“Design thinking defines the practical way in which IDEO approaches its problems, but as a phrase it also allows design to be talked about in a meaningful way by non-designers. After all, what is a designer? In the popular mind, it’s the person who lends his or her name to a range of sunglasses or shoes – beret-sporting chaps who add several noughts to price tags. Or it’s the engineer surrounded by technical drawings, making machines. Either way, for most people – and most companies – the idea of the designer does not involve solving problems that don’t involve making a product. But proponents of design thinking say that they can extend this creative mindset to address all forms of problem-solving. Designing products, yes, but also designing new businesses, new strategies, even new additions to society. Tim Brown, IDEO’s president, calls it “a way of describing a set of principles that can be applied by diverse people to a wide range of problems”.”