Lesson video

Hello, my name is Mrs. Tipping and I'm really looking forward to learning with you today about urban life through drawing and design.

We're going to do lots of thinking, talking and exploring together in this lesson.

So shall we get started? Let's go.

By the end of today's lesson, you'll be able to use and apply design thinking to come up with a creative solution to a real life urban problem.

Before we start, I would like to introduce you to some keywords.

We'll be using these keywords during the lesson, so it might be a good idea to write these words down.

The keywords we'll be using today are design thinking, empathise, ideate, prototype.

I'm gonna say those words again and I would like you to repeat them after me.

Design thinking, empathise, ideate, prototype.

Good job.

Now let's think in more detail about what these keywords mean by taking a look at their definitions.

Design thinking is a process used by designers to solve problems creatively and effectively.

Empathise is to understand and share the feelings or needs of others.

Ideate means to generate and explore lots of different ideas or solutions.

And a prototype is a simple model or sketch that shows how a design might work.

Pause the video here to make a note of these keywords, and when you're ready to continue, press play.

These are the learning cycles that we'll be working through together in today's lesson, understanding design thinking and applying design thinking through drawing.

In the first learning cycle, we're going to explore design thinking.

What kinds of problems might you find in an urban environment? Pause the video here and have a discussion with your partner and press play when you're ready to continue.

What did you think? Well, you might find overflowing bins, a lack of bike storage, confusing road signs, maybe too much traffic.

You can see in this image here, an urban area with some discarded rubbish.

You can also have not enough green spaces.

Design thinking is a process used by designers to solve problems creatively and effectively.

You don't have to be good at drawing to use design thinking effectively.

It's more about problem solving than making beautiful artworks or drawings.

Sketches help to communicate ideas, and these do not have to be perfect to be effective.

Annotations and notes can also be used to further emphasise the process of design thinking.

Design thinking is used to solve problems by understanding people's needs, coming up with creative ideas and solutions and testing and improving these ideas.

Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

Something thinking can be used to solve problems. Which word is missing here? Quick, radical or design? Pause the video here and give yourself a moment to think and press play when you're ready to continue.

What did you think? If you said design thinking can be used to solve problems, you're absolutely right.

Well done.

Design thinking moves through five key stages.

First of all, empathise.

Then moving into define, ideate, prototype and test.

We're going to explore those stages in more detail.

The first stage of design thinking is empathise.

To empathise is to understand and share the feelings or needs of others.

This means observing, listening, asking or considering what other people need.

And great design starts by understanding others.

The second stage is to define the problem.

By being clear and specific on what exactly the problem may be, solutions can be easier to find and implement.

The next stage is to ideate.

To ideate means to generate and explore lots of different ideas or solutions.

Think big and be creative.

More ideas can lead to inventive and unexpected solutions.

With lots of ideas to work from, the fourth stage is to prototype these ideas.

Prototyping means creating a simple model or sketch that shows how a design might work.

By using prototypes, models or drawings, it becomes easier to communicate your ideas and show others your thinking process.

Finally, the fifth stage is to put it to the test.

Here you can see what works, what needs fixing, get feedback and improve the design.

Even small changes can make a big difference.

Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

What does it mean to ideate? To build something, to think of lots of ideas or to test ideas? Pause the video here and give yourself a moment to think about the answer to this question and press play when you're ready to continue.

What did you think? If you said to ideate means to think of lots of ideas, you're absolutely right.

Well done.

This now brings us to our first learning task.

I'd like you to discuss and choose an urban problem you care about.

You might choose littering, traffic, the lack of play areas, the lack of green spaces, or maybe air pollution.

So those are some ideas that you could choose from, some urban problems, but you might have another one already in mind.

The second thing I'd like you to do is to complete the table in response to your chosen urban problems. So use the first three stages of design thinking, empathise, define and ideate.

So put your problem up at the top, then empathise with who it affects.

Define what the problem is and ideate some possible solutions.

So pause the video here and give yourself enough time to choose your urban problem and then complete your table in response and press play when you're ready to continue.

How did you get on? Did you select a problem that you felt passionate about? And were you able to go through the first three stages of design thinking, empathising, defining and ideating? Well, let's have a look here.

Perhaps your problem was recycling and you empathised with people who live nearby where the rubbish has been left and the problem is not knowing where to recycle and bins may become overcrowded or used incorrectly, and the possible solutions when you ideate.

Maybe colour coded bins with symbols and signs nearby that point towards the recycling station could be a first solution.

So well done for having a go at thinking about the urban problem and then ideating and defining and empathising in your design thinking.

This now brings us to the second part of the lesson.

We're going to be applying design thinking through drawing.

So urban environments like cities and towns face real challenges such as litter, noise, traffic and lack of green spaces.

Designers can make urban life better for everyone, and the ideas you develop could help shape the future.

Cities contain many problems waiting to be solved.

Looking at this scene, discuss with a partner any problems you might notice and who might be affected by them.

