Design methods, suitable for practical use

As part of the Telekom Design Academy, the Group's internal continuing education forum for design, the design department published a lavishly designed method repository titled Design Thinking Doing. In it, 42 different innovation techniques are explained in detail, supplemented by tips for application and made useful through playing cards. The 16 personas – one of the most important methods in Telekom's design process – are also presented in it.

Design and product development processes, sensibly combined

The aim of the method repository was to ensure that design methods could be effortlessly integrated into the everyday work of all departments throughout the Group. A key component of the publication is therefore a diagram entitled "Design Doing" that shows where Telekom's design and product development processes meet in the various country organizations.

It is recommended, for example that during the classic preparation phase, personas, the Jobs to be Done tool and the Elevator Pitch be used. Prototyping, wireframing and validation techniques are used in the analysis phase. These are further deepened in the realization phase, while other methods ensure brand and design consistency or accompany field tests.

Design Thinking Doing, published by the design department, was available throughout the Group and became a status symbol for innovative thinking. It helped establish the design discipline as a driving force for innovation in the Group by making creative thinking and action comprehensible and applicable.

Design works when it inspires its users. To get as close as possible to the customers' perspectives, wishes and nees, the design department developed personas – fictitious personalities with names, ages, origins and social background, individual character traits, abilities, preferences, habits and detailed biographies. The characters, which reflect Telekom's target groups in a differentiated way, were created in an elaborate research process involving numerous interviews, focus groups and home visits with real Telekom customers.

The Telekom design team summarized the results by creating 16 archetypes, which they presented as public portraits in the Telekom Design Gallery. Thanks to the precise descriptions, the fictional personalities came alive: Telekom employees treated them like 16 sympathetic colleagues and began to always consider their needs, requirements and wishes during product development.

Design methods, suitable for practical use

As part of the Telekom Design Academy, the Group's internal continuing education forum for design, the design department published a lavishly designed method repository titled Design Thinking Doing. In it, 42 different innovation techniques are explained in detail, supplemented by tips for application and made useful through playing cards. The 16 personas – one of the most important methods in Telekom's design process – are also presented in it.

Design and product development processes, sensibly combined

The aim of the method repository was to ensure that design methods could be effortlessly integrated into the everyday work of all departments throughout the Group. A key component of the publication is therefore a diagram entitled "Design Doing" that shows where Telekom's design and product development processes meet in the various country organizations.

It is recommended, for example that during the classic preparation phase, personas, the Jobs to be Done tool and the Elevator Pitch be used. Prototyping, wireframing and validation techniques are used in the analysis phase. These are further deepened in the realization phase, while other methods ensure brand and design consistency or accompany field tests.

Design Thinking Doing, published by the design department, was available throughout the Group and became a status symbol for innovative thinking. It helped establish the design discipline as a driving force for innovation in the Group by making creative thinking and action comprehensible and applicable.

AWARDS

LEARNINGS

Those elements that designers take for granted – lateral and user-oriented thinking, the constant switch between conception and implementation – must become physically tangible and easily applicable so that it can be lived outside of design departments.