amazon design thinking case study

• INNOVATION FESTIVAL
• Capital One

03-05-2018 TECH

The Design Theory Behind Amazon’s $5.6 Billion Success

Amazon’s success brings into relief a principle that is sometimes hard to swallow in the design community: Successful design is not necessarily beautiful.

[Screenshot: Amazon]

BY  jason brush 6 minute read

Amazon is undoubtedly the most significant force in the digital transformation of commerce: an estimated 44% of all online sales are on Amazon , and more than one in three U.S. adults are estimated to be Amazon Prime members . The company had $5.6 billion in income last year ( none of which went to the federal government, controversially ), and  95% of current Prime subscribers say they’ll either “definitely” or “probably” renew.  Yet few credit the role design has played in the company’s success. If you read Amazon’s famous leadership principles , only two—”Customer Obsession” and “Invent and Simplify”—are correlated with a designerly way of developing products and services And they don’t even explicitly talk about design.

From an aesthetic point of view, Amazon’s web store is neither simple nor  beautiful–two things we expect of good design. Instead, it focuses on simplicity of experience, process, and functionality. For many designers, the idea that an experience with Amazon’s visual complexity succeeds is somewhat confounding. So, how might a designer look at Amazon to understand why it works, despite—if not because of—its aesthetic?

Amazon’s design succeeds because it makes use of four key principles that all great shopping experiences embody—whether digital or physical, luxury, or low-cost. At their heart, all great shopping experiences are:

1. Transparent

Great shopping experiences make pricing and the purchase process clear and easily understood.

At first glance, the Amazon experience doesn’t appear to be especially transparent. Consider its dynamic pricing model : Similar to Uber’s loathed surge pricing or the familiar dynamic pricing of airfares and hotels that bedevils travelers, Amazon has been rightly criticized for a lack of transparency, leading to fines . While consumers don’t care for dynamic pricing , they are also accustomed to doing their own research to make sure they’re getting the best price; dynamic shopping is not unique to Amazon.

So why might users give Amazon a pass on its dynamic pricing? One possible reason is that Amazon has, with its Prime service, solved two key obstacles of online shopping: eliminating both the hidden cost of shipping and the perception that shopping online is slower than shopping at retail. Prime succeeds because of the design of its effortless mental model: pay a yearly fee and get free two-day shipping (with Oscar-worthy movies included !). The transparency of Prime’s mental model is what enables Amazon’s most notable interaction design achievements for shopping: the simplicity and elegance of Amazon’s patent ( recently expired ) for one-click purchases, which laid the groundwork for shopping by voice on Alexa as well as the interaction design of Amazon’s Dash buttons.

2. Tangible

When people have a choice between different products, or variations of a product, great shopping experiences make those product choices tangible and immediate, so that people can make confident, informed choices.

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How Amazon Built a Culture of Innovation by Working Backwards

To say that Amazon is an unusual organization seems like an understatement. The company has been able to scale its culture of innovation, challenging all business conventions.

By Gustavo Razzetti

September 8, 2021

Mapping Amazon’s long, hard, and smart working culture with the Culture Design Canvas

Behind every successful organization, there’s a strong culture. And that’s precisely the case of Amazon: its working backwards culture has helped dramatically scale innovation and growth while staying true to the leadership principles initially defined by Jeff Bezos.

Even though he has recently stepped down as CEO, Bezos will continue to shape Amazon’s culture. His customer obsession and "Start with the customer and work backwards" philosophy has kept the 25-year-old “startup” in good shape – and will continue to do so in the years to come.  

Amazon’s culture is anything but perfect – no workplace is.  

The company’s success has drawn criticism. Examples range from Bezos’ extreme wealth to an aggressive environment taking a physical toll on employees or Amazon not paying income taxes for many years.

The attacks are not just driven by unhappy employees, but also by business pundits who believe Amazon’s business model is unsustainable .

Time and again, Amazon has proved the critics wrong.

This in-depth The Atlantic article sums it up: “In contrast to the dysfunction and cynicism that define the times, Amazon is the embodiment of competence, the rare institution that routinely works.”

In this post, I will share all the key building blocks of Amazon’s working backwards culture using the Culture Design Canvas – and why codifying your company culture matters.

To understand Amazon’s culture, you first need to understand the company’s unique business model and philosophy.

A Working Backwards Culture: the Secret to Scaling Innovation at Amazon

While most organizations try to stay focused, Amazon has successfully diversified its business in every direction. Instead of industry expertise, Amazon is leveraging innovation and operational excellence into every business it touches.

“What is Amazon, aside from a listing on Nasdaq? This is a flummoxing question. The company is named for the world’s most voluminous river, but it also has tributaries shooting out in all directions.

Retailer hardly captures the company now that it’s also a movie studio, an artificial intelligence developer, a device manufacturer, and a web-services provider. But to describe it as a conglomerate isn’t quite right either, given that so many of its businesses are tightly integrated or eventually will be.

When I posed the question to Amazonians, I got the sense that they considered the company to be a paradigm—a distinctive approach to making decisions, a set of values , the Jeff Bezos view of the world extended through some 600,000 employees” – Franklin Foer, The Atlantic

It wasn’t just a vision but a mindset that helped Amazon reach an annual revenue of 221.6 billion dollars.

Bezos loves the word relentless —it appears again and again in his annual letters to shareholders. He seemed determined to beat any competitor. However, his focus was not on other companies but people.

Being relentlessly customer-focused helped Amazon reach its success status.

With more than 600 million items for sale and more than 3 million vendors selling them, Amazon has a 54% market share of product searches. In other words: Amazon, not Google, is the most popular e-commerce search engine globally. When it comes to data, most global corporations rely on Amazon’s servers ¬– even the CIA.

Ben Thompson, the founder of Stratechery , a website that dissects Silicon Valley companies, describes Amazon’s master plan as providing logistics “for basically everyone and everything.” The goal is to collect a “tax” on every transaction – from premium cable channels to superior placement in its search.

Amazon crossed a trillion-dollar valuation – the second company after Apple – but Jeff Bezos kept the same mindset as when he started in a garage in Seattle.

There’s a huge difference between “think like a startup” and actually acting as one. Amazon operates with a “Day 1” mentality – a culture and an operating model that puts the customer at the center of everything, just as if it were its first day in business.

Day 1 is about being constantly curious, nimble, and experimental. It means being brave enough to fail. By applying a trial-and-error approach , you can better surprise and delight customers in the future.

“We need to plant many seeds because we don’t know which one of those seeds will grow into a mighty oak.” – Jeff Bezos.

Contrast this to a “Day 2” mentality: as a company grows over time, it starts to emphasize operational excellence. As it scales, not only do decision-making and speed slow down, but innovation and agility also suffer. The focus shifts towards internal challenges rather than external customer-centric innovation .

Jeff Bezos's philosophy regarding Amazon has always been “Grow Big Fast.” Amazon never stopped innovating and continued to disrupt its own business: from delivering products by using drones to using AI for inventory management.

Keeping an entrepreneurial mentality alive takes a toll on the organization. Amazon’s high-performance and demanding culture has been described as “purposeful Darwinism” by a former human resources director.

Jeff Bezos famously said, “You can work long, hard or smart, but at Amazon.com you can’t choose two out of three.”

Unsurprisingly, this aggressive mentality has permeated all aspects of Amazon’s culture – from goal-setting to performance management.

Being Amazonian is clearly not for everyone.

As author Marcus Buckingham told Fox Business :  “The wonderful thing about Amazon’s culture is that it is repulsive. It is strong enough to repel those who don’t fit.”

Amazon has a certain approach to getting the most out of their people that only works well for some people.

Jeff Bezos has denied all the accusations on several occasions. He usually avoids making comments about Amazon’s inhumane workplace culture. The company's success comes at a cost that the founder is not willing to acknowledge.  

As Franklin Foer wrote , “When Bezos creates the terms for his business, or society, he’s no more capable of dispassion than anyone else. To live in the world of his creation is to live in a world of his biases and predilections.”

Let’s jump into Amazon’s Culture Design Canvas and discuss the key principles and practices that define what it takes to be “Amazonian.”

Amazon Culture Design Canvas: The Core

Mapping your company culture using the Culture Design Canvas is a process of discovery and understanding.

As Jeff Bezos said, “You can write down your company culture, but when you do so, you’re discovering it, uncovering it – not creating it.”

Robin Andrulevich was tasked to map Amazon’s culture. What she thought would be a two-month project ended up taking nine months to complete.

Mapping the essence of a complex culture like Amazon is not easy. Robin had to capture the different perspectives and elements to codify Amazon’s culture.

Amazon's significant innovations since 2004 have one very Amazonian thing in common: they were created through a process called Working Backwards . It is so central to its success that Colin Bryar and Bill Carr named their book after it .

Working Backwards is a systematic way to vet ideas and create new products. It starts by defining the end customer experience, then iteratively working backwards from that point until the team achieves clarity of thought around what to build.

It’s like Design Thinking, but backwards. It starts with the impact the solution will create on the user/ customer.

Amazon’s Company Purpose

Amazon doesn’t have a purpose, but a mission that’s inner-focused rather than outer-focused.

“We aim to be Earth's most customer-centric company. Our mission is to continually raise the bar of the customer experience by using the internet and technology to help consumers find, discover and buy anything, and empower businesses and content creators to maximize their success.”

Although the last part addresses how it helps others (“maximize their success”), it’s still self-serving rather than showcasing why the company exists and the impact it creates on others (employees, society, community, etc.)

Amazon's Core Values

Amazon has a long list of core values that are called Leadership Principles.

This set of core values explains what the company demands from every employee – all are expected to be leaders.

Originally, Amazon had 10 Leadership Principles that defined its unique way of thinking and working. Over time, some were updated and more were added. These values are used in job interviews, taught in orientations, and assessed in performance reviews.

Currently, Amazon has 14 Leadership Principles:

1. Customer Obsession. Leaders start with the customer and work backwards. Although leaders pay attention to competition, they obsess over customers.

2. Ownership. Leaders are owners. They don’t sacrifice long-term value for short-term results. They never say, “that’s not my job.”

3. Invent and simplify. Leaders demand and expect innovation from their teams. They always find ways to simplify things. Leaders are externally aware; they are not limited by “not invented here.”

