Emotions at the Helm: Designing Solutions Start with a Gut Feeling
As I kick off my Design Thinking Build Log series (where I share my ongoing projects), I want to start by highlighting a crucial element that often goes unnoticed in the world of innovation: the role of emotions.
I believe that innovations start with 2 things - an observation and a reaction.
An observation can be personally or professional. For instance, you rush over to the dry cleaner after work only to discover that they have closed. Oh you are mad! Or at work, you notice the amount of time your secretary spends on manually entering new client names into the new database. Oh, that ought to be a better way!
Innovations wouldn’t have happened if the observer did not feel frustrated or concerned enough to ponder “What If?” questions. The stronger the reaction, the more personal the issue, or the more vested the interest, the more our brains would fire up and look for a solution that may not exist… and that is the fuel for innovations.
When it comes to creating meaningful solutions, emotions aren’t just bystanders—they are central players. It’s easy to think that successful innovations come solely from careful planning, logical strategies, or endless brainstorming sessions. But the reality is that the spark behind many of the world’s best ideas often begins with a gut feeling—a sense that something could be better or something needs to change.
The most delicious startup stories follow this pattern. An observation, a strong reaction, followed by insatiable curiosity to find a way to fill the problem-solution gap.
For example, Sara Blakely, founder of Spanx, famously shared how her frustration with traditional hosiery led her to create an entirely new category of clothing. People who don’t wear hosiery would never understand how much she felt. And yet, she did, reacted so strongly to a problem that led her relentless pursue a solution - and became a self-made billionaire along the way.
Or consider Steve Job’s obsession with aesthetics in the world of technology. It was hardly an objective, measurable pursuit. After all, computer technology was serving our needs just fine, and no one had expressed disappointment in how everything looked! But for Job, it was a pain so deeply felt that he saw value in creating an alternative. And now many of us too feel the technology as he intended.
As I start sharing my Design Thinking Build Log series, I hope to bring you into my own journey, showing not just the technical steps and design decisions, but also the emotional landscape that drives each solution. There will be times when emotions make an unexpected appearance at the decision-making table.
Because in the end, it’s not just about what we build—it’s about why we build it.
So, stay tuned, and let’s see how emotions may shape the journey.