Design thinking has outlasted plenty of business trends – and with good reason. As AI reshapes how law firms work, it’s easy to lose sight of the human beings who make a firm what it is. Design thinking is, at its heart, a critical thinking process that puts people back at the forefront of all decisions.
The principles behind design thinking haven’t changed. What’s changed is the pace. When a working prototype can be built in an afternoon, the discipline of understanding the problem first is what keeps firms from building the wrong thing quickly.
We can apply design thinking to improve any situation because its tools – observation, inquiry, strategy, and testing – are so flexible.
Design thinking begins with discovery and observation. We ask questions like “how does this process work for this person?” and “how should this process work?” It’s easy to lose sight of what matters, which is why asking simple questions is such an important part of the design thinking skill set.
Design thinking is how we make sure the work serves the people doing it. It’s the underlying motivation for everything we do at Knox Design Strategy. Whenever our guidance makes some aspect of a firm’s work more effective or efficient, we have accomplished our mission.
We host workshops and one-on-one interviews, and we research whatever we can. Taking a step back to understand our client is how we create a strategy with clear, relevant business objectives.
By the time we make a recommendation – on a technology investment, an AI workflow, or whether an in-house build is ready to launch – we have already gone through a disciplined process to understand our client’s needs on a deep level. That’s what makes the advice worth acting on.
In the end, design thinking is simple to understand, difficult to master, and powerful to apply. It’s for real people living in the real world, and it’s how Knox Design Strategy creates real change for our clients.
