From Design Thinking to Art Thinking with an Open Innovation Perspective—A Case Study of How Art Thinking Rescued a Cultural Institution in Dublin

Abstract

This article uses a contemporary and revelatory case study to explore the relationship between three conversations in the innovation literature: Design Thinking, creativity in strategy, and the emerging area of Art Thinking. Businesses are increasingly operating in a VUCA environment where they need to design better experiences for their customers and better outcomes for their firm and the Arts are no exception. Innovation, or more correctly, growth through innovation, is a top priority for business and although there is no single, unifying blueprint for success at innovation, Design Thinking is the process that is receiving most attention and getting most traction. We review the literature on Design Thinking, showing how it teaches businesses to think with the creativity and intuition of a designer to show a deep understanding of, and have empathy with, the user. However, Design Thinking has limitations. By placing the consumer at the very heart of the innovation process, Design Thinking can often lead to more incremental, rather than radical, ideas. Now there is a new perspective emerging, Art Thinking, in which the objective is not to design a journey from the current scenario, A, to an improved position, A+. Art Thinking requires the creation of an optimal position B, and spends more time in the open-ended problem space, staking out possibilities and looking for uncontested space. This paper offers a single case study of a national arts organisation in Dublin facing an existential crisis, which used an Art Thinking approach successfully to give a much-needed shot in the arm to its commercial innovation activities.

Concretising Design Thinking: A Content Analysis of Systematic and Extended Literature Reviews on Design Thinking and Human‐Centred Design

“…Broadly, the goals of most of the articles (nine out of 11) were to situate design thinking within the relevant industry for the purpose of bolstering its processes or practices (Orthel, ; Nia & Atun, ; Kleinsmann et al , ; Noel & Liub, ; Oxman, ; Cook & Bush, ; Kleber, ; Robbins, ; Periera & Russo, ). Of the remaining two, one sought to determine the nature of design thinking and its relevant competencies for application to education (Razzouk & Shute, ), and the other was part of a larger conversation seeking to negotiate the role of embodied cognition in relation to design (Goldschmidt, ).…”

“…Razzouk & Shute, ; Orthel, ; Goldschmidt, ; Kleinsmann et al , ; Noel & Liub, ; Cook & Bush, ; Kleber, ; Pereira & Russo, ). Three represented design thinking in non‐standard ways: one in terms of aesthetic design (Nia & Atun, ), one as compared to art thinking (Robbins, ) and one as parametric design related to computer‐aided design in architecture (Oxman, ).…”

“…While several of the articles identified or utilised design thinking models (Noel & Liub, ; Cook & Bush, ; Kleber, ), four works examined design thinking on a deeper level (Robbins, ; Pereira & Russo, ; Kleinsmann et al , ; and Razzouk & Shute, ). It is interesting that three of these articles, which focus on clarifying or deepening the understanding of design thinking, are so recent, especially in the light of the increase in popularity and the introduction of the approach to new fields in recent years.…”

A Method of Art Thinking for Adapting to Systems Engineering of Utilizing Architectural Framework for Self‐Organizing

“…', Art Thinking emanates from within the individual and asks 'Is this even possible?'" Robbins (2018) states that "Art Thinking spends much more time in the problem space: it is not customer-centered; it is breakthrough-oriented." cite Mazda's design philosophy as an example that applies to Art Thinking.…”

“…This is because Art Thinking is not customer-centered; it is breakthrough-oriented. (Robbins, 2018) For this reason, there is a need not only to follow the definition of Art Thinking as described in Chapter 2 ("Art Thinking originates from the core of an individual and tries to express one's feelings and beliefs about the work"), but also for other stakeholders such as customers to empathize and resonate with these works of expression. No company will ever have value without the empathy of its stakeholders.…”