Transcription
Professor Bala: Hello, hello.
Professor Ashwin: Bala, what are you doing? You are going to be taught this course now.
Professor Bala: Course! Duh duh de Design Thinking!
Professor Ashwin: Yes, absolutely. That's exactly why we are here: to teach the Design Thinking course. What are you actually doing?
Professor Bala: I am playing the game you know about! I want to experience what the children who play this experience. Nowadays, children are playing on our devices for a very long time, so I am trying to empathize with them.
Professor Ashwin: Aha! So you are trying to design a game for young children using the principle of design thinking. Very good, Bala. So, the first thing you should do is to experience what your potential users experience. And it's really good that you are sitting here, playing the game and seeing what it will be like. But this is just the first step to having a similar experience.
Professor Bala: Oh.
Professor Ashwin: Right. More than playing the game, you should try to understand what your users are experiencing. Observe a few children, talk to a few, understand them well. Try to experience like them. By doing this, you will actually be able to complete the first step of design thinking, which is to empathize. How does this sound to you?
Professor Bala: To experience just like them. Well, I will do it, so what? That is the second step. The first step was to empathize, which I love very much and I have done it very well. The second step is to go and talk to them.
Professor Ashwin: Definitely. Now, the thing is, this is actually a lot of fun. I am sure you are having fun.
Professor Bala: Oh yes, this is a lot of fun.
Professor Ashwin: A lot of fun.
Professor Bala: Actually, what you are saying is also a lot of fun.
Professor Ashwin: Yes, so let me take you away from here for a while so you can't have too much fun. Actually, if you don't want to get stuck in having fun and just continue playing the game properly, then after some time you will understand what these games are like, then you go and talk to people. After that, you really need to move on to the second step. Do you know what the next step in design thinking is?
Professor Bala: I believe it is analysis.
Professor Ashwin: You need to observe. Look at the observation, analyze it, and really try to understand why children are hooked. What are the reasons why children play these games for hours? Do you know what this really is? Why do they start playing this? What do they enjoy the most? You need to think about what you are seeing. You don't need to get stuck in this game. I can tell from the score on your screen that you are playing very well. Well, yours is a little higher than my highest score in that game. Now I will beat you in it. The second step is to analyze. What will you do at the end after analyzing?
Professor Bala: I am sure we will face some problems, my children will not let me play.
Professor Ashwin: Right, right. And that's why are you allowed to play games?
Professor Bala: No, please don't tell my child that I played his game.
Professor Ashwin: Think that you will get into a lot of trouble.
Professor Bala: Yes, yes.
Professor Ashwin: After analyzing properly, you need to enter the creative phase. Actually, after that, we start creating something new. What has happened so far, you have seen it, you have tried to experience it a little like them. You have thought about the things you have analyzed. And then you will have to present something new. It can be tangible, physical, or it can be related to the digital world. You will have to find some solution that you feel will fit the problem properly. What do you think you will do after that? Right, are you going to give them a solution to the problem? You say, "Pam pam pam, done," and then you leave!
Professor Bala: Hmm, this doesn't feel right. I have to do something to check if they like it or not.
Professor Ashwin: Exactly. So, you have to go back to the children for whom you are designing the game. After that, you really have to start giving them that game. You have to see if they actually play with it and if their reactions are appropriate. You might be lucky, you might have created an amazing game, and they might play it for hours. They might beat your high scores and all that, but as you know, it is also possible that you will actually get some negative feedback, that the graphics are not as they want. Maybe it's a bit too fast for them, and so what you have to do is go back to the drawing board with this new information.
Professor Bala: And I play it one more time.
Professor Ashwin: No, not yet. You will create it one more time. You have to experience it like them again. Analyze what you have heard. You go back, iterate, make changes to the initial prototype of the game you created. You go back.
Professor Bala: So, not just once, but many times.
Professor Ashwin: Many times. The more times you do it, the faster you do it, and the chances increase.
Professor Bala: Do something that feels like a game, many times.
Professor Ashwin: Right. That's why design thinking, if you do it properly, can be like a game, it can be a lot of fun. But essentially, it goes through 4 stages.
Professor Ashwin: There is the stage of empathy, the stage of analysis.
Professor Bala: Analysis.
Professor Ashwin: It is the stage of solution.
Professor Bala: Solution.
Professor Ashwin: And then there is the stage of testing.
Professor Bala: Testing.
Professor Ashwin: And you will go through this for some time until you find something that the people who are going to use your product or your game, really like and want. At that time, you can actually sell your game to millions, and you will become a billionaire. You know, buy all those wonderful things you want.
Professor Bala: And play games.
Professor Ashwin: And play games. So you can have your cake and eat it too, right! Bala, it's a bit late now. I have to catch a flight because I have to go and meet the Prime Minister.
Professor Bala: Wow.
Professor Ashwin: I will be back soon in a few weeks, definitely in 8 weeks. Video. And by then, I expect you to have all the lessons of this design thinking recorded course. Right! So remember, I am giving you a deadline of 8 weeks, and by the time I come back, it will be better.
Professor Bala: 8 weeks. No, Ashwin. Yes, oh, yes, yes, I will record it. Don't worry.
Professor Ashwin: Right. Remember 8 weeks.
Professor Bala: Right.