Embodied design thinking: a phenomenological perspective

The aim of the article is to demonstrate, discuss and substantiate the embodiment of design thinking: what role does the body play in relation to engaging in design interaction and the generating of ideas? In order to discuss this question, we draw on the phenomenological philosophy of Merleau-Ponty and his concept of the lived body. The phenomenological perspective is related to a single case study in which three designers collaborate during a workshop as they discuss ethnographic video material with the aim of generating new ideas. Through an analysis of their interaction it is argued that the embodied engagement of the designers plays a fundamental role both in understanding the problem at hand and in opening up new ideas leading to a new design solution. The verbal interaction constantly finds its meaning in reference to a tacit level of embodiment, which remains unspoken. The verbal interaction is also integrated into the designer's tacit use of items in the surroundings. Consequently, the paper concludes that design thinking cannot be understood if we are only attentive to verbalised interaction, but design thinking relies on a more complex and multidimensional interaction, which is based on the pre-linguistic engaged perspective of the lived body.