Design Thinking and innovation

Design Thinking and innovation

Design Thinking and innovation is a vast space that is growing with every new upgrade. The massive development of this technique has paved the way for businesses to get to a bigger platform and has created many employment opportunities. It is something that has been happening for a while now, and with a solid foundation in science and rationality, it takes a new avatar! Design thinking made its way out of big corporations’ lack of ability to be creative and create new products and services that serve the unfulfilled requirements of their user. At its core, the methodology arises from and revolves around to the user. By adapting, Design thinking approach, designers combine a user-centred perspective with cogent and analytical research with the goal of creating inventive solutions. Some of the world’s big and most established brands, like Apple, Google and Samsung, have promptly adopted the Design Thinking approach. To sustain in this competitive world, we can say that it has become an essential part of every business, brand and company.

Design Thinking is an ‘outside the box’ thinking which uses an iterative process to understand the user, challenge assumptions, and redefine problems to find alternative approaches and solutions that might not be instantly evident with our initial level of understanding. At the same time, Design Thinking provides a solution-based, pragmatic, non-linear approach to solving approach. Design Thinking adapts a five-phase model within which they empathise with users to define their needs, their problem, and give insights by re-framing the problem in human-centric ways. After this, they Ideate it by challenging assumptions and creating ideas for innovative solutions, to present that idea in a better way they prototype it and test it. This approach offers us a means of a problem digging a bit deeper which leads designer to do the right kind of research to develop new ways of thinking that do not abide by the dominant or more common problem-solving methods and to prototype and test the products and services so as to discover new ways of improving the product, service or design.

An early realisation of the power of Design Thinking put me in the spot and allowed me to dream big and aspire for innovation in this dynamic field. It allowed me to venture deeper into identifying technology as a crucial promoter in this era of innovation. My understanding of where I had to be and what I needed to accomplish before setting foot on the global soil to learn propelled me to the far reaches of IT through my education. I worked exceptionally hard towards comprehending the enormity of the field of IT and learnt my way through theory and practical experiences. Having completed my bachelor’s degree in IT, I worked hard on my projects and ensured I was not only learning but also applying myself to the field.

Knowing that my education needed a boost that would help me in handling and managing the applications I intended to put to use, I pursued a Postgraduate Diploma education in Business Management. This helped me once again to acknowledge the far reaches of technology. Only this time, I saw it through the eyes of Management. My decision to pursue my master’s education in IT was the result of my extensive indulgence in technological applications during my bachelor’s years. My engineering pursuit led me to gain a specialisation in technology that appealed to the very crux of understanding the purpose of IT applications. I delved into my projects as a way of putting my theoretical knowledge to use.

After graduating, I continued my endeavour of teaching at colleges and propagating the education I came to appreciate. Through my working experiences at St. Francis Institute of Technology, I was able to understand the planning and execution stages of tech-based research projects and how design thinking plays a vital role in our world today. Teaching younger individuals enabled me to expand my knowledge, and it simply allowed me to work extensively and implement newer programs and assistance models. With this role that I currently play, I am not only delving into hypothetical projects but also assigning real IT projects and assessing and discussing students’ work. I am introducing students to this new modality which will help them to pave their way to resolve the real-world problem by thinking outside the box technique.

Today, as I write this statement to you, I am doing so with an open mind, ready to assimilate all that I can to promote my path in the field of Design thinking. A path to the direction, would call me to explore an advanced (MSc) degree in Design Thinking – in the location proximity of the world tech hub, i.e. London. This forms the core of my decision to upskill with a Master’s degree at this stage of my career. It is exciting for me to see how this pans out and how I can put my ideas and my understanding of technology into use when it comes to problem-solving in this highly commercial world we have today. I am geared to utilise the knowledge I have acquired to date to stimulate the work I do in another field effectively. For this, I have acknowledged the need for help, and this help I seek at your esteemed university. I have reviewed many universities, and I am confident as I seek help at yours. Having understood my requirements carefully, I find it essential to learn from an institute that not only teaches me but also helps me grow as a professional. I aspire to bring about dramatic change and improvement in the field of Design thinking and truly enhance the role of technology in that space.

Design Thinking is being taught only at the leading universities around the world, and you being one of them is itself stands apart from other institutes, and it is this that allured me to settle for the programme that would give me all the necessary knowledge and expertise I need. A rigorous core curriculum offered by the Masters will allow me to get a cross-functional understanding of all aspects of Design Thinking. The structured and disciplined way will capitalize these unique elements to shape my perspectives on excellence, organizational change and behaviour, link my personal and limited professional experience with case studies and Design Projects/Dissertations. A critical element of the Master’s program is the mix of lectures, field seminars, tutorials, group work and workshops that will provide me with an opportunity to reinforce my academic learning and also gain hands-on experience on domains where business, innovation and design thinking intersect. I believe in the high calibre faculty of Master’s program to be a real differentiator in its reputation as a top design school. As I learn to tackle wide range of issues, challenges and opportunities facing global brands, business and identities, I am equally keen to leverage on the faculty’s multi-dimensional international experience, their ability to integrate theory and practice with real-world scenarios and connect first-hand experiences. An access to cutting edge research and gaining thoughtful insights into building innovative organizations will be the icing on the cake. Best of all, the intense selection process at the Master’s program assures me I will have the opportunity to enjoy my metamorphosis with my class peers – who are outstanding professionals at the top of their industries and from around the world. As we share a common goal of surmounting the same rigorous and intense challenges of Master’s program, our diverse experiences and backgrounds complement university resources and high calibre faculty – creating an unforgettable, satisfying educational and personal experience. The exclusive environment of the UK and London is encompassed by its outstanding and vibrant business location providing access to inspirational and thought-provoking business leaders and an opportunity to web invaluable networks and lifelong relationships. I am looking at the Master’s program experience to endow me with a top-notch toolkit of all aspects of business management and strategy, allowing me to enhance my leadership capabilities further and expanding my horizons with Design Thinking at its core. I respect this fact, and I know that whatever I do once I gain admission would be to enhance my career goals and add to the reputation that your university holds. I seek your consideration of my application, and I hope you recognise my zeal and determination to make this dream a reality.