4. Are right, a lot. Leaders have good judgment and strong instincts. They seek diverse perspectives and work to disconfirm their beliefs.

5. Learn and be curious. Leaders are never done learning. They are curious about new possibilities and act to explore them.

6. Hire and develop the best. Leaders raise the performance bar. With every hire and promotion, they recognize exceptional talent. Leaders develop and take seriously their role in coaching people.

7. Insist on the highest standards. Leaders have relentlessly high standards that some might find unreasonable high. They are continually raising the bar to deliver high-quality products, services, and processes. Leaders ensure mistakes are fixed, not sent down the line.

8. Think big. Thinking small is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Leaders communicate a bold direction that inspires bold results. They think different and look for new ways to serve customers.

9. Bias for action. Speed matters. Many decisions are reversible and do not need extensive study. Leaders value calculated risk-taking.

10. Frugality. Accomplish more with less. Constraints breed resourcefulness, self-sufficiency, and invention. There are no extra points for increasing budgets or spending more.

11. Earn trust. Leaders listen attentively, speak candidly, and treat others with respect. They are self-critical, even when it feels uncomfortable. Leaders do not believe their or their team’s body odor smells of perfume.

12. Dive deep. Leaders operate at all levels, stay connected to the details, audit frequently, and are skeptical when metrics and anecdotes differ.

13. Have backbone. disagree and commit. Leaders are obligated to respectfully challenge decisions when they disagree. Leaders have conviction and are tenacious. They don’t compromise for the sake of social cohesion.

14. Deliver results. Leaders focus on the key inputs for their business and deliver them with the right quality and in a timely fashion.

Amazon's cultural priorities

Amazon’s culture is all about the big picture: the company measures things based on the systemic impact, not just short-term or individual results.

Bezos has joked about Amazon’s investment in Hollywood: “When we win a Golden Globe, it helps us sell more shoes.”

Amazon’s top three even over statement priorities are:

Long-term value creation even over short-term results (a year is definitely short-term in Amazon’s playbook).

Speed even over perfection

High performance even over harmony

Behaviors that are rewarded and punished at Amazon

One of Bezos’s most conspicuous traits is consistency. He understands that culture is about the behaviors you consistently reward or punish.

Bezos attached the 1997 shareholder letter to every letter afterward, as a constant reminder to himself and all stakeholders. Amazon’s success depends on relentlessly focusing on customers, creating long-term value over short-term corporate profit, and making many bold bets.

“This is Day 1 for the Internet,” Bezos wrote on the first shareholder letter, “and, if we execute well, for Amazon.com.”

Amazon punishes/ doesn’t welcome:

• Day 2 mentality
• Bureaucracy
• Complacency

Amazon rewards/ welcomes:

• Overall company performance (not individual or team-specific results)
• Relentlessness
• Autonomy or the virtues of wandering: “Wandering is an essential counterbalance to efficiency,” Bezos wrote. Once the vision has been articulated, intellectual autonomy encourages innovation and growth.
• Constraints: At Amazon, limitations are seen as a source of creativity. To quote a senior executive: “One of the only ways out of a tight box is to invent your way out.”
• Boldness: Amazon Inc.’s employees are encouraged to take risks, such as considering new ideas to do business.

Amazon’s Workplace Emotional Culture

How amazon promotes psychological safety.

Amazon is not exactly known as a warm, caring company. It has an aggressive type of culture that’s competitive and unforgiving. Cold data and tough processes dominate everything.

The company encourages people to be candid, speak up, and address conflict in the open. This approach might work for extroverts and louder voices, but it’s definitely challenging for introverts, women, and minority groups.

Openness and honesty are the norm

Politics are not welcome and people can’t hide behind others. Knowledge and mistakes are shared in the open. Frank conversations are the foundation of day-to-day business. However, many employees feel Amazon has a low level of psychological safety to express their opinions openly.

"Tell me even more candidly," says the nameplate of Bezos' office.

Avoid group thinking

Bezos encourages people to fight conformity and resist conventional thinking – he prefers constructive conflict over harmony. Amazon’s founder likes to challenge others – and to be challenged by his colleagues. However, criticism and disputes should be factually substantiated.

Bezos believes that truth springs forth when ideas and perspectives are banged against each other, sometimes violently.

Respectfully challenge others

One of Amazon’s Leadership Principles states that leaders are “obligated to respectfully challenge decisions when they disagree, even when doing so is uncomfortable or exhausting.”

Employees understand this obligation. As John Rossman wrote in The Amazon Way , “Employees have learned that disagreeing with senior executives is actually beneficial to their careers at Amazon.”

Amazon is not so concerned about employee morale

Instead, the company attracts world-class talent and provides a culture of freedom and responsibility like Netflix does .  

Experimenting is welcomed

Amazon encourages a trial-and-error approach. Jeff Bezos said: “Failure and invention are inseparable twins.” You can’t have learning without making mistakes .

The Amazon Web Services platform was initially launched for internal needs. An unexpected visit from a couple of engineers sparked the “what if we turn it into a revenue-generating service?” question.

AWS is now one of the most profitable Amazon services.

Intellectual humility

A thin line divides Amazon’s Leadership Principles. On the one hand, leaders are supposed to “be right, a lot.” On the other hand, intellectual humility is rewarded. Leaders are never done learning; they seek diverse perspectives to challenge their own beliefs.

According to James Thomson, a manager at Amazon Marketplace, “At most companies, executives like to show how much they know. At Amazon, the focus is on asking the right question. Leadership is trained to poke holes in data.”

Diversity seems problematic

At Amazon, when top executives hear the word diversity, they interpret it to mean “the lowering of standards.” Amazon is a meritocracy based on data, but who decides what gets counted?

The company's challenging and harsh approach to dealing with conflict in the open might not be the best fit for everyone. Also, rigidity might limit career growth opportunities. For example, if all VP meetings happen at 7 a.m., how many mothers can manage it?

Amazon’s meritocracy culture might be an obstacle for diversity. When confronted by CNBC about the lack of diversity among its S-Team (the leadership team), Jeff Bezos dismissed the complaint. Ironically, the latest addition to the S-Team was another white male .

Like most large corporations, Amazon has many employee resource groups such as GLAmazon, an official employee affinity group for gay and lesbian employees, Black Employees Network, and Women in Technology.

However, as I have observed consulting with corporations, without structural change s, ERGs have limited ability to drive actual change.

Amazon’s Culture of Feedback

There’s been a lot of controversy around Amazon’s feedback practices. Many employees believe that its aggressive culture has weaponized feedback, turning it into torture rather than a gift .

The “Anytime Feedback”

This tool enables employees to praise or criticize their coworkers while tracking the performance of employees against set KPIs. The manager knows who sent the message, but the subject of the praise or criticism does not.

According to a report in The New York Times, this tool fuels competition between employees that could be seen as either healthy or cruel. Some Amazon employees have said the tool leads to colleagues teaming up against individuals to bury them.

Over and over, several Amazon spokespersons have denied the claims.  

Organization-Level Review

‍ Once a year, Amazon managers debate the ratings of their subordinates and decide who needs to be fired. This practice is similar to Netflix’s Keeper Test , in which those who are not A-performers are offered a severance package so they can be replaced with a star employee.

Amazon employs a performance appraisal method called stack ranking – or “rank-and-yank” - where employees are ranked and the worst-performing ones are fired. This system is linked to toxic workplace cultures like Microsoft before Satya Nadella.

Every leader is expected to do some team cleansing. Allegedly, some managers at  Amazon throw a “sacrificial lamb” under the bus in order to protect more valuable team members.

Performance Improvement Plan

‍ Amazon uses a Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) – a 3-month period during which underperforming employees are expected to improve and meet the company standards. Those who fail to improve are fired.

In most companies, this process is a self-fulfilled prophecy. In the majority of the cases, people will be fired regardless of whether or not their performance improves.

Consistent with its approach to conflict management, Amazon believes that everyone should be able to defend their point of view. However, insiders say the overly aggressive environment is not conducive to turning around unfair situations.

Connections program

‍ This internal climate survey measures engagement and job satisfaction. Once again, it seems there’s a disconnect between what management sees and what people observe.

Jeff Bezos recently bragged about the employee survey results: 95% of people would recommend working there to a friend. However, Amazon workers pushed back on the narrative. Many employees believe the results are far from reality.

Several Amazon employees told Recode that many do not answer Connections questions honestly because they fear their responses are not truly anonymous – they fear retaliation. Others shared that their managers pressured them to answer questions favorably.

Amazon’s Rituals

It’s no surprise that, as part of being an aggressive type of culture, Amazon doesn’t have many team rituals . Here’s a list of a few rituals people practice.

Rite of passage

‍ New hires go through a challenging multi-month immersion process to learn how to become an Amazonian. Over time, following meetings, decision-making, and feedback practices becomes second nature.

Press Release

‍ Jeff Bezos requires Amazon’s leaders to perform this powerful ritual before launching anything . When John Rossman joined the company, he was required to write a press release for Amazon Marketplace six months before launching the new business.

The press release is not meant for the public, but to illustrate, motivate, and align his internal team.

"Writing ideas and proposals in complete narratives results in better ideas, more clarity on the ideas, and better conversation on the ideas," Rossman wrote in Think Like Amazon .

Each future press release should follow four rules, according to Rossman:

• Set the release in the future

• Start with the customer

• Articulate audacious and clear goals

• Describe the hurdles you’ve overcome

The empty chair

“Your brand is what other people say about you when you’re not in the room” – Jeff Bezos

Bezos uses the symbol of the empty chair to remind executives that the customer always has a seat at the Amazon table. Customers need to know their voices are heard. This ritual reminds everyone of Amazon’s customer obsession.

Superpowers

‍ Performance reviews at Amazon ask employees to name their “superpower.” It’s a great reminder of each member’s contribution to the team .

Amazon’s Culture Design Canvas: The Functional Side

How teams make decisions at amazon, there are two types of decisions:.

To achieve high velocity, Bezos categorizes all decisions into two types :

Type 1 decisions are consequential and (nearly) irreversible. “Type 1 decisions are one-way doors. If you walk through and don’t like what you see on the other side, you can’t get back to where you were before,” Bezos wrote in a 2016 shareholder letter.

Type 1 decisions should be made slowly and methodically, with great deliberation and consultation to ensure a high-quality decision.

