Design Thinking: Phenomenology of Early Stages of Creativity, Ideation, Affect, Communication, Design Decisions and Actions

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Love Services Pty Ltd, Western Australia, Australia.

Abstract

This paper focuses on an exploration of the phenomenological aspects of human internal design activities that
precede or transition into, conscious thought, creative ideas, decisions, feelings, words, body states and
movements, and actions that are the foundation of Design Thinking. These early stages in Design Thinking are important
because they are gatekeepers of what is envisaged and created by a designer, and also provide the foundation of
communication, decisions and actions. The study of these early stages and prior foundational phenomena of Design
Thinking provides improved foundations for theories about Design Thinking. The relative lack of attention to these
phenomena in previous Design Thinking literature is at least in part because such exploration requires the designer to
undertake significant additional training to acquire the necessary phenomenological skills of self-perception specific to
these phenomena. The paper reports the basis of exploratory research into these phenomenological foundations of Design
Thinking undertaken by the author over a 4-year period. The paper includes a detailed description of the research method
and four findings that add to the theoretical foundations of Design Thinking. 

Keywords

Main Subjects


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