How Design Thinking shaped an intern’s world view
Edric Wee is an environmental studies undergraduate from NUS who was interning with Studio Dojo over the summer holidays. Edric joined Studio Dojo after being introduced to Design Thinking in university. He had hoped to learn more about Design Thinking and to try his hand at practising Design Thinking methods.
As a result of his endeavours in Studio Dojo, Edric realised that there was more to Design Thinking than just methods and techniques. This blog article is a reflection of Edric’s learning about Design Thinking and how it relates to his personal development.

Design Thinking: The starting point for me make impactful change
My fascination with Design Thinking started when I was in my freshman year. As one with many aspirations and ideals, I held a strong desire to figure out how to solve the problems of the world – be it climate change, inequality and more. The concept of Design Thinking as a problem-solving tool filled me with excitement. I easily believed that it was the panacea for many of our world’s biggest problems and that Design Thinking was the starting point for me make impactful change.
During my time at Studio Dojo, I was fortunate to have opportunities to practise Design Thinking methods and mindsets. Through this process, I learned a lot about myself – my thought processes, standards and assumptions.
I became more aware of how I habitually go about completing a task, revealing the nature of my worldview. With advice from my colleagues, I was able to identify what about myself that might be stopping me from seeing things from a different perspective.
This helped me realise that Design Thinking is more than just a problem-solving process of methods and techniques. Instead, it seemed like Design Thinking is a process that shapes one’s thinking. The practice of Design Thinking grants us a lens to look at problems differently – spurring innovation when we become open to alternatives that are not apparent with our current beliefs.
To illustrate how Design Thinking could change one’s worldview, I reflected upon my experience as an intern and listened to the stories of how Design Thinking has influenced the way my Studio Dojo colleagues think.
Changing the way we think with Design Thinking
In practising Design Thinking, one overarching change I experienced was becoming more humble. As my fellow Studio Dojo intern, Esther, puts it: “The best design is selfless design – good design happens when there’s no ‘you’ in the picture”.

Selfless Design: Removing ourselves from ‘the picture’
What is this selfless design then? I learned that effective Design Thinking involves good facilitation which is achieved when the designer (who also plays the role of a facilitator) remains as neutral as possible. Removing ourselves from the ‘picture’ of Design Thinking is to ensure that one keeps in mind who they are designing for – which is not themselves. This to me means that one does not influence the design thinking process with their own biases and beliefs.
One way one might influence the Design Thinking process with their own bias is by meticulously planning out the process. The thought of “Okay, later during the session, I must do this and that, and I should also do this…..” indicates that the design process is being directed by the designer.
In the planning phrase itself, one may have already let their standards hinder their creative abilities.
I would suspect the uncertainty about the outcome of a process causes discomfort and one cannot help but to compensate by planning the process to even the tiniest bit of detail. The standard of having to know what is going on.
In my conversation with Damien, he shared how there’s a polarity between planning ahead and ‘learning while doing’. He mentioned despite having gone through the Design Thinking process, he still has a strong urge to plan out everything he wants to do when going about a task. The practice of shifting from planning ahead to more ‘learning while doing’ is something Damien is working on.
When conducting interviews for the writing of this blog, I too, fell into the trap of over-planning. Asking closed questions, not generating a conversation and feeling thrown off when the answers I’m given does not fit into my expectations. I ended up dictating what the interview should look like, rather than entering the interview with an open mind. That made me feel frustrated and lost – why the hell is the interviewee not giving me what I want?
The learning that I gained is that if I came into the Design Thinking process expecting a certain outcome, then why bother doing Design Thinking? What I have desired is validation, not innovation.
It may be our instinct to blame ourselves and wonder what went wrong when an outcome is unexpected. Yet, maybe nothing went wrong? The unexpected outcome could be a new discovery: something one might not have thought of before.
As such, staying humble and allowing the process to go a different way from what I expect is what allows for innovation in Design Thinking.
The courage to say, “I don’t know what may happen, let’s see how this goes” allows me to embrace uncertainty. In doing so, I expect the unexpected and trust that the process will teach me something new.

Empathy: Enter another person’s world, let go of our biases
Another area where I find humility playing a big role is in empathy. What is empathy and how does it make us more humble? Aliff’s definition of Design Thinking may give us a better idea: “Design thinking is visiting a world, understanding what that world is like, and co-creating what works well for that world”. Empathising with others requires the Design Thinker to immerse in the user’s world as a visitor. That means not imposing one’s own beliefs and values onto the user.
Instead of seeing myself as the expert (which sounds ironic given that I am the one conducting the Design Thinking process), I learn to recognise that no one knows their own needs better than themselves.
Design Thinking calls for me to see pass my judgement, that they are just my assessments. Similar to expecting the unexpected as mentioned earlier, empathising means that I remain open to my user’s worldview and that I know nothing about their life.
In doing so, I believe it helps me be more curious and that I avoid generalising the people I am designing for. I resonate with Aliff when we talk about how what works for ourselves may not work for everyone.
My learning here is that when I let go of my biases, I allow for others to provide me with a new perspective – a new way of thinking.
In learning about empathy in Design Thinking, it made me wonder what empathy for the self may look like. I could not find any immediate answers but I can say that empathising with the self would most likely look different for everyone.
Aliff shared how one could even use Design Thinking to discover what works for them – reflecting on one’s own thoughts, coming up with ideas of how empathising with the self could look like, then prototyping and testing them out.
In doing so, I become my own user and try to figure out what works for me which I suspect could be good practice for empathising with others.
Thinking about empathising with the self led me to discover its associations with being more humble. Mainly, when I empathise with myself, I can better embrace my flaws and recognise that I am no perfect being.
While planning for an ideation session I volunteered to host, I held onto the thought of: “I should get it right”. But that made me stuck. I was desperate to do well and went in circles trying to devise the perfect plan. I was trapped in an unproductive mood of learning where I was unwilling to make mistakes.
There was a great sense of vulnerability for me when this standard I held onto was pointed out. It was shocking to learn that I was the one holding myself back from learning.
Yet, there was also a sense of relief knowing that I was holding myself to my own standards. To me, that meant that I have to power to then change and shift away from being caught up with being perfect. It sounds simple, but no way is it easy.
Being able to remain resilient and be daring to try requires immense courage that stems from the understanding that failure is part of one’s learning. In humbling myself, I am reminded that I am merely human. I then can empathise with the fact that I will make mistakes and that I would not get things right on the first try. This is an indispensable mindset change for not just an effective Design Thinking process, but for my personal growth too.
Having Khai Seng tell me that he does not expect even himself to get things right on the 10th try, was an unforgettable humbling experience.
Changing the world starts with the self
During my short stint at Studio Dojo, my views of what Design Thinking is has changed. From seeing it as a miraculous problem-solving tool, to realising that Design Thinking is more complicated than it seems.

Changing the world starts with self
Design Thinking methods alone are just tools; how well it is used depends on the user. Creativity and novel solutions do not magically appear because one goes through the Design Thinking process. Rather, it is when one changes the way they think that new perspectives emerge.
Given that Design Thinking both demands and causes a change in our way of thinking, long term practice of Design Thinking is a process of vertical development – defined as when one learns to change their world views, value systems and beliefs. Most importantly, the humility built through the practice of Design Thinking helps in changing one’s mindset – becoming more open, having better willingness to try, the courage to take in feedback and try again.
Design Thinking cannot solve all sorts of problems, but the practice of Design Thinking will kick start a change in ourselves and our views of a problem. If we would like to change the world, then we’ll have to first change ourselves.