Type 2 decisions refer to those that are changeable or reversible – they’re two-way doors. If you’ve made a suboptimal decision, you don’t have to live with the consequences for that long. “You can reopen the door and go back through,” as Bezos wrote.

These decisions can and should be made quickly by high-judgment individuals or small groups. Leaders at Amazon delegate Type 2 decisions to their subordinates.

High-velocity is a competitive advantage in today’s world.

In one of his Letter to shareholders , Jeff Bezos explains how Amazon deals with this challenge: “Our senior team is determined to keep our decision-making velocity high. Speed matters in business – plus a high-velocity decision-making environment is more fun too.”

Amazon’s founder acknowledges that his team doesn’t have all the answers. The company culture is based on the idea that decision-making is a not-so-perfect process. Making effective decisions is not about eliminating all risks, but making the right choice with imperfect information.

Bezos believes that most decisions should probably be made with around 70% of the information we wish we had. Waiting for 90% will only slow you down. Acting quickly also requires recognizing issues and course-correcting – to prevent an imperfect decision from turning into a really bad one.

Disagree and commit:

It’s okay to acknowledge that not everyone might be okay with a decision. What’s not okay is not standing behind a call once it’s made.

Amazon uses the “ disagree and commit ” approach.

Disagreement is helpful, but, at some point, will people gamble with you on it? Will they disagree and commit? No one can predict the outcome of a decision for sure. However, when everyone commits, the odds are on your side.

Leaders should also be prepared to practice this principle themselves, as Bezos did in greenlighting that Amazon Studios original program, even if he originally didn’t buy into the idea.

Bar Raiser Hiring Approach:

Amazon understands that managers cannot just rely on the interviewer’s gut feeling when hiring new people. The Bar Raiser is the name of both a process and the group of individuals who participate in it – every new hire should raise the bar.

Amazon Bar Raisers receive special training. They are not the hiring manager or recruiter, but seasoned employees who can provide a fresh perspective. Bar Raisers are granted full authority to veto any hire – even overriding the hiring manager.

The process prioritizes raising the bar over filling a position.

Once the hiring manager selects a candidate, an in-house interview loop is put in place. Several Bar Raisers are selected – usually five to seven – to conduct thorough and structured interviews. Careful notes are taken, including verbatim, that will be shared when the group gets together to make a final recommendation.

Amazon's Meetings Culture

The two-pizza rule.

Amazon has a simple rule to limit the number of attendees at meetings . Jeff Bezos believes ideal meetings are those where two pizzas are enough to feed all participants.

Bezos believes that when a meeting has too many attendees, it becomes a productivity killer. The larger the group, the harder it becomes to gather insights and move fast.

PowerPoints are forbidden

The problem is not presentations, per se, but rather that most presenters and decks are boring. They are not designed for participation, but to share stuff.

Jeff Bezos famously banned PowerPoint decks from Amazon executive meetings. In his 2018 annual letter , he explains why – and, most importantly, why its replacement – the memo – provides more value to participants.

This document provides a “narrative structure” that’s more compelling than PowerPoint bullet points. The six-page memo has real sentences, verbs, and nouns. It provides readers a clearer perspective, including the background and all the information to make a smart decision.

Writing demands a more linear type of reasoning and thinking. As John Rossman explains wrote on Think Like Amazon , “If you can’t write it out, then you’re not ready to defend it.

Silent meetings

Bezos believes that executives are very good at interrupting. Silent meetings provide a “study hall” atmosphere. During the first 15 or 20 minutes, executives review the 6-page memo in silence. They take notes, write questions, and reflect on the material before engaging in a conversation.

Also, executives usually don’t read materials before a meeting. This practice provides a space for reflection and ensures everyone’s on the same page.

Amazon's Key Norms & Rules

Bezos built Amazon to be an anti-bureaucracy company. That approach manifests in fewer, simpler rules that promote autonomy and define the Amazon way without controlling people.

Working Backwards

This is Amazon’s core principle, as I explained above – the rule of all rules.

“Good intentions don’t work. Mechanisms do”

Rather than relying on inspirational mottos like “try harder” Amazon operates under the idea that recurring mistakes are a system problem, not a people’s issue .

The company relentlessly focuses on improving the underlying conditions that created the problem. Performance is the result of following the “Amazon way.”

The PR/FAQ framework

Writing a Press Release and Frequently Asked Questions are mandatory before any team starts working on a new project. The purpose is to obsessively focus on the customer:

Why will this new product be compelling enough for customers to take action and buy it?

A common question asked by executives is, "so what?" If the PR doesn't describe a product that is definitely better (faster, easier, cheaper) than what already exists, then it’s not worth building.

The PR gives the reader the highlights of the customer experience. The FAQ provides all the key details of the customer experience – and how expensive and challenging it will be to build the product or service.

The PR/FAQ process creates a framework for rapidly iterating. It’s not unusual for an Amazon team to write at least ten drafts of it.

Autonomous teams

CIO Rick Dalzell came up with a model to define how successful and agile teams should operate at Amazon. Autonomous teams are small (less than 10 people), shouldn’t need to coordinate with other teams, and should be monitored in real-time, be self-funding, and act like business owners.

When the original team model fell short , Amazon evolved into a better approach: single-threaded leader (STL) teams.

When innovation is one of the many tasks for a team, innovation is squeezed into their work schedule – usually with bad results. As Amazon's SVP of devices, Dave Limp, said, "The best way to fail at inventing something is by making it somebody's part-time job."

A single-threaded leader can manage a small team or lead something as significant as Amazon Echo. They have the freedom and autonomy to assess opportunities, prioritize actions, define roles and responsibilities, and fill open positions.

Autonomous teams must have a well-defined purpose and be approved in advance by the S-Team.

Insane rules for Amazon warehouse employees

This unwritten rule seems to be more pervasive than Amazon executives want to admit. Multiple private investigations and journalist exposés have uncovered the crazy rules warehouse employees and drivers have to follow. I heard it, too, from the people I interviewed for this analysis.

Employees must work long, back to back hourswithout catching a break. They’re only allowed to have two 30-minute breaks per day , including bathroom breaks. Even worse, people are expected to work crazy shifts, especially during the holiday season.

Summarizing Amazon’s Culture Design Canvas

Amazon's “Working Backwards” unique organizational culture has both fans and detractors. What seems an aggressive, high-performance culture for some is dubbed “purposeful Darwinism” to others.

Pushy, aggressive cultures are usually perceived as outdated. However, both Amazon and Netflix prove this belief wrong.

When discussing the different types of culture – to define current and desired – with our clients or workshop participants, this question always comes up: Is there a right culture? How much is too much?

I think that both Amazon and Netflix take high performance to the extreme.

The purpose of sharing Amazon’s culture is neither to encourage you to attack it, nor to copy it.

Rather than trying to be like Amazon (or not), focus on the lessons you can apply to your organization.

Do you want to codify your current culture and uncover what’s possible? Reach out, and let’s talk about how we can help you map and assess your culture – and design the future state.

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Key Sources Used for Mapping Amazon’s Culture

Interviews with current and former employees

Jeff Bezos letters to shareholders

Working Backwards by Colin Bryar and Bill Carr

Think Like Amazon by John Rossman

When Jeff Bezos's 2-Pizza Teams Fell Short, He Turned to the Brilliant Model Amazon Uses Today

Inside Amazon - New York Times

The Future Startup Dossier: Amazon

There’s a Website Just for Upset Amazon Employees to Post Reviews, and its Organizers Want a Union.

Amazon employees say you should be skeptical of Jeff Bezos’s worker satisfaction stat

Elements of Amazon’s Day 1 Culture

Jeff Bezos requires Amazon’s leaders to perform this powerful ritual before launching anything

Jeff Bezos’ Master Plan

Amazon Must Be Stopped

Life at Amazon – not for everyone

Andy Jassy officially takes over as Amazon CEO from Jeff Bezos

15 Insane Rules Amazon Warehouse Employees Have to Follow

Article by Gustavo Razzetti, CEO of Fearless Culture

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10 Successful Design Thinking Case Study

Dive into the realm of Successful Design Thinking Case Studies to explore the power of this innovative problem-solving approach. Begin by understanding What is Design Thinking? and then embark on a journey through real-world success stories. Discover valuable lessons learned from these case studies and gain insights into how Design Thinking can transform your approach.

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Design Thinking has emerged as a powerful problem-solving approach that places empathy, creativity, and innovation at the forefront. However, if you are not aware of the power that this approach holds, a Design Thinking Case Study is often used to help people address the complex challenges of this approach with a human-centred perspective. It allows organisations to unlock new opportunities and drive meaningful change. Read this blog on Design Thinking Case Study to learn how it enhances organisation’s growth and gain valuable insights on creative problem-solving.

Table of Contents   

1) What is Design Thinking?

2) Design Thinking process   

3) Successful Design Thinking Case Studies

      a) Airbnb

      b) Apple

      c) Netflix

      d) UberEats

      e) IBM

       f) OralB’s electric toothbrush

      g) IDEO

      h) Tesla

       i) GE Healthcare

       j) Nike

3) Lessons learned from Design Thinking Case Studies

4) Conclusion    

What is Design Thinking ?

Before jumping on Design Thinking Case Study, let’s first understand what it is. Design Thinking is a methodology for problem-solving that prioritises the understanding and addressing of individuals' unique needs.

This human-centric approach is creative and iterative, aiming to find innovative solutions to complex challenges. At its core, Design Thinking fosters empathy, encourages collaboration, and embraces experimentation.

This process revolves around comprehending the world from the user's perspective, identifying problems through this lens, and then generating and refining solutions that cater to these specific needs. Design Thinking places great importance on creativity and out-of-the-box thinking, seeking to break away from conventional problem-solving methods.

It is not confined to the realm of design but can be applied to various domains, from business and technology to healthcare and education. By putting the user or customer at the centre of the problem-solving journey, Design Thinking helps create products, services, and experiences that are more effective, user-friendly, and aligned with the genuine needs of the people they serve.  

Design Thinking process

Design Thinking is a problem-solving and innovation framework that helps individuals and teams create user-centred solutions. This process consists of five key phases that are as follows:  

To initiate the Design Thinking process, the first step is to practice empathy. In order to create products and services that are appealing, it is essential to comprehend the users and their requirements. What are their anticipations regarding the product you are designing? What issues and difficulties are they encountering within this particular context?

