Abstract
Design is a fundamentally human and therefore an anthropological act. As social anthropologist Tim Ingold points out, it is an act that cannot be disconnected from making in the world. This chapter uses Ingold’s theoretical concepts to connect design thinking with making and to establish both as ancient human practices as evident in history. Then, the chapter reflects on contemporary design thinking practice. Further, it connects this anthropological view of design thinking to insights from my own design thinking practice from the years of 2011–2015 in leading the Design Thinking @ College of Design, a design thinking consulting program at the University of Minnesota. Finally, it offers suggestions for where design might go in the future while drawing from our anthropological past and present to fulfill the potential of design thinking as a powerful creative tool shaping humanity’s future.
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Notes
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University of Minnesota is one of the 131 institutions in the United States that are classified as “R1: Doctoral Universities—Very high research activity” in the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education as of the 2018 update. These universities have a very high level of both research activity and per capita in such research activity. That is, they have substantial resources for research and have a lot of people conducting research at their respective institutions http://carnegieclassifications.iu.edu/classification_descriptions/basic.php.
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References
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Ingold T (2011) Being alive: essays on movement, knowledge and description. Routledge, London, New York; Ingold T (2013) Making: anthropology, archaeology, art and architecture. Routledge, Abingdon, Oxon, New York
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McCreary L (2010) Kaiser permanente’s innovation on the front lines. Harv Bus Rev (September 2010). Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2010/09/kaiser-permanentes-innovation-on-the-front-lines
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Singh, V. (2020). Design Thinking as an Anthropological Practice: Past/Present/Future. In: Melles, G. (eds) Design Thinking in Higher Education. Design Science and Innovation. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-5780-4_6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-5780-4_6
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