Let designers think

"A process for thinking Inputs (Your brain (senses Hearing, smell, taste, sight, touch) + Rene Descartes Theory of Vision + Smart Phone AI + Illustory Truth Graph) and Outputs (Habits) A while back, I captured this provocation on LinkedIn by Darren Hood, which got me thinking. What does it take to "Let Designers think"? Thinking is the value we bring. Let's discuss more ways to carve out "thinking" time."

"The comment was then punctuated by , who touched on the difference between corporate decision-making via "design thinking" and "thinking like a designer." Unfortunately, there remains a gap between "design thinking" as designers practice it and how companies implement "design thinking." But regardless, there is still an impulse among design practitioners to "think". Let's quickly review how we got here."

Protected, deliberate thinking time is essential for designers to generate value through human judgment rather than only through AI. Thinking relies on sensory inputs, perceptual theories, and external tools to form habits and outputs. A clear distinction exists between organizational use of design thinking and the deeper practice of thinking like a designer. The canonical stages—empathy, define, ideate, prototype, test—structure the problem-solving process. Organizations often dilute or misapply these practices, creating a gap between practitioner methods and corporate decision-making. Active efforts are required to carve out time, protect cognitive processes, and practice designing outside AI dependencies.

Read at Medium