During the empathise phase, you spend time observing and engaging with real users. This might involve conducting interviews and seeing how they interact with an existing product. You should pay attention to facial expressions and body language. During the empathise phase in the Design Thinking Process , it's crucial to set aside assumptions and gain first-hand insights to design with real users in mind. That's the essence of Design Thinking.

During the second stage of the Design Thinking process, the goal is to identify the user’s problem. To accomplish this, collect all your observations from the empathise phase and begin to connect the dots.

Ask yourself: What consistent patterns or themes did you notice? What recurring user needs or challenges were identified? After synthesising your findings, you must create a problem statement, also known as a Point Of View (POV) statement, which outlines the issue or challenge you aim to address. By the end of the define stage, you will be able to craft a clear problem statement that will guide you throughout the design process, forming the basis of your ideas and potential solutions.

After completing the first two stages of the Design Thinking process, which involve defining the target users and identifying the problem statement, it is now time to move on to the third stage - ideation. This stage is all about brainstorming and coming up with various ideas and solutions to solve the problem statement. Through ideation, the team can explore different perspectives and possibilities and select the best ideas to move forward with.

During the ideation phase, it is important to create an environment where everyone feels comfortable sharing their ideas without fear of judgment. This phase is all about generating a large quantity of ideas, regardless of feasibility. This is done by encouraging the team to think outside the box and explore new angles. To maximise creativity, ideation sessions are often held in unconventional locations.

It’s time to transform the ideas from stage three into physical or digital prototypes. A prototype is a miniature model of a product or feature, which can be as simple as a paper model or as complex as an interactive digital representation.

During the Prototyping Stage , the primary objective is to transform your ideas into a tangible product that can be tested by actual users. This is crucial in maintaining a user-centric approach, as it enables you to obtain feedback before proceeding to develop the entire product. By doing so, you can ensure that the final design adequately addresses the user's problem and delivers an enjoyable user experience.

During the Design Thinking process, the fifth step involves testing your prototypes by exposing them to real users and evaluating their performance. Throughout this testing phase, you can observe how your target or prospective users engage with your prototype. Additionally, you can gather valuable feedback from your users about their experiences throughout the process.

Based on the feedback received during user testing, you can go back and make improvements to the design. It is important to remember that the Design Thinking process is iterative and non-linear. After the testing phase, it may be necessary to revisit the empathise stage or conduct additional ideation sessions before creating a successful prototype.

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Successful Design Thinking Case Studies  

Now that you have a foundational understanding of Design Thinking, let's explore how some of the world's most successful companies have leveraged this methodology to drive innovation and success:

Case Study 1: Airbnb  

Airbnb’s one of the popular Design Thinking Case Studies that you can aspire from. Airbnb disrupted the traditional hotel industry by applying Design Thinking principles to create a platform that connects travellers with unique accommodations worldwide. The founders of Airbnb, Brian Chesky, Joe Gebbia, and Nathan Blecharczyk, started by identifying a problem: the cost and lack of personalisation in traditional lodging.

They conducted in-depth user research by staying in their own listings and collecting feedback from both hosts and guests. This empathetic approach allowed them to design a platform that not only met the needs of travellers but also empowered hosts to provide personalised experiences. 

Airbnb's intuitive website and mobile app interface, along with its robust review and rating system, instil trust and transparency, making users feel comfortable choosing from a vast array of properties. Furthermore, the "Experiences" feature reflects Airbnb's commitment to immersive travel, allowing users to book unique activities hosted by locals. 

Case Study 2.  Apple    

Apple Inc. has consistently been a pioneer in  Design Thinking, which is evident in its products, such as the iPhone. One of the best Design Thinking Examples from Apple is the development of the iPhone's User Interface (UI). The team at Apple identified the need for a more intuitive and user-friendly smartphone experience. They conducted extensive research and usability testing to understand user behaviours, pain points, and desires.   

The result? A revolutionary touch interface that forever changed the smartphone industry. Apple's relentless focus on the user experience, combined with iterative prototyping and user feedback, exemplifies the power of  Design Thinking in creating groundbreaking products.    

Apple invests heavily in user research to  anticipate what customers want before they even realise it themselves. This empathetic approach to design has led to groundbreaking innovations like the iPhone, iPad, and MacBook, which have redefined the entire industry.  

Case Study 3. Netflix  

Netflix, the global streaming giant, has revolutionised the way people consume entertainment content. A major part of their success can be attributed to their effective use of Design Thinking principles.

What sets Netflix apart is its commitment to understanding its audience on a profound level. Netflix recognised that its success hinged on offering a personalised, enjoyable viewing experience. Through meticulous user research, data analysis, and a culture of innovation, Netflix constantly evolves its platform. Moreover, by gathering insights on viewing habits, content preferences, and even UI, the company tailors its recommendations, search algorithms, and original content to captivate viewers worldwide.

Furthermore, Netflix's iterative approach to Design Thinking allows it to adapt quickly to shifting market dynamics. This agility proved crucial when transitioning from a DVD rental service to a streaming platform. Netflix didn't just lead this revolution; it shaped it by keeping users' desires and behaviours front and centre. Netflix's commitment to Design Thinking has resulted in a highly user-centric platform that keeps subscribers engaged and satisfied, ultimately contributing to its global success.  

Case Study 4. Uber Eats     

Uber Eats, a subsidiary of Uber, has disrupted the food delivery industry by applying Design Thinking principles to enhance user experiences and create a seamless platform for food lovers and restaurants alike.  

One of  UberEats' key innovations lies in its user-centric approach. By conducting in-depth research and understanding the pain points of both consumers and restaurant partners, they crafted a solution that addresses real-world challenges. The user-friendly app offers a wide variety of cuisines, personalised recommendations, and real-time tracking, catering to the diverse preferences of customers.  

Moreover,  UberEats leverages technology and data-driven insights to optimise delivery routes and times, ensuring that hot and fresh food reaches customers promptly. The platform also empowers restaurant owners with tools to efficiently manage orders, track performance, and expand their customer base. 

Case Study  5 . IBM    

IBM is a prime example of a large corporation successfully adopting Design Thinking to drive innovation and transform its business. Historically known for its hardware and software innovations, IBM recognised the need to evolve its approach to remain competitive in the fast-paced technology landscape.   

IBM's Design Thinking journey began with a mission to reinvent its enterprise software solutions. The company transitioned from a product-centric focus to a user-centric one. Instead of solely relying on technical specifications, IBM started by empathising with its customers. They started to understand customer’s pain points, and envisioning solutions that genuinely addressed their needs. 

One of the key elements of IBM's Design Thinking success is its multidisciplinary teams. The company brought together designers, engineers, marketers, and end-users to collaborate throughout the product development cycle. This cross-functional approach encouraged diverse perspectives, fostering creativity and innovation. 

IBM's commitment to Design Thinking is evident in its flagship projects such as Watson, a cognitive computing system, and IBM Design Studios, where Design Thinking principles are deeply embedded into the company's culture. 

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Case Study 6. Oral-B’s electric toothbrush

Oral-B, a prominent brand under the Procter & Gamble umbrella, stands out as a remarkable example of how Design Thinking can be executed in a seemingly everyday product—Electric toothbrushes. By applying the Design Thinking approach, Oral-B has transformed the world of oral hygiene with its electric toothbrushes.  

Oral-B's journey with Design Thinking began by placing the user firmly at the centre of their Product Development process. Through extensive research and user feedback, the company gained invaluable insights into oral care habits, preferences, and pain points. This user-centric approach guided Oral-B in designing electric toothbrushes that not only cleaned teeth more effectively but also made the entire oral care routine more engaging and enjoyable.  

Another of Oral-B's crucial innovations is the integration of innovative technology into their toothbrushes. These devices now come equipped with features like real-time feedback, brushing timers, and even Bluetooth connectivity to sync with mobile apps. By embracing technology and user-centric design, Oral-B effectively transformed the act of brushing teeth into an interactive and informative experience. This has helped users maintain better oral hygiene.  

Oral-B's success story showcases how Design Thinking, combined with a deep understanding of user needs, can lead to significant advancements, ultimately improving both the product and user satisfaction.

Case Study 7. IDEO  

IDEO, a Global Design Consultancy, has been at the forefront of Design Thinking for decades. They have worked on diverse projects, from creating innovative medical devices to redesigning public services.

One of their most notable Design Thinking examples is the development of the "DeepDive" shopping cart for a major retailer. IDEO's team spent weeks observing shoppers, talking to store employees, and prototyping various cart designs. The result was a cart that not only improved the shopping experience but also increased sales. IDEO's human-centred approach, emphasis on empathy, and rapid prototyping techniques demonstrate how Design Thinking can drive innovation and solve real-world problems.   

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Case Study  8 .  Tesla  

Tesla, led by Elon Musk, has redefined the automotive industry by applying Design Thinking to Electric Vehicles (EVs). Musk and his team identified the need for EVs to be not just eco-friendly but also desirable. They focused on designing EVs that are stylish, high-performing, and technologically advanced. Tesla's iterative approach, rapid prototyping, and constant refinement have resulted in groundbreaking EVs like the Model S, Model 3, and Model X.    

From the minimalist interior of their Model S to the autopilot self-driving system, every aspect is meticulously crafted with the end user in mind. The company actively seeks feedback from its user community, often implementing software updates based on customer suggestions. This iterative approach ensures that Tesla vehicles continually evolve to meet and exceed customer expectations .   

Moreover, Tesla's bold vision extends to sustainable energy solutions, exemplified by products like the Powerwall and solar roof tiles. These innovations  showcase Tesla's holistic approach to Design Thinking, addressing not only the automotive industry's challenges but also contributing to a greener, more sustainable future.   

Case Study 9. GE Healthcare 

GE Healthcare is a prominent player in the Healthcare industry, renowned for its relentless commitment to innovation and design excellence. Leveraging Design Thinking principles, GE Healthcare has consistently pushed the boundaries of medical technology, making a significant impact on patient care worldwide.  

One of the key areas where GE Healthcare has excelled is in the development of cutting-edge medical devices and diagnostic solutions. Their dedication to user-centred design has resulted in devices that are not only highly functional but also incredibly intuitive for healthcare professionals to operate. For example, their advanced Medical Imaging equipment, such as MRI and CT scanners, are designed with a focus on patient comfort, safety, and accurate diagnostics. This device reflects the company's dedication to improving healthcare outcomes.  

