The goal is to establish criteria for the what-if idea generation phase. Mind mapping is looking for patterns and insights in a large quantity of data you collected during your exploration of what is the current reality. At Darton, we use mind mapping with executives, students, steel-makers, educators, retailers, those are not-for-profit firms, government agencies, consumer package goods companies, and all will attest to its power. This is just what mind mapping does well. Before moving to the next phase, what if, we need to distill all that data into information and insights that can be easily communicated. In doing so, we amass a huge amount of data. In the first phase of design thinking process, we take a look at the current reality. It's used to look for patterns, it's used to look for insights, that lead to more creative solutions to your design challenge. Mind mapping is one of the most powerful tools in the design thinker's toolbox. I'm going to be talking to you today about one of the design tools called mind mapping.

I'm a marketing professor here at Darton and a colleague of Jean. Let's take a minute and look at that now. > We have another video on the mind-mapping technique prepared for you by our very own Darton professor, Marian Moore. By the end of this module, you'll understand how to use design thinking to generate innovative ideas, how to apply the 'what is?' and 'what if?' questions, and how to use the Mind Mapping tool.

Once they have thoroughly explored and looked for patterns, designers look toward the future and ask 'what if?' This is the creative part of the process, but it also requires a disciplined approach. As part of assessing 'what is?', designers “follow the customer home” and explore the problems they are trying to solve in life versus their product use. Examining what already exists is the first step in the design thinking process. In this module, we will look at the story of an entrepreneur, Chris Cartter, and his start-up, MeYouHealth, as they worked with Boston design firm, Essential Design, to understand the kind of opportunity that social networking might hold for helping us to improve our health. Now we will dive deeper into the design thinking process, looking at how we can use it to generate better ideas.

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