디자인 씽킹을 활용한 다학제 협업 - 초기 기술개발 단계에서 디자인의 접목 -

Design thinking process is becoming a strategic force to bring innovation in various fields of disciplines. Such process is being incorporated as a significant part of technological development to find users’ unmet needs that pursue human-centered values. This study articulates two objectives: 1) to experiment the advantages and disadvantages of reconciliation between designers and engineers, who are known as intuitive and analytical thinkers, through multidisciplinary collaboration 2) to reveal the significance of incorporating design thinking process and methods at the early stage of technological development. Preliminary research is carried out with literature review about the historical development of design thinking and a case study on multidisciplinary collaboration project practiced in professional field. Then, through observation and pilot studies, we conducted a field investigation in the multidisciplinary collaboration workshop that utilized design thinking methods. Comparative analysis was made based on the time consumed during seven design thinking methods (ethnography, user scenario, concept development, visualization, rapid prototyping, persona, and customer experience map) targeting six teams consisted two of each interdisciplinary teams, designer teams, and engineer teams. As a result, both interdisciplinary teams spent time evenly throughout all methods; the design teams consumed a fair amount of time on idea visualization to execute aesthetical products; and the engineer teams spent most of their time building prototypes to verify functional aspects. It is expected that such findings based on this investigation will be referred in prospective studies about effectively incorporating design thinking process and methods within a multidisciplinary collaboration for technological development.