Moreover, GE Healthcare's commitment to design extends beyond the physical product. They have also ventured into software solutions that facilitate data analysis and Patient Management. Their user-friendly software interfaces and data visualisation tools have empowered healthcare providers to make more informed decisions, enhancing overall patient care and treatment planning.

Case Study 10. Nike 

Nike is a global powerhouse in the athletic apparel and Footwear industry. Nike's journey began with a simple running shoe, but its design-thinking approach transformed it into an iconic brand.

Nike's Design Thinking journey started with a deep understanding of athletes' needs and desires. They engaged in extensive user research, often collaborating with top athletes to gain insights that inform their product innovations. This customer-centric approach allowed Nike to develop ground breaking technologies, such as Nike Air and Flyknit, setting new standards in comfort, performance, and style.

Beyond product innovation, Nike's brand identity itself is a testament to Design Thinking. The iconic Swoosh logo, created by Graphic Designer Carolyn Davidson, epitomises simplicity and timelessness, reflecting the brand's ethos.  

Nike also excels in creating immersive retail experiences, using Design Thinking to craft spaces that engage and inspire customers. Their flagship stores around the world are showcases of innovative design, enhancing the overall brand perception.

Lessons learned from Design Thinking Case Studies

The Design Thinking process, as exemplified by the success stories of IBM, Netflix, Apple, and Nike, offers valuable takeaways for businesses of all sizes and industries. Here are three key lessons to learn from these Case Studies:  

1)   Consider the b ig p icture   

Design Thinking encourages organisations to zoom out and view the big picture. It's not just about solving a specific problem but understanding how that problem fits into the broader context of user needs and market dynamics. By taking a holistic approach, you can identify opportunities for innovation that extend beyond immediate challenges. IBM's example, for instance, involved a comprehensive evaluation of their clients' journeys, leading to more impactful solutions.  

2)  Think t hrough a lternative s olutions   

One of the basic principles of Design Thinking is ideation, which emphasises generating a wide range of creative solutions. Netflix's success in content recommendation, for instance, came from exploring multiple strategies to enhance user experience. When brainstorming ideas and solutions, don't limit yourself to the obvious choices. Encourage diverse perspectives and consider unconventional approaches that may lead to breakthrough innovations.  

3)  Research e ach c ompany’s c ompetitors   

Lastly, researching competitors is essential for staying competitive. Analyse what other companies in your industry are doing, both inside and outside the realm of Design Thinking. Learn from their successes and failures. GE Healthcare, for example, leveraged Design Thinking to improve medical equipment usability, giving them a competitive edge. By researching competitors, you can gain insights that inform your own Design Thinking initiatives and help you stand out in the market.  

Incorporating these takeaways into your approach to Design Thinking can enhance your problem-solving capabilities, foster innovation, and ultimately lead to more successful results.  

Conclusion    

Design Thinking is not limited to a specific industry or problem domain; it is a versatile approach that promotes innovation and problem-solving in various contexts. In this blog, we've examined successful Design Thinking Case Studies from industry giants like IBM, Netflix, Apple, Airbnb, Uber Eats, and Nike. These companies have demonstrated that Design Thinking is a powerful methodology that can drive innovation, enhance user experiences, and lead to exceptional business success.   

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Frequently Asked Questions

Design Thinking Case Studies align with current market demands and user expectations by showcasing practical applications of user-centric problem-solving. These Studies highlight the success of empathetic approaches in meeting evolving customer needs.

By analysing various real-world examples, businesses can derive vital insights into dynamic market trends, creating innovative solutions, and enhancing user experiences. Design Thinking's emphasis on iterative prototyping and collaboration resonates with the contemporary demand for agility and adaptability.

Real-world examples of successful Design Thinking implementations can be found in various sources. For instance, you can explore several Case Study repositories on Design Thinking platforms like IDEO and Design Thinking Institute. Furthermore, you can also look for business publications, such as the Harvard Business Review as well as Fast Company, which often feature articles on successful Design Thinking applications.

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Our Leadership Training blogs covers a range of topics related to Design Thinking, offering valuable resources, best practices, and industry insights. Whether you are a beginner or looking to advance your Design Thinking skills, The Knowledge Academy's diverse courses and informative blogs have you covered.

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50+ Design Thinking Case Study Examples

Design Thinking Case Studies demonstrate the value of the Design Thinking methodology. They show how this Design Thinking methodology helps creatively solve problems and improve the success rate of innovation and increase collaboration in corporations, education, social impact work and the public sector by focusing on the needs of humans.

There are many Design Thinking Case Study examples on the web, but few meet the criteria for a robust case study: a clear description of the methodology, steps undertaken, experimentation through rapid prototypes and testing with people and finally documented results from the process. In this section, we have been selective about the design thinking case study examples that we highlight. We look for Design Thinking Case Studies that demonstrate how a problem was tackled and wherever possible the results or effect that the project produced. Our goal in curating this section of Design Thinking Case Study examples is quality over quantity.

Browse this page to view all Design Thinking Case Study examples, or if you are looking for Design Thinking Case Studies in a specific industry or marketing vertical, then rather start with the Design Thinking Case Studies Index .

If you have an interesting application of Design Thinking that you have a case study for, we would be happy to publish it.

Submit your Design Thinking Case Study for publication here.

Design Thinking Case Study Index

Welcome to the Design Thinking Case Study Index. There are many Design Thinking Case Studies on the internet. Many are retrofitted descriptions of what occurred, rather than evidence of the Design Thinking process in action. In order to bring a higher standard to the practice of Design Thinking, we require stronger evidence and rigor. Only members can post and must provide strong evidence in the Design Thinking Case Study that the Design Thinking process was used to create the original idea for the product or service solution. The criteria that needs to be proved to make your project a Design Thinking Case Study are:

The Guardian: Benefits of Design Thinking

Design thinking helped The Guardian newspaper and publishing group change their funding model, boost revenue and adapt their culture and engage on an emotional level with their readers. In this case study, Alex Breuer, Executive Creative Director and Tara Herman, Executive Editor, Design explain how design thinking was able to achieve these goals for The Guardian.

Read more...

Tackling the Opioid Crisis at the Human and Systems Levels

How the Lummi Tribal clinic used design to address opioid overdoses

Applying Design Thinking Internally

Applying Design Thinking internally, within a group, community or to ourselves. This is a new application of the Design Thinking Methodology.

An internal application in this sense can have two meanings. First, the internal application of design thinking tactics within a group, organization or community, and second, the internal application of design thinking to one’s own self and life.

Can Design Thinking help you solve your own problems?

The Use of Design Thinking in MNCH Programs, Ghana

Responding to growing interest among designers, global health practitioners, and funders in understanding the potential benefits of applying design thinking methods and tools to solving complex social problems, the Innovations for Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health (MNCH) Initiative (Innovations) developed and piloted innovative interventions to address common barriers to improving the effectiveness of basic MNCH health services in low-resource settings.

Société Générale's Time Tracking Nightmare Solved

In 2017, employees, managers, and partners of Société Générale Global Solution Centre agreed that invoices based on time tracking and project allocation were a chronic and painful challenge.

At SG-GSC, customers were billed for the time each assigned employee worked. The process of collecting the time worked by those employees (HCC) was a complicated and difficult ordeal. It consumed 21 days per month for senior employees. These employees had to navigate different systems, many types of contracts, high staff mobility, and a variety of processes between business lines.

How to Stimulate Innovation in Your Organization With Design Thinking

In this use case the cities of Aalborg and Rotterdam share their findings obtained from design thinking initiatives. This is based on empirical research as part of an evaluation. The use case is written for other professionals in the field of design in public organizations.

One of the main targets of the Interreg NSR project Like! is to create a digital innovative culture in which citizens are engaged, and more inclusive services are build. To reach this the municipalities started several initiatives with design thinking. In these initiatives one of the objectives was to find out how design thinking can help us to develop innovative and inclusive services. To research what design thinking contributed, we evaluated the pilots with participants.

The Impact of Design Thinking on Innovation: A Case Study at Scania IT

Organizational culture represents a crucial factor for the introduction of innovation throughout the organization via Design Thinking and agile way of working. Thus, the organization must establish a culture that encompasses a shared vision with values that create a commitment to learn, experiment and accept failure.

Oral B - Putting the User At the Center of Innovation

Oral B wanted to integrate digital technology into their electric toothbrush. The Brands first thoughts were to help users to track how well they were brushing their teeth. Future Facility, a product design firm in the UK suggested a different approach. Focus on the pain points of electric toothbrush users.

This case study discusses the importance of placing the user at the center of your innovation activities.

Design Thinking at Innogy

eCarSharing:   Energy Solutions for the New Generation

In 2015, Itai Ben-Jacob pitched his own ideas for a viable business model and developed the idea for innogy’s eCarSharing project in a design thinking workshop. His goal was to explore one of innogy’s innovation focus areas, ‘urban mobility.’

Together with fellow innovation hub members he organized a series of design thinking workshops to wade through the expansive topic of urban concepts – one of them focusing on mobility: “ We wanted to understand urban mobility – what does it actually entail? What type of business should we start? “

Building Cape Town’s Resilience Qualities Through Design Thinking.

This case study focuses on a Design Thinking Workshop for primary school learners. The aim of the workshops was to provide learners with a new set of skills which they can employ when problem solving for real world challenges.

Building resilience is essential for cities that face increasing uncertainty and new challenges that threaten the well-being of its citizens. This is especially important when looking at the diversity and complexity of potential shocks and stresses. 

Cape Town’s efforts to build skills in design thinking supports the creation of locally-relevant and innovative solutions that contribute to building resilient individuals and communities in Cape Town.

Designing Waste Out of the Food System

The average American  wastes  enough food each month to feed another person for 19 days. Through a number of projects with The Rockefeller Foundation and other organizations, IDEO designers from across the U.S. devised novel ways to tackle food waste.

B2B Design Thinking: Product Innovation when the User is a Network

When B2B companies talk about user experience, they are really considering the aggregated needs of multiple people and roles in a large ecosystem. But what happens when those objectives are vastly different for every individual?

“Humans don’t stop being humans just because they entered an office building.”

