On Wednesday, students immersed themselves in the world of design thinking, guided by Milla Mäkinen and Ricardo Galiot. The day unfolded as both a journey into a mindset and an exploration of concrete methods.
Ricardo Galiot described design thinking as a process that brings together diverse perspectives, generates creative ideas, and identifies real problems. He emphasized that true innovation does not emerge from an idea alone, but from the ability to understand users’ needs and the context in which they live. His examples, such as Netflix’s approach to offering content anytime, illustrated how innovation often arises from solving everyday challenges like accessibility and time use.
Throughout the day, students explored two key models of design thinking. The Double Diamond model from the UK Design Council demonstrated how divergent and convergent thinking alternate to uncover problems and solutions. The Stanford Design School process highlighted empathy, definition, ideation, prototyping, and testing. All deeply rooted in user-centered and visual approaches.
Discussions also touched on the challenges of design thinking. Human biases and assumptions can easily hinder creativity, and the method’s scalability is limited because it requires context-specific work. Yet these reflections only deepened the students’ understanding of how design thinking can both empower and challenge innovation.
By the end of the day, students had not only learned about frameworks and processes but also experienced how design thinking can shift perspectives and inspire new ways of approaching problems.
Want to learn more? Watch the recordings and explore the full content at www.innoboost.eu
Sources: This blog is based on lectures and content from the following experts:
- Laura-Maija Hero – Principal Research Scientist HAMK
- Jukka Raitanen – Lecturer, Business Administration, HAMK
- Milla Mäkinen – Principal Research Scientist, HAMK
- Vesa Tuomela – Lecturer, Business Administration, HAMK
- Ricardo Galiot – Lecturer, International Business, HAMK
Text: Katriina Peuhkuri (M.Soc.Sc.) Project Specialist, RUN InnoBoost Häme University of Applied Sciences (HAMK), School of Bioeconomy.