Stanford D-School, formally known as the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford University, is fastly becoming one of the most popular programs at Stanford.
According to David Kelley, one of the founders of the institute, the success lies in the curriculum that is based on teaching students how to flex the “empathy muscle” by enabling them to “to forgo computer screens and spreadsheets and focus on people.” This perspective yields a creative process composed of relentlessly testing possible solutions with users as many times as it takes “until they come up with solutions that people will actually use.”
With this approach, D-School students have managed to develop innovative ways of tackling infant mortality, unreliable electricity and malnutrition in the developing world, and a common congenital deformity that is commonly known as clubfoot.
Nicole Perlroth, in her recent article on NY Times, explains a series of innovative projects designed in the D-School and their respective design processes. The article can be seen here:
“Solving Problems for the Real World, Using Design.”
image credit: NY Times