Self-Checkout: Improving Scan Accuracy Through Design

In this unique applied research study, academics and designers partnered with four of ECR’s Retailer members to immerse themselves in the self-checkout experience, understanding from the perspectives of the shopper and self-checkout supervisors, their journey from entry to exit, and their design challenges and frustrations.

Co-designing OTP Bank’s Strategic Plan for Growth

This is an example of accelerating a transformation through co-design. Eighty-two professionals gathered, representing OTP’s whole organization. Together, they were able to achieve months of work in just three days.

OTP Bank Romania (OTP) was at a key turning point in late 2018. The organization was undergoing changes in its leadership team. This new team helped them develop an ambitious goal:

OTP Bank will double its market share in 5 years.

They gathered for two Discovery sessions in December 2018. In these sessions, a carefully selected senior team chose three market segments to focus on. Then they built these segments into Personas.

IDEO: Journey to Mastery

While this is not a case study as such, it sits in our case study section as it is an important piece of information from a consultancy that played a large part in popularizing Design Thinking. In their Journey to Mastery section, IDEO discuss and shine a light on the shortcomings of the design thinking term and how it has been applied. I.e that it is not designing and that just knowing and using the practice does not in itself produce amazing solutions to problems.

It is worth a read to understand some of the nuance that is important to successful design thinking work.

Singapore Government: Building Service Platforms Around Moments in Life

In 2017, the product development team at Singapore’s Government Technology Agency (GovTech) was tasked to develop a tool to consolidate citizen-facing services previously delivered by different government agencies onto a single platform. The initiative, Moments of Life, sought to make it easier for citizens to discover and access relevant services during important changes in their lives by reducing fragmentation and being more anticipatory in the delivery of those services.

Organizing the delivery of services around a citizen’s journey, rather than fitting their delivery to existing processes, required extensive interagency collaboration beyond functional silos.

Mayo Clinic: Design Thinking in Health Care – Case Study

In the early 2000s, Mayo Clinic physician Nicholas LaRusso asked himself a question: if we can test new drugs in clinical trials, can we in a similarly rigorous way test new kinds of doctor-patient interactions?  

Consequently, the Mayo Clinic set up a skunkworks outpatient lab called SPARC. Within 6 years it had grown to an enterprise wide department called the Center for Innovation a dedicated research and design-oriented institute that studies the processes of health care provision, from the initial phone call, to the clinic visit, to the diagnosis and treatment of the problem, to follow-up and preventive care.

Design Thinking and Participation in Switzerland: Lessons Learned from Three Government Case Studies

Olivier Glassey, Jean-Henry Morin, Patrick Genoud, Giorgio Pauletto

This paper examines how design thinking and serious game approaches can be used to support participation.

In these case studies the authors discovered the following results.

Perceived usefulness. Based on informal discussions and debriefing sessions following all workshops, it is clear that the vast majority of workshop participants explicitly stated that both the actual outcome of the workshop and the methods used would significantly contribute to enhancing their performance in their work. Some workshops have actually led to follow up workshops or concrete actions based on the outcome.

Asili: Addressing an Entire Ecosystem of Need in a Rural Community

Design Thinking in HR at Deutche Telekom

Reza Moussavian, a senior HR and IT executive at Deutsch Telekom explains the company's journey and how important Design Thinking is as a business strategy for HR. Reza Moussavian's presentation provides great examples of issues tackled in HR and the results achieved. The presenter claims that there is not a singe issue that Deutche Telekom tackles in HR now that does not start with a Design Thinking methodology.

"Design Thinking solves 5% of our problems." says Reza Moussavian, "What we found out was that the magic was really in the implementation phase. We had to learn how to keep the momentum, the spirit and the fire from the co-creation workshops alive through the long implementation phase. Success is really about technology, transformation and leadership skills."

Design Thinking in Education: Perspectives, Opportunities and Challenges

This very informative article discusses design thinking as a process and mindset for collaboratively finding solutions for wicked problems in a variety of educational settings. Through a systematic literature review the article organizes case studies, reports, theoretical reflections, and other scholarly work to enhance our understanding of the purposes, contexts, benefits, limitations, affordances, constraints, effects and outcomes of design thinking in education.

Specifically, the review pursues four questions:

Design Thinking in the Classroom: What can we do about Bullying?

As children move from kindergarten, through middle school, and to high school, instruction shifts from stories to facts, from speculation to specifics, and imagination fades from focus. Design Thinking provides an alternative model to traditional ways of learning academic content by challenging students to find answers to complex, nuanced problems with multiple solutions and by fostering students’ ability to act as change agents.

Design Thinking is all about building creative confidence — a sense that “I can change the world.” In the Bullies & Bystanders Design Challenge, the students discovered that changing themselves might be even more important.

Following One School District's Approach to Innovation for the 21st Century

In her doctoral paper Loraine Rossi de Campos explores the use of Design Thinking in a school district for a 4-5 grade school.

India: Using ‘Design Thinking’ to Enhance Urban Redevelopment.

The discourse on urban planning and development has evolved over the last century with top-down methods of planning urban spaces giving way to bottom-up approaches that involve residents and other stakeholders in the design process. While the notion of participation and user involvement is considered critical to the design of appropriate and acceptable urban forms, there is no clear consensus in the literature on the methodology to be used to involve users and stakeholders in the design process. In this paper, we propose that the use of ‘Design-Thinking’ – a methodology for Human-Centred Design that is often used in product design and related industries – may be an effective methodology for engaging stakeholders in the urban design domain.

E*Trade: From Idea to Investment in 5 Minutes

Why the Financial Services Sector Should Embrace Design Thinking. Financial institutions need to evolve rapidly or risk disruption at the hands of nimble Fintech start-up companies.

In this article Kunal Vaed, The Street, describes how E*Trade used design thinking to enable the company to help investors get smarter by going from the idea of investing to an investment in 5 minutes.

E*Trade's Adaptive Portfolio service offering provides a good example of the work and results that E*Trade achieved with Design Thinking.

Fidelity Labs: Optimizing near-term savings goals

Thanks to providers like Fidelity, people can rely on easy, convenient systems to stay on track with their retirement savings. But when it comes to saving for important near-term goals (think: vacation, house, or wedding), people tend to be less organized. 

Fidelity Labs tackled this problem and defined the challenge as: "How might we improve the experience of saving for near-term goals? How might we make it easier, faster, and better?"

Design for Action: MassMutual and Intercorp Group

How to use design thinking to make great things actually happen by Tim Brown and Roger L. Martin. In this great HBR article, the authors look at design thinking in Finance with two case studies, one from MassMutual and the other from Intercorp. Group of Peru.

In this article highlighting the development of the acceptance of Design Thinking, they discuss how Design Thinking helps to create the artifact that creates the new solution as well as the intervention/s that brings the artifact to life.

How to Use Design Thinking to Make Great Things Actually Happen

Ever since it became clear that smart design led to the success of many products, companies have been employing it in other areas, from customer experiences, to strategy, to business ecosystems. But as design is used in increasingly complex contexts, a new hurdle has emerged: gaining acceptance (for the new solutions).

4 Design Thinking Case Studies in Healthcare: Nursing

The 4 case studies by Penn Nursing illustrate how nurses can be really powerful collaborators and generators of solutions within Healthcare. The videos describe the main attributes that nurses bring to the problem solving table

Philips: Improving the Patient Experience

Philips Ambient Experience service offers hospitals a way to radically improve the patient experience and results that they can achieve from their CT scanning suites. The best way to understand what it is is to watch this video  and this video  discussing the latest addition to the service. The white paper from Philips is also a good source of information on the Ambient Experience Service.

IBM: Design Thinking Adaptation and Adoption at Scale

How IBM made sense of ‘generic design thinking’ for tens of thousands of people. 

Generic design thinking often faces heavy resistance from influential skeptics, gets misunderstood or not understood at all, or less dire, it gets picked up with an unreflected euphoria and is applied as a “silver bullet” to all kinds of problems and projects (the famous “methodology misfit” we also see with Scrum for example). The big hangover often comes after the first experimentation budgets are expended and at worst a blame game starts.

Design Thinking in Public Engagement: Two Case Studies

Dave Robertson presents two case studies with the British Columbia Government (Canada). One with the Ministry of Transportation discussing their (public servant centered website), the other solving the problem of finding a solution to where to place a power substation.

Dave shows how he was stuck working in the public sector as a consultant and how creativity expressed through the Design Thinking methodology helped him to see a different, more effective way of creating solutions.

Bank of America Helps Customers Keep the Change

How do you encourage new customers to open bank accounts? In 2004, Bank of America used the Design Thinking methodology to look at the problem from a human centered perspective when they assigned design agency IDEO to boost their enrollment numbers: a problem that at the time, lacked any user perspective on why it was so hard for customers to save.

Redesigning The Employment Pass Application in Singapore

The Ministry of Manpower’s Work Pass Division (WPD) used design thinking as a tool to develop better ways to support foreigners who choose Singapore as a destination to live, work and set up businesses. The case reveals: Design thinking can potentially transform the perception and meaning of public service.

The team found out that the service redesign process required a better understanding of the decision points of both users and non-users. This involved taking a closer look at the opportunities and difficulties facing users, including those who had succeeded and failed within it, or had encountered problems or avoided it.

The US Tax Forms Simplification Project

This case concerns one of the earliest attempts by design thinkers at designing a large, complex system. It shows that design approaches in the public sector can look back at a long history. And it reveals how design thinking within the organization must include members of the whole organization in the design process.

Design has a long tradition and a rich history in the public sector. Nearly 40 years ago, when the US Congress passed the Paperwork Reduction Act into law, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) turned to designers in an effort to implement the new policy and to improve its relationship with taxpayers. 

A Tough Crowd: Using Design Thinking to Help Traditional German Butchers

Between 2004 and 2014, more than 4000 butcher shops were forced to shut down in Germany. When last was the butcher shop redesigned? The process started in the 1990s, as supermarkets became the favored spot for meat-shopping. As if a dramatic loss of market share was not enough, the industry as a whole started suffering from a serious image crisis. It was time to apply design Thinking to the traditional German Butcher Shop.

The initial problem statement read “Create the meat shop 2.0, an up-to-date version of the classic butcher business”. 

IDEO: Using Design Thinking to Create a Better Car

The challenge.

Remove roadblocks that can compromise the in-car experience for the Lincoln car company.

