fEATURE what is the reaL vaLUe OF desiGn? 5. Matt Kranz, “Disney Profits Flat, But theme Parks shine,” USA Today, aug. 6, 2013. 4 DevelopIng BeTTeR 5 ReThInkIng sTRaTegy CusTomeR expeRIenCes recently, design thinking has become popular in every relationship we have with providers of goods with organizations that face murky, complex and services in our society, there is an inherent end- issues that are hard to solve using traditional to-end experience. When designers get involved in business best practices. By employing such creating experiences, they use techniques involving design tools as empathy, creativity, and empathy to uncover and optimize for both functional rationality, organizations are able to reframe and emotional customer needs. Different types of problems in ways that forge new pathways designers (interaction, brand, package, product, service, toward innovative solutions. in other words, graphic, and so on) contribute at various stages of the designers don’t create solutions until they process to, in the best cases, build a seamless, branded, have determined the root issue, and even then, and differentiated experience. By definition, this work they pause first to consider the whole range of connects various parts of the company that in many potential solutions. cases had not previously even met. this is a critical iBM is working design thinking into its byproduct of the top design-driven companies and a practices to build a new way of creating key value-added secret that best-practice companies solutions for its customers. in addition to in the Design-Value index share. heavily recruiting designers and design Disney is one company that has built a successful experts, the technology giant recently business ecosystem around delighting customers. launched an initiative to send product teams in particular, its park and resorts unit—which to Designcamp, a one-week design-thinking includes iconic attractions Disneyland and Disney training camp at a brand-new studio in Austin, World—has gained attention by pioneering the field of texas, that was built for this purpose. Product experience design. Disney’s imagineers, the creative managers, developers, and designers learn force responsible for creating and developing its design-thinking techniques and put their new entertainment venues, include illustrators, architects, skills to use developing solutions for mobile, engineers, choreographers, lighting designers, show social, cloud, security, and big data. writers, graphic designers, and many more who are What’s so big about design thinking is that tasked with “making the magic.” every aspect of a it allows all comers to tap the right/creative customer’s visit is thoughtfully designed to delight. side of their brains to think in new ways, create Cast members (employees) are even trained on how to new connections, derive new insights, and treat guests (customers) to the smallest details—for create innovative solutions. With creativity example, how to smile and to wave. the intangible a lost commodity in many business settings elements of the experience haven’t been ignored, either: these days, this practice builds that muscle. the ambient sounds along walking paths and the scent of cookies that wafts through the park help immerse visitors in a fantasyland determined to deliver on its promise of being “the happiest place on earth.” its investments seem to be paying off. the park and resorts division has posted the fastest revenue growth of 5 any of the company’s five business units in the past year. DMI Winter 2013 35