Business thinking

Design thinking

Primary target for value creation

Boards of Directors and senior management

End users

Primary process and goal

Sequential analytic process to make good choices among known alternatives

Iterative synthetic process to create something new that meets multiple criteria

Primary “thinking” media

Words and numbers in documents and projected presentations

Also visualizations in the form of concept depictions including prototypes, demos, exhibits and experience vignettes

Use of abstraction

Pulls useful abstractions out of data to inform decision-making

Pulls useful abstractions out of observations to inform the creation of experiences and artifacts

Cognitive preferences

Logic and pragmatism

Narrative and richness

Stance on emotion

Treat as another (sometimes relevant) input

Welcome it, understand it, and apply understanding to improve user desireablity of concept