The final product, the Lincoln MKC luxury crossover, is credited with helping the Lincoln brand outpace growth in the luxury segment by more than two-to-one over competitors.

THE OUTCOME

A pop-up studio where IDEO designers helped departments communicate and collaborate more effectively.

Transforming Constructivist Learning into Action: Design Thinking in Education

In an ever changing society of the 21st century, there is a demand to equip students with meta competences going beyond cognitive knowledge. Education, therefore, needs a transition from transferring knowledge to developing individual potentials with the help of constructivist learning. A Scheer, C Noweski,  C Meinel , University of Potsdam, Germany.

Design Thinking is the most effective method of teaching constructivist learning.

Scaling Design Thinking in the Enterprise, a 5 Year Study

During Julie Baher's five years at  Citrix  between 2010 to 2015, she was fortunate to gain first-hand experience leading a transformation in product strategy to a customer-centered approach. It began when several senior executives attended the  design thinking boot camp  at Stanford’s d-school, returning with a new vision for the product development processes. Julie goes into detail about how they scaled up the customer centric methodology across the organizations 8,000 employees.

Developing Environmental Sustainability Strategies

Developing environmental sustainability strategies, the Double Diamond method of LCA and design thinking: a case study from aged care. Journal of Cleaner Production, 85, 67-82. Stephen J. Clune*, Simon Lockrey.

Developing an App for Type II Diabetes

Development and testing of a mobile application to support diabetes self-management for people with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes: a design thinking case study. Numerous mobile applications have been developed to support diabetes-self-management. However, the majority of these applications lack a theoretical foundation and the involvement of people with diabetes during development. The aim of this study was to develop and test a mobile application (app) supporting diabetes self-management among people with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes using design thinking. The article was written by Mira Petersen and Nana F. Hempler.

Improving UX in Public Transportation

In this case study the project leaders goal was to  improve the experience of bus users  on Madrid's EMT system by offering a technological solution to  increase the users’ satisfaction with regard to accessibility  during the bus trip as well as when waiting for the bus to arrive.

Transforming Life Insurance through Design Thinking

To some fintechs, non-insurance incumbents, and venture capitalists, the industry’s challenges suggest opportunity. The life insurance value chain is increasingly losing share to these players, who are chipping away at the profit pool. 

How might incumbent life insurers keep pace in today’s fast-moving competitive environment and meet customers’ changing needs?

Deploying the Design Thinking methodology in the insurance sector could be the key to helping save insurance from itself. Here's what McKinsey has to say about design thinking in insurance in their article "Transforming Life Insurance through Design Thinking".

"Better addressing the evolving needs of consumers can help incumbents win their loyalty—and protect against new competitors. 

Bringing Design Thinking to the Insurance World

Pancentric helped  Jelf kick-off a several-year digital transformation journey by getting to know not just their customers better, but their own staff, too. Jelf has dozens of offices around the UK, all with specialties in insuring different kinds of commercial businesses. For our project team trying to determine a roadmap of new developments, there was no easy overview of how each office operated or what the entire customer experience looked like.

The Features of Design Thinking in Fast Moving Consumer Goods Brand Development

This paper investigates what features of design thinking are employed in FMCG brand development via stakeholder interviews in three domains: agencies, companies, and retailers. This paper concludes with suggestions of how design thinking can be embraced in FMCG brand development.

A Chain of Innovation The Creation of Swiffer

This is a great case study that underlines the complexity of bringing game changing products to market. It helps to provide an understanding of just how much more is needed that a simple five step process of idea generation.

Read more from Continuum , the Design Firm responsible for the Swiffer

The Guardian: Using Design to Reaffirm Values

The Guardian's redesign, which launched in January 2018, illustrated the business impact when design is valued. The Guardian has a strong culture of design and increasingly, how design thinking can contribute to organizational change and development.

Case Studies

These inspiring stories of innovation and impact show how human-centered design gets real results. We breakdown each phase of process so you can see what the design teams did, what they learned, and how it all adds up to surprising solutions.

These inspiring stories of innovation and impact show how human-centered design gets real results. We breakdown each phase of process so you can see what the design teams did, what they learned, and how it all adds up to surprising solutions.

In-Home Toilets for Ghana’s Urban Poor

A Human-Centered Take on Early Childhood Development

Moneythink Mobile

Designing Digital Tools to Build Financial Literacy

Designing a Scalable Water and Hygiene Business

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Combatting Jaundice in the Developing World

A sustainable community-owned health, agricultural, and water business in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Viva Toolkit

A Budgeting Toolkit for Latin Families in San Francisco

Redesigning the help-seeking experience for youth

Voices for Birth Justice

A Campaign and Movement to Raise Awareness of Birth Justice

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A Digital Financial Coach for Low-Income Americans

Join our 50K+ community and learn about human-centered design in practice.

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Working Backwards (the Amazon Method)

What is the amazon working backwards method.

The Amazon working backward method is a product development approach that starts with the team imagining the product is ready to ship. The product team’s first step is to draft a press release announcing the product’s availability. The audience for this press release is the product’s customer.

What Goes into the Working Backwards Press Release?

A product team can draft this mock press announcement in any way it chooses. But according to a former Amazon director—Ian McAllister, now the head of product at Airbnb—your announcement should have at least the following details:

• The product’s name
• The intended customer
• The problem the product solves
• The benefits to the customer
• A quote from someone at the company explaining in an inspirational way why you developed the product and what you hope it will do for your customer
• A call to action telling the customer how to advantage of the product right away
• Optional addendum : FAQ answering the business or tactical questions about building the product

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Note: McAllister says that a product team needs to spend a lot of time revising and cutting down the verbiage of this product press release. He believes the announcement isn’t ready until it is as short, clear, and makes a compelling case for the product.

Why Should a Product Team Use the Working Backwards Method?

As Amazon’s product management teams have explained over time, they find several benefits of using the working backward method.

It’s a useful gut-check about a product’s viability .

Drafting a press release is a lot easier and requires far fewer resources than building a minimum viable product or even creating and sending out a series of customer surveys.

When a product team writes this mock press announcement, they can get a gut-check about whether they’re enthusiastic enough about the product to pursue the idea further. If they find themselves uninspired by the draft, that is a good indicator the product idea lacks something or that the team has not fully thought through the problems or the solution.

The press release can become a useful guide during development .

If the team decides an idea is worth pursuing after this exercise, then they can use the press release as a strategic guide as they move into development. The press announcement can serve a similar function as the product roadmap . It can help keep the team on track and aligned around the big ideas and plans for the product.

It supports the principle of customer centrism .

One of Amazon’s guiding principles is what the company calls customer obsession. Amazon’s strategy is to start with a focus on the customer, and then figure out what products to build to delight that customer.

Using the working backward method fits perfectly with Amazon’s customer-centric approach. The product team needs to think through all of the reasons it built the hypothetical product, so it can draft a compelling news release to announce the product’s release in a way that would convince the target customer to run out and buy it.

Unless the product team has been customer-obsessed in writing the press announcement, that document won’t make a case for them actually to build the product.

Related Terms:

design thinking / customer empathy / product discovery / user research / customer advisory board

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This Startup Revolutionized an Industry Through Design

Launching a nationwide venture that redefines and simplifies how customers engage with their pharmacy..

Help PillPack, an IDEO startup-in-residence, build a venturing strategy for its prescription home-delivery system.

A refined brand vision, strategy, and identity across channels, as well as a redesigned website, a private dashboard for PillPack customers, and a suite of physical products.

PillPack now delivers hundreds of thousands of prescriptions every month. Amazon bought PillPack in June 2018 for $1 billion.

Dealing with medication can often be a bigger pain than the ailment itself. Standing in long lines at the pharmacy, keeping up with expiration dates, making sure you take this medicine with food and that one on an empty stomach—it can be overwhelming.

An online pharmacy called PillPack had a mission to make it easier. PillPack worked to build a prescription home-delivery system that takes the pain out of the whole process. The venture brought their business to IDEO’s Cambridge office as a startup-in-residence, and worked with designers to fine-tune their offer and showcase it to the world.

Here’s how it works: Your doctor sends your prescriptions straight to the pharmacists at PillPack, who organize the medications—including refills, over-the-counter drugs, vitamins, and supplements—into presorted, personalized packets. These tidy little packets are labeled by date and time and delivered to your doorstep. Every 14-day supply of medication fits neatly into an IDEO-designed durable dispenser that is meant to become part of customers’ routines and fit seamlessly into their homes. IDEO also designed a travel pouch that makes taking medicine on-the-go simple and discreet. For those who need a human to talk to, pharmacists at PillPack's pharmacies are available anytime via phone or email to answer questions.

PillPack was the second startup-in-residence to work with IDEO Cambridge. Company founders Elliot Cohen and TJ Parker joined forces with the design team to redefine how consumers engage with their pharmacy. During the three-month residency, the teams focused on making sure that every customer interaction with PillPack—from signing up for the service online to using its product daily—was straightforward and reassuring.

Designers worked to refine the company’s brand vision, strategy, and identity across channels, and used this framework to completely redesign PillPack’s website, as well as a private dashboard for customers and a suite of physical products.

The result was a set of tools that reflected a true understanding of PillPack’s customers, a well-articulated product and service, and a human-centered approach. PillPack is still the only independent pharmacy in the U.S. that serves customers nationwide.

“PillPack has revealed the massive potential of combining design thinking and the drug market... This simple innovation makes life easier for seniors who can be a bit forgetful and have difficulty with bottles,” Wired wrote in an article about the company . “Younger patients with active lifestyles and chronic diseases can just pull as many packets as they need and go. All told, PillPack means you’ll never have to help your grandma sort pills into a tacky day-of-the-week organizer again.”

In June 2018, Amazon outbid other retailers to acquire PillPack for $1 billion .

Better Tools for Dementia Care and Diagnosis

A physician-led startup expands tools to combat cognitive decline, and creates smoother pathways to diagnosis.

Defining Mindsets to Seed New Breakthroughs

Moderna defines its culture to maintain its momentum during a time of massive growth, setting the stage for delivering transformative new mRNA medicines.

Co-Designing Soluna, California’s Youth Behavioral Health App

Kooth works with young people in California to design Soluna, an app to enrich their mental health.