Pause the video here and give yourself some time to discuss this with a partner.

And press play when you're ready to continue.

What problems could you see here and who might be affected by them? Well, Jacob says There is a lot of litter and rubbish on the ground, and this might make it hard for people with walking or movement problems to access.

And Sam says the area is dimly lit and does not offer any clear signs for navigating it.

This makes the area challenging for tourists or people with visual impairment.

There are many applications of design thinking in urban spaces.

Thomas Heatherwick is a British designer who redesigned London's bus service route to make it more accessible and user friendly.

Olafur Eliasson is an Icelandic-Danish artist who approaches global issues through design, such as through "Little Sun," a solar powered light for areas without electricity.

You might also work collaboratively as a group to raise awareness and develop empathy to the challenges people face in urban spaces.

Generate ideas for solutions, prototype and test them.

A prototype is a simple model or sketch that shows how a design might work.

Creating a prototype is an essential part of design thinking and provides opportunity for reflection and feedback.

Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

Why do designers make prototypes? Is it to sell them, to copy others or to test ideas before building for real? Pause the video here and have a discussion with your partner and press play when you're ready to continue.

What did you think? If you thought that designers make prototypes to test ideas before building for real, you're absolutely right.

Well done.

As an example, a problem might be that people don't know where to recycle.

What possible solutions could you ideate for this problem? Pause the video here and have a discussion with your partner and press play when you're ready to continue.

What ideas did you come up with? Well, Jun says signs must be easy to read and clear.

Maybe arrows could point people in the direction of the recycling station.

Izzy says you can use symbols on the bins and a colour code to help people to know which items to put in which bin.

Did you have some similar ideas? Or maybe yours is slightly different? Sketches, models and prototypes are created to see if and how ideas might work.

Drawing can be helpful to consider ideas before making them in real life.

While testing a solution, feedback and suggestions may highlight areas for improvement, and this information can then be carried back into the design thinking process to create better solutions.

Design thinking can be applied through drawing by visually showing how a solution to a problem might work in real life.

You might begin by photographing or sketching the problem.

Can have a look at this drawing here of some disorganised recycling bins.

It's not really clear what they're used for.

As part of the ideate stage, you might then create sketches for possible solutions and you may sketch different design ideas at this point.

Take a look at these drawing of labels for recycling bins.

So we've got different colours for different things like glass, paper and card, plastic and metal.

The prototyping stage might involve creating a simple model or sketch that shows how the design might work, and you might combine your sketches to help visualise your solution in action.

So you can see those bins there before were really disorganised with nothing on them.

And now we've got really clear labels on each of the bins.

One for glass, one for paper and one for plastic.

And you can see quite clearly that this is labelled the recycling station.

Now the final stage involves drawing the improved result.

So now we can't see any of that disorganised rubbish that might be on the floor, littered around making the place look untidy.

This step provides an opportunity to test the idea and gain additional feedback.

Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

How can drawing help in design thinking? Can it help by selling design ideas, to copy others' design ideas or to test ideas before building for real? Pause the video here and give yourself a moment to think and press play when you're ready to continue.

What did you think? If you said drawing can help in design thinking to help test ideas before building for real, and you're absolutely right.

Well done.

This now brings us to our final learning task.

I'd like you to use the provided storyboard template to visually show how your solution to the urban problem you identified in the previous task might work in real life.

So first of all, draw the problem, show it, then introduce your idea, then show it being used and show the improved result.

So pause the video here and give yourself enough time to have a go at drawing each of these stages to show your solution to the urban problem you identified.

And press play when you're ready to continue.

How did you get on? Were you able to draw those quick sketches and go through each of the stages? Well, let's have a look at this example here.

So hopefully you were able to use the storyboard template to visually show how your solution to the urban problem you identified might work in real life.

So you've got each of these four stages here drawn out, and hopefully you were able to explain them.

So the urban design problem I chose was a poorly used recycling station.

It creates mess and confusion affecting nearby residents and bin collection services.

So Izzy says, I've designed brightly coloured recycling station signs, which could be printed as stickers and placed onto each recycling bin.

So we've got the one for glass, one for paper and card and one for plastic and metal.

Then by putting each sign onto the correct recycling bin, it should make it clear and easy for people to see which bin they need to recycle their items in.

And finally, using simple clear signs can help people to recycle their items more easily, which should make less mess and keep the area tidy.

So this is showing the improved result of the solution to your urban problem.

So well done for having a go at applying the design thinking through drawing to your problem.

Before we finish this lesson, let's summarise what we've learned about design thinking.

Design thinking is a structured approach to solving problems creatively.

Empathy is the starting point for meaningful design.

Defining the problem, ideating possible solutions, prototyping simple versions of an idea and testing if it works, are all key stages of design thinking.

Urban environments present real life design challenges that designers can learn from by generating and testing their ideas for possible solutions.

Thank you for joining me in this lesson today.

I hope to see you in the next one.

See you next time.