{"id":3609,"date":"2016-05-27T08:09:48","date_gmt":"2016-05-27T15:09:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/business\/?p=3609"},"modified":"2016-06-01T11:52:44","modified_gmt":"2016-06-01T18:52:44","slug":"importance-design-thinking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/business\/2016\/05\/27\/importance-design-thinking\/","title":{"rendered":"The importance of design thinking"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Ken
Ken Black fields questions from Sara Hart Kimball Dean Mitzi Montoya during his May 19 Dean’s Distinguished Lecture.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ken Black, vice president of Digital Design Future at Nike, told an audience of Oregon State students and others that the best way to be protective of your work is to be protective of your work relationships.<\/p>\n

That was among the messages Black delivered May 19 during a Dean\u2019s Distinguished Lecture at Austin Hall\u2019s Stirek Auditorium.<\/p>\n

Black believes strongly that design thinking is a critical part of a business education, and that students in all majors benefit from using a design-thinking, process-oriented technique for solving problems; taking a human\/consumer-centered approach to innovation, one that puts observation and the discovery of human needs at the core of the process, is ultimately much more effective than jumping straight to a solution. It\u2019s crucial, Black says, to always being asking \u201cwhy\u201d: Why would this idea benefit people, why does it matter, why would they be excited to pay hard-earned money for it, etc.?<\/p>\n

Black\u2019s lecture featured a Q-and-A format, with first Sara Hart Kimball Dean Mitzi Montoya and then the audience asking questions of Black; the dean\u2019s guest has held a variety of creative-director roles at Nike and also helped found SPARQ, a business (subsequently acquired by Nike) that created a standardized test for athleticism and sold training apparel, shoes and other gear.<\/p>\n

Black, who grew up in Salem, talked of his love of basketball and how he\u2019d hoped as a high school student to have a future in the sport, but when that didn\u2019t pan out he fell back on another love and talent \u2013 drawing \u2013 to pursue a career as a designer. He now describes himself as an artist in a corporate world.<\/p>\n

His points during his visit to Austin Hall included:<\/p>\n