Slides from a half-day workshop I co-led at the 2013 Museum Computer Network conference in Seattle. (www.mcn.edu/2012/design-thinking-museums-empathy-innovation) Design Thinking is a human-centered, prototype-driven process for innovation. In this half-day workshop, participants experienced firsthand the complete Design Thinking cycle through a hands-on, highly interactive session.

1. Design Thinking for Museums:
From Empathy to Innovation
Dana Mitroff Silvers and Tim Svenonius, SFMOMA
Susie Wise, PhD, Stanford d.school
Museum Computer Network | November 7, 2012

2. Who we are
@dmitroff @susiewise @timsven

3. Schedule
9:00-9:15 Intros
9:15-11:00 Design challenge
11:00-11:10 Break
11:10-11:30 Design thinking at SFMOMA
11:30-12:15 Bringing it home
12:15-12:30 Final reflection

4. About you
Your name
Where you work
Your job/role
Your favorite breakfast
food as a kid!

5. Goals for today
Have a hands-on
design thinking
experience
Apply to your work—
next week!
Have fun!

6. your design challenge
Redesign the
“Morning Experience”

7. OK, go!
Right now, on your own,
come up with a way to
improve your morning
experience. Write it down
on your blank sheet of
paper.
You’ve got 5 minutes.

8. That was a problem-solving approach…

9. We’re going to try a design thinking approach

10. What is design thinking?
Human-centered
Prototype-driven
Radically
collaborative
Mindful of process

11. Instead of talking about it—let’s dig in!
Find a partner…

12. your design challenge
Redesign the
“Morning Experience”

16. You’re going to do this by interviewing your partner
Your goal is to find out what morning is really like for him/
her. You each have 5 minutes to interview your partner
and make some notes. Get details!
Some prompts:
“What was the best…”
“What was the worst…
“Tell me the story of that…”
5 minutes x 2

17. Now dig a little deeper…
Find out what’s really going on. You each have 3
additional minutes to interview your partner and take
some more notes. Get more details!
Some prompts:
“Tell me more about that.”
“Why?”
“Why?”
“Why?”
“Why?”
“Why?”
3 minutes x 2

19. Now you are going to take a few minutes to DEFINE
a bit about your partner and his/her needs

20. Sample USER + NEED + INSIGHT statement
user
Sasha, a struggling/perfectionist first year
elementary school principal
need
needs to balance her desire to get ahead of the day
with her need for a moment of calm and nourishment
insight
because she has no time to plan and if her morning
is scattered, the whole day can go down hill

21. Give it a try. (Hint: Try more than one draft.)
6 minutes on your own

23. Gotta Warm Up for Ideation… Improv!

24. SKETCH 5-15 different ideas to redesign the
morning experience for your partner
10 minutes on your own

25. SHARE your ideas
5 minutes x 2

27. Build quick + dirty prototypes
10 minutes on your own

29. TEST with your partner
5 minutes x 2

30. SHARE PROTOTYPES around the room

31. What was that like?

32. How did the design thinking process work for you?

33. Schedule
9:00-9:15 Intros
9:15-11:00 Design challenge
11:00-11:10 Break
11:10-11:30 Design thinking at SFMOMA
11:30-12:15 Bringing it home
12:15-12:30 Final reflection

34. Key mindsets
Empathy
for real visitors
Collaborating
to work in new ways
Prototyping + iterating
over perfection

35. Design Thinking at SFMOMA

36. Empathy for real users

37. What we learned from empathy interviews
SFMOMA is about the physical space, a destination
Routine, comfort, familiarity --> the artworks are
“old friends”
The space often stirs up spiritual/religious feelings
SFMOMA validates one’s identity

38. Collaborating to work in new ways

39. The future
Snøhetta, SFMOMA Expansion Aerial View Southeast; image courtesy Snøhetta

40. Closed 2.5 years = lots of prototyping time!

41. Challenges
Making the time and space for design thinking
—and then DOING it
Lo-fi prototypes in a high-fidelity, design-
obsessed culture
Getting buy-in for the process
We are insiders—why should they listen to us?

42. Desert island design thinking

43. Schedule
9:00-9:15 Intros
9:15-11:00 Design challenge
11:00-11:10 Break
11:10-11:30 Design thinking at SFMOMA
11:30-12:15 Bringing it home
12:15-12:30 Final reflection

44. Bringing it home
[ ] 1st Iteration – 10 mins.
Bringing It Home: In your own workplace, how can you . . .
[ ] 2nd Iteration – 7 mins.
. . . employ empathy? . . . use collaboration?
. . . use prototyping? . . . apply design thinking next week?

45. Bringing it home
Work on your own 10 min
A share with partner B 5 min
B share with partner A 5 min
Iterate 7 min
Full-group conversation 15 min

46. Schedule
9:00-9:15 Intros
9:15-11:00 Design challenge
11:00-11:10 Break
11:10-11:30 Design thinking at SFMOMA
11:30-12:15 Bringing it home
12:15-12:30 Final reflection

47. Reflection
I like…
I wish…

48. Resources + Contact
dschool.stanford.edu/use-our-methods/
dschool.stanford.edu/groups/designresources/
dmitroff@sfmoma.org
@dmitroff
tsvenonius@sfmoma.org
@TimSven
susiebwise@gmail.com
@susiewise