8/9/2019 Use Your Senses.

1/2

Use Your Senses.

Design Thinking serves as a valuable tool for de ning problems, exploringcore empathy with customers, and discovering new, surprising, and game-changing innovations in products, services, and experiences.

However, Design Thinking has its limits, the core shortcoming being that ituses only one of the ve senses and other ways of knowing as the primarymode of creation. ecause Design Thinking came out of the design andengineering world, the solutions tend to be visual.

There are more modes of creation and knowing, which allow di!erent stylesof thinkers to fully participate in innovation pro"ects. The world of innovationneeds to widen its dominant modes of discovery to include inventions thatpresent themselves in ways other than visual.

The various forms of clairvoyance provide new methods of ideation andconceptual thinking. #e recommend exploring at the idea generating stage

rst with each mode. $ou never know what mode may crack the code ofgrowth and provide real value to your business.

%eep in mind that, in the ideation phase, a basic download has alreadyoccurred and we seek new ideas, which is more of an art than a science.&ater in the process, we apply the critical facilities in the 'alidation phase ofthe pro"ect.

Here is a short list of some of the non-visual sensory modes(

Feeling/Touching: Clairsentience. Here, a person ac)uires insightprimarily by feeling. %inesthetic learners thrive when they can feel an idea ortouch a concept, making creation a *hands-on+ experience. ctually doing anactivity can be the easiest way for them to learn. apping out an experience,as in asking *how does it feel when /+, can make the feeling modevaluable and immediate. fter all, innovations make tired categories easier touse and create a better experience. 0ometimes, the way the category shouldfeel arises in these sessions 1 and serves as a tuning fork for the entirepro"ect lifecycle.

Hearing/Listening: Clairaudience. 2n this mode, insights form rst as asound 1 sometimes a whole word and sometimes a hum or a syllable 1 andpeople who excel in this style discern deeply, listening with a *third ear+attuned to auditory impressions. #e recommend a Deep &istening session 1where we seek to de ne the tone and pitch of the category of the innovation.

any ideas spring out from these *seed syllables.+

Smelling: Clairalience. The olfactory senses have long been called thegateway of the soul. How should a product or place smell 1 and how do youmap out the associations that arise in the process. How does a poorlyperforming category smell now, whether it3s a store, a doctor3s o4ce, or a

8/9/2019 Use Your Senses.

2/2

restaurant. 0mart companies, like #estin Hotels, know the value of de ning aparticular scent.

Knowing: Claircognizance. The hunch. 0ometimes you know somethingfrom the gut. This form of knowledge is an intuitive download. any businesspeople, artists, and scientists have written about intuition. fter an immersioninto a problem, practice ways to tap the intuition of the team members.

cknowledge the knowing as it presents itself to group members in a waythat is non-"udgmental. s Dr. 5orman 0heely says, *6very invention is anintuitive download.+ 6instein agrees( *The intuitive mind is a sacred gift.+

Tasting: Clairgustance. 2n this mode, you turn on your taste buds 1 andtaste a substance without putting anything in your mouth. 7opular culturehas a keen expression( *That left a bad taste in my mouth.+ #oe be on thecompany that leaves a bad taste in a customer3s mouth. How should anexperience taste/ That is the )uestion.

Design Thinking works for visual thinkers, but it is a big world with a complexrange of senses. ll of these senses can be harnessed to create breakthroughinnovations.