For the past two decades, Design Thinking has been a driving force in business innovation, helping companies improve products and services. Yet, Design Thinking has serious limitations, according to new research by HOI researcher Roberto Verganti, with co-author Elizabeth Bowie Cristoforetti of Harvard, published in The Design Journal. Its extreme and close focus on user needs (or user-ism, sometimes becoming a face-lifted version of consumerism), can lead businesses to overlook broader systemic challenges, from sustainability to social responsibility. The authors argue that design must evolve—moving beyond being purely reactive to market needs and instead becoming an active shaper of a positive future.
