of real flesh and connective tissue. This occurred through rapid prototyping and testing through consumer groups.

Implementation

Syndaver then had to create a selling point of the product, as consumer do not tend to enjoy new solutions to existing problems, such as the current lack of organic human cadavers. Syndaver went around this by introducing the product to the public before they had a chance to purchase it. This was done by supplying the SynDaver to TVshows such as shark tank and Mythbusters.

Example 2

The iKnife – A cancer detecting cauterizer

Real world application

The iKnife is very useful for any surgeon that needs to cauterize bleeding vessels. The iKnife also allows for surgeons to identify what tissue they are cauterizing.

Inspiration

The inspiration for the iKnife was due to the putrid smell that came off from the cauterized flesh in the surgeon’s theatre. This idea then evolved as the Imperial college student was looking for a method to filter the smelly smoke. The Hungarian chemist Zoltán Takáts from Imperial University wondered if he could speed things up by directly analyzing the smoke created by the electrosurgical knives that surgeons use to cut and cauterize blood vessels. Although the smoke is "a very nasty" tarry mixture.

Ideation

The knife then needed to be developed via prototyping and to streamline the vacuum process in order to allow surgeons to operate dexterously and accurately. The iKnife currently has a database of tissues that it can identify, currently up to The team collected nearly 3000 tissue samples from about 300 cancer patients’ surgeries, had pathologists identify if a sample was healthy tissue or a type of cancer, then matched up each result with the lipid profile they got by touching the iKnife to the same sample (Kaiser, Science Mag, 2015).

Iteration

The iknife is currently in its testing period as it still needs to be approved by the BMJ.

Conclusion

In summary Design thinking allows companies to further their products by giving the individual designers and engineers a thought process to abide by. This causes them to analyze their existing solution and further develop it at least one time over. This means that an initial product can evolve into a range of products or have a range of uses instead of the original. This was seen in both the iKnife and the SynDaver.