A game to teach and apply design thinking for innovation

Abstract

Objective: Develop and apply a game to facilitate the use of design thinking for innovation.Method: The construction of the game was based upon the Constructivism Theory. The game was developed following the steps of: (i) understanding the target audience and the context; (ii) defining learning objectives; (iii) structuring the experience; (iv) identifying resources and applying gamification elements; (v) evaluation. Originality/Relevance: Design Thinking emerges as an alternative to improve the innovation process in companies. To facilitate this innovation process, this paper presents a game, through its development and application, based on the principles and stages of Design Thinking, focusing on difficulties of its implementation.Results: The game provides an iterative passage through all stages of the design thinking, giving a holistic view of the process, starting with a deep understanding of the problem, and coming to a design solution.Social / management contributions: The results of the game application have shown its potential to: (i) ease teamwork, avoiding negative discussions and providing active participation from all students; (ii) lead to insight generation in a comprehensible way, making clear the difference between insights and ideas; (iii) simplify the use of inspiring methods and techniques (such as Persona, Empathy Map and Napkin Pitch); (iv) develop creative confidence; (v) provide a pleasant and motivating learning environment for collaborative multidisciplinary work.Theoretical/Methodological contributions: The game provides a method for building serious games and the game as a method of applying Design Thinking for Innovation.