Design thinking (DT) is a popular method and methodology for leveraging innovation. However, using DT in practical organisational settings is challenging because there is little acknowledgment of such research in academia. The few existing researches about the utilization of DT has been misinterpreted by organisations due to the phenomenon on wicked problems, leading to misuse of the method. This research investigates and enhances interdisciplinary approaches that can enhance the utilization of DT in product development for driving innovation. This qualitative case study was conducted by two full-time engineer students over a span of twenty weeks, starting in mid-January, as a thesis project for their industrial product realization studies at Jönköping University. The case study was carried out at a manufacturing company, Thule, in Sweden, specializing in outdoor recreational products. Using the IDEO method of DT, the study implements a systematic approach to develop a new, innovative solution. The project began with an extensive analysis of the market competition, users, and the company Thule, using innovative techniques such as brainstorming and various stages of sketching to address identified user challenges. Utilizing DT methods for innovation was successful as the insights were transformed into a tangible concept using computer-aided design and prototyping tools. As a result of implementing DT, a conceptualised approach was developed that ultimately lead to the innovative idea of creating a modular camping box mounted to the car's tow bar.

Plastics are known to cause plenty of problems for the environment such as sewerage water,birds, marine life and even human health issues. Normally the cause for such small particles tobe such a huge problem lies in the adversity of collecting it after the use phase. Other occurringproblems are health related, where such small-sizes particles are getting in the eyes or eveninhaled by the workers handling the material. An example of such material is glitter. Tarkett AB is a Swedish company located in Ronneby, Sweden, and deals withmanufacturing of flooring mats created with homogeneous blends of different plastic materialsresulting in interesting designs for customers. One of their products uses glitter flakes in themix and causes the company a few problems, the biggest of which is the glitter getting stuckinside the blender thus risking the glitter particles getting into the next blend that isn’t supposedto have any glitter flakes in it. The company’s current solution is mixing waste material in theblender to clean the blender from most of the stuck glitter. The purpose of this work is to investigate why the glitter flakes stick to surfaces in generalthus getting an idea of why it could be sticking inside the blender. This knowledge is later usedto ideate different solutions for the company and select one winning concept that will beprototyped and possibly tested through conduction of experiments. There are a few reasons asto why this problem is worthwhile solving, firstly and most importantly is the operator’s healthwhere the glitter that is being used can be inhaled by the operators thus leading to potentialhealth problems. Secondly the company will save time by not needing to clean around andinside the blending machines to get them ready for the next mix. Thirdly, solving this problemwill lead to environmental sustainability where no energy or water will be used during thecleaning process both around and inside the blending machine. Method used to achieve this will be the design thinking process with plenty of differenttools. Starting off by understanding the problem further through need finding and tech watchingto investigate the problem further and the current available solutions for it. A literature reviewwill be done on the material to get a better idea of the root causes for the problem. Ideageneration will be a big part based on previous tools used to generate many different ideas tolater be filtered using concept selection methods. Through this a concept will be developedwhich can potentially lead to a prototype that’ll be tested at the company. The main finding from this thesis is a concept derived from biomimicry which is atransparent slime and oil mixture to prevent glitter spread during the handling stage at theproduction line. Both variants prevent glitter particles from spreading, which results inminimized glitter spread thus minimizing the cleaning requirements. Experiments show that theoil-glitter variant had a positive effect of improved distribution of glitter flakes in the finalproduct. The experiments were discussed with a design expert at Tarkett to evaluate the twopresented variations and assess the final product.

Co-Mission is a framework designed to promote synodality and collaboration between pastors and artists in commissioning sacred liturgical art, bridging the gap between the Church and the Arts. In response to changes in religious expression and the challenges posed by secularization, Co-Mission merges the leadership and creativity of pastors and artists through continuous, community-centered dialogue: the See-Judge-Act method provides a systematic pastoral approach, while Design Thinking introduces an innovative process that encompasses empathy, definition, ideation, prototyping, and testing. Co-Mission fosters spiritual growth, enhances worship experiences, and adjusts to the evolving needs of the faithful. This thesis includes a case study on the commissioning of La Asunción Indígena, assessment tools to guide the Co-Mission process and evaluate liturgical art, and Via Lucis Brevior for prayer and reflection. It contributes to Church-Arts partnerships by offering a practical framework, establishing it as a catalyst for transformational leadership and church renewal. / 2025-01-26T00:00:00Z

Forest machine operators work in an environment that requires simultaneous monitoring of several factors. This is done using a control and information system, MaxiXT, that should provide the right information at the right time. The interface plays an important role in improving efficiency and promoting a favourable working environment for operators. Therefore, it is important to have an interface that effectively meets the needs of users. The objective of this study was to design a prototype of a user-friendly interface that makes it easy for the forest machine drivers to find the information they need. The design thinking methodology was used in this study, with a focus on forest machine operators who are the users of the control and information system. The process involves conducting user research and user testing. The insights gathered from the user research, combined with the findings from literature studies, served as the foundation for developing the prototype. The prototype was tested in both Mid-Fi and Hi-Fi versions, generating valuable feedback and insights. Overall, the impressions of the future users were highly positive. The diverse personalities and backgrounds of the users revealed varying interests in interaction and expectations from the control and information system. This highlights the potential for personalizing the interface, while also providing default settings based on the most typical preferences of Swedish users. To ensure broader usability across a wider user group, it is essential to supplement this information with input from users in other countries.

