We got a chance to design a mural for the newly opened Ground Zero lab at IIITDM Kancheepuram. The purpose of the lab is to provide a workspace for people to collaborate creatively and connect on similar ideas.

The concept we came up with is to depict the iterative process of design thinking and show how one gets a clearer picture of the product through each iteration.

The ideology behind design thinking states that, in order to come up with innovative solutions, one must adopt a designer’s mindset and approach the problem from the user’s perspective. At the same time, design thinking is all about getting hands-on; the aim is to turn your ideas into tangible, testable products or processes as quickly as possible.

We took a visual cue from Leonardo Da Vinci's seminal work, The Vitruvian Man and correlated it with the two facets of a design thinker- the red figure representing the observer and the yellow figure being the problem-solver. The unending Enso circles around the figures represent the iterative approach of design thinking. Certain steps need to be repeated in the process as one uncovers flaws and shortcomings in the early versions of the proposed solution.

The 5-step design thinking process is represented above the two figures—starting with building empathy for the user, right through to coming up with ideas and turning them into prototypes.

The mural is currently displayed at the entrance of the Ground Zero lab at IIITDM Kancheepuram.