I started my reading from the medium post “Visualizing the essential of design thinking”. The author firstly points out different models and their weakness in showing the essence of design thinking. Then based on the model that exists, he and other people create the more complete and detailed model to explain the design thinking process. It combines the model that he talks about and puts it together. I like the visualization that the author makes however, I do think it is a little bit too complicated to read for the first time. It contains too much information in one graph. What I like about this graph is that it shows the iteration in both micro and macro scopes. It also well separated the actual design process and the thinking part.
Then I jumped to the reading about a map of design practice and research. Because I think I can find some similarities in between maps and visualizations of design. In my option, a map is a way to visualize stuff and to make things clear (like mind map). The map breaks down two totally different mindsets from two groups of people: designers and researchers (which includes sociologists, engineers and more). It also defines the differences between designers and researchers who have an expert mindset or a participatory mindset. The research types map helps me understand our class more clearly. Since it categorizes different types of design research, which some weekly projects will cover. I think a good designer requires the quick switch from different mindsets because the task from each client is different.
“Wicked Problems in design thinking” is a really theoretical article that explains design and design thinking in our lives. The part that I highlight in the article is that it elaborates four areas that design can apply in real life: visual communication; material objects; activities; and design systems (which part of it I learned in last semester). It helps me understand the use of design and the area of design thinking. The article emphasizes that the goal of designer is to tangle specific problems.