Customer feedback is essential for improving a company's products or services and increasing customer satisfaction. Despite its value, user involvement faces many challenges, such as low user motivation and feedback with missing context information. To increase the chance of collecting user feedback, the process must be fast, easy, and well-integrated into the system or product.  In this thesis, a suitable way of designing a high-fidelity (Hi-Fi) prototype of a reactive feedback feature that improves the ease of submitting end-user feedback and enriching it with sufficient information to streamline the interpretation and handling process has been investigated. This was done by following the Design Thinking method and its five phases. In the first phase of the process, Empathize, information about the end-users' and the product teams' pain points, wants, and needs regarding the current feedback process were gathered through interviews. A literature study and research of existing feedback tools were also conducted to build a broader knowledge about the subject. The collected data was organized and analyzed during the second phase, Define, through affinity diagramming, a customer journey map, and defining user need statements. In the third phase, Ideate, a wide range of design solutions to the identified problems and user need statements were generated during a Crazy 8 workshop and initial sketching. The two final phases, Prototype and Test, consisted of three iterations of creating and evaluating prototypes through an expert review, a usability test, a heuristic evaluation, and a final usability test.  The two major identified pain points were the product team expressed that customer feedback is often difficult to interpret due to missing context information, and that end users have to go through a long and laborious procedure to provide feedback. End-users wanted an easy and fast way to submit a wide range of feedback to have some impact on the product's future improvement, and the product team wanted to collect as much sufficient information as possible to facilitate the interpretation and handling process. The study explores the challenges of including predefined feedback options and a prioritization feature to enhance the interpretation and management of feedback while maintaining ease of use. The prototype includes the possibility to attach annotated screenshots and screen recordings and automatically collects contextual data to address the lack of information and simplify and speed up the feedback process for end-users. The final usability test resulted in positive feedback and showed that the suggested feedback feature enables end-users to provide feedback quickly and easily while providing the product team with the most necessary information. The result also gives a first indication that the feedback feature will increase the end-user involvement in the product's future development.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer and 8 700 individuals in Sweden were diagnosed with breast cancer in 2021. Thanks to improved diagnostic methods and more effective treatment, nine out of ten women who develop breast cancer survive. The aim of the study was to assess the impact on the administrative time of healthcare professionals in the breast cancer screening process when the process is automated using Robot Process Automation (RPA). The study developed a process model of the screening process and a cost estimate of how much time could be saved by integrating RPA based on input from healthcare staff. The study used the methodology Design Thinking Method in conjunction with the methodology Case Study. The overall results of this study show that RPA can replace certain administrative tasks in the breast cancer screening process to reduce administrative time. It shows that the breast cancer screening process has the potential to be automated and the cost estimates show that an automated system could save between 30-80 hours of manual work per year. Further research is needed to determine how other screening processes can benefit from automating manual tasks with RPA and thus integrate RPA on a larger scale.

Nonprofit organizations are faced with unprecedented challenges as they seek to accomplish their lofty missions in a complex environment, ripe with uncertainty. The global COVID-19 pandemic brought forth new problems for communities and workplaces. As a result, some old ways of working may no longer be useful. To make meaningful progress on their social missions while navigating an unfamiliar post-pandemic context, nonprofits need new tools to help them understand and respond to changing community needs. Evidence has shown design thinking to be an effective approach to developing innovative strategies tailored to real needs, however, it has not been widely practiced in the nonprofit sector. Therefore, the purpose of this action research study was to introduce design thinking to one nonprofit organization where new strategies were necessary to effectively support constituents’ evolving needs. Five action research cycles engaged staff and stakeholders in a design team to apply human-centered design to a real organizational challenge. Research questions sought to understand how design thinking practices were implemented, which attributes contributed to the development of a new strategy, and the ways in which design thinking influenced how the organization responds to evolving constituent needs. Qualitative data from participant interviews, observation, and focus groups found four themes addressed the research questions: Relevance, Leadership Expectations, Capacity, and Intentionality. By way of engaging in play and inquiry, participants saw design thinking as an opportunity to innovate and adapt, helping nonprofits become more relevant. Findings also revealed expectations for leaders to have the answers may hinder ideation and implementation, though data also suggest leadership communication may be a particularly powerful facilitator of design thinking implementation, providing clarity on organizational priorities and aligning leaders and team members. Capacity, including organizational resources and personal bandwidth, was also found to affect how the design team’s ongoing work was supported and implemented across the organization. Finally, intentionality was revealed through the application of empathy, collaboration, and testing assumptions to aid learning. Such attributes may have already been present, but following design thinking, became intentional practices. Taken together, this also suggests incorporating elements of design thinking may be beneficial for nonprofits, as well as easier to implement than a full design thinking process. Findings from this study provide insights into what helps and hinders the implementation of a human-centered design practice, based on real experiences of nonprofit practitioners attempting to innovate and adapt to better serve their communities. This study contributes to knowledge regarding how design thinking might impact nonprofit organizations and offers some actionable insights regarding team dynamics, leadership, and facilitation of design practices. Finally, these findings offer practical implications and recommendations for organizations seeking to address longstanding problems in new ways, which may be particularly important in complex times.

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