Design Thinking in the Framework of Visual Thinking and Characterization of Service Design Ideation Methods Using Visual Reasoning Model

Design Thinking is well recognized as a mindset and as a process in design and in business innovation and diverse complex problem-solving tasks. In this conceptual paper, design thinking process is explained using visual thinking composed of seeing – imagining – drawing so that its interactive and iterative nature can be better understood. The visual reasoning model developed earlier to support visual thinking with underlying cognitive activities as well as schema and knowledge is used to characterize four specific imagining methods for service design. Further research would be desirable to justify the potential of the visual reasoning model as a framework in devising methods and tools to support design thinking.