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Blockbuster vs. Netflix

If the 2010s taught us anything, it’s that there’s no better example of a business that pivoted to meet customer needs and preferences than Netflix. Likewise, there’s no better example of a business that failed to pivot, innovate and meet modern market demands than Netflix’s original competitor: Blockbuster.

As a brick-and-mortar DVD rental business, customers had to drive to Blockbuster to get the latest new releases on video or DVD. In its early days in the aughts, Netflix delivered movies directly to customer’s doorsteps via the mail. Initially, that was an innovative model — until cable companies started offering movies on-demand. This left Netflix with a dilemma: why would customers order from Netflix and wait a few days when they could stream any movie anytime?

How both companies responded to the shift towards on-demand and online content illustrates the difference between traditional and agile business models, and shows why business leaders must constantly engage with customers to drive innovation and stay relevant.

The streaming revolution

Leaders at Netflix recognized the value of design thinking for what it is: a method to consistently hone their business offerings. Teams were encouraged to look for new opportunities to delight customers, drive engagement and generate new revenue. The approach? Empathize with customers,unearth pain points and find their unaddressed needs. 

Beginning in 2011, Netflix began producing their own original movies and streaming series. But they didn’t just stop at offering new shows: they dropped every episode of each season on the first day it was launched. Original and provocative programming like Orange Is The New Black, House of Cards and Bojack Horseman helped Netflix capitalize on the binge-watching phenomena, even spawning the now ubiquitous catchphrase “Netflix and chill”. With the watch-in-one-sitting binge option catching on like wildfire, shows were devoured by audiences. Eventually, even bigger streaming phenomena, like Stranger Things and Black Mirror, dominated the cultural conversation whenever a new season dropped, leaving everyone talking about one thing: Netflix.

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Continuing to innovate

In 2016, Netflix adapted to the market again, rebuilding their main landing page to capture user’s attention the moment they logged in. Instead of offering still images or series posters, they added auto-play trailers that launched on mouse hover. 

Seeing more opportunities to give users what they didn’t know they wanted, Netflix leveraged artificial intelligence and predictive analytics to create a unique experience for each viewer based on their own viewing habits. The “Because you watched” feature not only transformed the customer experience on Netflix — it transformed expectations for every other entertainment company scrambling to enter the streaming game.

Netflix discovered all of these innovations by using design thinking to empathize again and again with their customers. Meanwhile, Blockbuster stuck to their traditional brick-and-mortar model, making it harder for customers to get what they wanted, when they wanted it. Netflix knew their survival depended on knowing exactly what each and every customer wanted to experience when using their service, and consistently working to meet customers where they were at. By identifying customer needs and adapting, Netflix evolved; whereas Blockbuster, and DVD rentals in general, failed to compete and went extinct. 

An industry changed

The next time you’re tempted to think your business is fine and just sit back and rely on the same old strategies to deliver success, remember this story. The last Blockbuster closed in 2019, and ironically, Netflix eventually bought the IP for the brand and made a streaming comedy about the failed business. 

In the 2020s, more and more people are ditching cable in favor of Netflix and the various other services the streaming wars inspired. Nowadays, there’s nothing worse than sitting in front of the TV waiting for good content to come on. So, remember, “change happens pretty fast, if you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

Learn how to evolve with the market, change your organization's DNA and gain a new perspective with customer empathy.

Get started with the foundations of human-centered design with ExperienceInnovation™ | Aware . 

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Better Service, Faster: A Design Thinking Case Study

• Robert I. Sutton

It involves a Winnebago.

On February 14, 2014, Stanford students Elizabeth Woodson and Saul Gurdus drove a rented Winnebago to the San Mateo office of the Golden Gate Regional Center (GGRC), where they greeted eight curious GGRC staff members.

• Robert I. Sutton is an organizational psychologist and a professor of management science and engineering at Stanford University. He has written eight books, including (with Huggy Rao) The Friction Project: How Smart Leaders Make the Right Things Easier and the Wrong Things Harder (St. Martin’s Press, January 2024).
• DH David Hoyt is a research associate at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business.

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8 Great Design Thinking Examples

Wondering if design thinking works here’s a collection of design thinking case studies that show how organizations have applied design thinking..

Design thinking is imperative for companies to unleash their team’s full potential. Let us take a deep dive into 8 great Design Thinking Examples!

In the Harvard Business Review article “ Why Design Thinking Works ,” Jeanne Liedtka reveals the results of a seven-year study she did looking at 50 business projects in a range of sectors. What she found was this: “I have seen that…design thinking…has the potential to do for innovation exactly what TQM [total quality management] did for manufacturing: unleash people’s full creative energies, win their commitment, and radically improve processes .”

Design thinking is an undeniably powerful tool for companies, but what does it look like in practice?

Design thinking is an undeniably powerful tool for companies , but what does it look like in practice? How have organizations applied it and how does it work? Is design thinking training something your company needs? Read the following design thinking examples and case studies to discover how design thinking has been successfully applied by many companies. Bonus: learn the key foundations in design thinking to better solve problems and seize opportunities in our Design Thinking Foundations e-course –an excellent tool for the entire team.

How has design thinking been applied to different industries, challenges, and business sectors? Here are eight examples of how it has impacted real companies and teams.

Published in First Round Review, this article —  “How Design Thinking Transformed Airbnb from a Failing Startup to a Billion Dollar Business ” —outlines how the famed start-up went from $200 a week profit to the “ unicorn ” it is today.

Design thinking is a part of Airbnb’s success; in particular, they built a culture of experimentation: “It was only when they gave themselves permission to experiment with non-scalable changes to the business that they climbed out of what they called the ‘trough of sorrow.’”

2. PillPack

This case study describes how PillPack started as a startup-in-residence at IDEO Cambridge. Working with designers and using a human-centered approach, PillPack refined their brand vision, strategy, and identity across channels.

PillPack was called one of the best inventions of 2014 by Time Magazine and Amazon bought PillPack for $1 Billion in 2018. I think you could safely say that their design thinking approach was successful.

3. Clean Team

There are many great examples of how design thinking has been applied to the social sector . This case study describes Clean Team, which applied design thinking to provide in-home toilets for Ghana’s urban poor.

The case study describes the project and its success: “For the millions of Ghanaians without in-home toilets, there are few good options when it comes to our bodies’ most basic functions. Working with Unilever and Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor (WSUP), and IDEO.org developed Clean Team , a comprehensive sanitation system that delivers and maintains toilets in the homes of subscribers. Clean Team now serves 5,000 people in Kumasi, Ghana, making lives cleaner, healthier, and more dignified.”

IBM is an example of a corporate giant who has deeply invested in design thinking and building a large internal design team . And, they’ve seen the work pay off — this article talks about how IBM has seen a 301% (!) ROI by banking on design thinking. Another impressive thing about IBM is that they’ve made their enterprise design thinking assets available to everyone through this open toolkit .

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5. Stanford Hospital

Design thinking has even found its way into the world of medicine and is seen by many as fundamental to the future of wellness . This case study describes how design thinking was used in a two-day course by the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford to explore ways to improve the patient experience in the emergency room.

Additionally, the article describes how Stanford administrators have been using design thinking to envision other new experiences for the hospital: “SHC staff used design thinking to complete a plan to redesign two nursing units in the current hospital to serve only patients with cancer.”

6. Uber Eats

This article by a former designer on the UberEATS team describes how they approach their food delivery service with a design thinking mindset. One of the top takeaways from the article is how empathy is essential to their practice: “To understand all our different markets and how our products fit into the physical conditions of each city, we constantly immerse ourselves in the places where our customers live, work, and eat. Sitting in our offices in San Francisco or New York, we can’t truly understand the experiences of a person on the streets of Bangkok or London.”

7. Golden Gate Regional Center

The Harvard Business Review article “Better Service, Faster: A Design Thinking Case Study ” describes how design thinking was used by the Golden Gate Regional Center (GGRC) , an organization that provides services and financial support to people with developmental disabilities in the San Francisco Bay Area.

GGRC worked with design students from Stanford to rethink their lengthy assessment process, which often took months. One outcome of the project was a culture change inside GGRC toward design thinking: “GGRC is now brainstorming improvement ideas and figuring out ways to prototype them on a regular basis.”

8. Bank of America

We’ll end with one of the classic design thinking examples, which comes from Bank of America. Invision’s case study shares how the bank partnered with design consultancy IDEO in 2004 to understand how to get more people to open bank accounts. They ultimately came up with the Keep the Change program. This highly successful banking initiative came out of the design thinking research the IDEO team did where they found savers were intentionally rounding up when writing checks.

To learn more about how to apply the design thinking process to business, go here . If you want to build your own toolkit of design thinking tools, check out our resources.If you’re ready to start using design thinking, sign up for our online course.

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5 Steps of the Design Thinking Process: A Step-by-Step Guide

According to statistics, 79% of companies agree that design thinking improves the ideation process, and 71% have enjoyed a significant shift in their work culture after adopting design thinking. While it does contain the word design, design thinking and it’s iterative approach to creative ideas is not only for design teams, in fact, any team can benefit from this human-centered design process.

The Best Design Thinking Exercises for Each Phase of a Project

When you understand your customer, you can effectively create what they want and need. That's the idea behind design thinking

5 Tips for Reassessing Culture in the Face of Change

Learn how to proactively reassess culture in the face of organizational changes.

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25 Case Studies on Design Thinking Kindle Edition

• Real-World Challenges, Practical Strategies: Each case study presents real-world business challenges and the strategic maneuvers used to navigate them successfully.
• Expert Perspectives: Crafted from the viewpoint of top-tier consultants, you get an insider's look into professional methodologies and decision-making processes.
• Diverse Industry Insights: Whether it's finance, tech, retail, manufacturing, or healthcare, gain insights into a variety of sectors and understand how top firms tackle critical issues.
• Enhance Your Strategic Acumen: This collection is designed to sharpen your strategic thinking, providing you with tools and frameworks used by the best in the business.
• Print length 250 pages
• Language English
• Publication date 15 May 2024
• File size 1622 KB
• Page Flip Enabled
• Word Wise Enabled
• Enhanced typesetting Enabled
• See all details

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Product details

• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0D48YQSGY
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• File size ‏ : ‎ 1622 KB
• Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
• Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
• Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
• Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 250 pages
• #683 in Business Industries & Professions
• #2,410 in Industries
• #6,183 in Business, Strategy & Management

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