Ratio
Urvi Raghbeer
Consumers aren’t aware of the powerful impact design has on their daily life—a product to carry water around, a wearable that protects our eyes from the sun. As designers, we understand the value of design and its potential to change the world. This thesis comments on how design thinking is at the forefront of innovation today.
This is a collaborative project with Ritika Shah that aims to answer the question: “Can design thinking solve everyday problems?” One hundred people were asked: “What is one problem you face in your everyday life?” Ten problems were chosen based on the frequency or our observation and this became the prompt to design ten solutions; we designed four each individually and two collaboratively. A solution was completed each week using design thinking—an approach that matches user’s needs with what is technologically practical and can create demand. This resulted in a design studio, Ratio, where we use a unique crowdsourcing method to receive work.
As a duo, we combined our expertise in design strategy and user experience design, while my skills in branding and information design offered unique solutions to the challenge. I realised an innovative design solution answers a need not everyone is aware of. It is our job as designers to take advantage of these opportunities and break with tradition. The unlimited creative capacity of design thinking integrated with prototyping and user testing methods make it the ideal tool to solve any problem. Design thinking can not only tackle everyday problems—it can solve any problem.