Explaining how Design Thinking differs from the food industry conventional thinking

The purpose of this article is to examine and illustrate how Design Thinking can contribute to innovation in the food industry. After introducing Design Thinking, I will discuss three specific aspects that capture its essence: (1) Consumer Empathy, (2) Rapid Prototyping and Visualization, and (3) Collaboration. I discuss the likely outcome of a Design Thinking process and describe how Design Thinking differs from the conventional way of thinking within the food industry

Highlights

• Design thinking relies less on experts and more on a diverse group of players to both identify and provide a solution to a problem.
• Consumer empathy is a key step in the design thinking process and is especially important in food innovation.
• Design thinking encourages action, quick learning, and the expectation of rapid experimentation.
• Design Thinking necessitates greater consumer empathy, more frequent prototyping, and greater collaboration than is currently prevalent in the food industry.

Introduction