Design Thinking Leader Tanvi Kanakia puts innovation within reach

New Delhi (India), December 22: Design thinking has become increasingly popular in recent years, with many people recognizing its potential to improve creativity and problem-solving skills. Tanvi Kanakia, a designer and the youngest Managing Director of User Experience and Product Design at Logical Design Solutions, is working to make design thinking more accessible. She co-authored "Make Ideas Work," a comic-style introduction to innovation concepts, and co-designed a deck of cards called "Design Nudge Cards" to help creators overcome creative blocks. She has also conducted workshops for organizations like Creative Mornings and Women In Innovation to improve collaboration using visuals.

As a leading expert in her field, she has been called to judge some of the most prestigious design awards including the Webby awards, Globee® Business Awards, and the Stevie® Awards for Women in Business. She was even invited as an evaluator for the SXSW PanelPicker® Sessions.

In an interview with us, Tanvi discussed her work and the importance of democratizing design thinking.

As a co-founder of The Design Grid, Tanvi was exposed to the power of design in driving business success. Her work here went beyond that of a traditional designer. She helped startups find their product-market fit and even helped a century-old business stay relevant in a changing market. This experience piqued her interest in strategic design and motivated her to delve deeper into the field.

Kanakia found that there were many benefits to using a design-driven mindset, but found that it was difficult for individuals new to the field to understand and use it. That's what motivated her to make it easier for entrepreneurs and innovators to succeed by creating tools that help them innovate better.

Tanvi and her co-author Shikha Kanakia started Make Ideas Work in 2020. They were disappointed to find that most of the literature on design thinking was filled with jargon, making it difficult for non-experts to understand and apply the concepts to their everyday work. The Instagram page uses comic-style illustrations and practical examples to make the concepts more applicable to a wide audience.

The page is intended for leaders who want to encourage user-first innovation or equip their teams to tackle complex problems. The page is also a great resource for educators who teach design thinking and an easy read for students. In a short time, the page has built a community of over 4.3K+ people from all over the world, and the concepts are currently being compiled into a book to reach an even broader audience.

It is with this same goal that Tanvi created Design Nudge Cards.

Design Nudge Cards are a deck of cards designed to help innovators overcome creative blocks and align their teams. The cards contain prompts or "nudges" that can be used on their own or in groups to find inspiration, clarity, and direction. They are suitable for beginners and experts alike and can be used at any stage of the innovation process, from identifying opportunities to launching a product or service.

The idea for these cards came about during Tanvi's time at Parsons School of Design, New York where she was studying Strategic Design and Management. She designed these cards along with Abhishek Nair and Cristina Robles. They found the innovation process to be messy and complex, with no clear checklist to follow. Their professors and classmates helped them overcome creative blocks, and they thought it would be useful to create a tool that others could use to do the same.

The cards are free to download and can be printed in meetings or workshops.

A key part of Tanvi's work is bridging the gap between business, design and technology teams to make truly usable and useful products. To create meaningful innovation, she stresses the importance of collaboration. She started conducting workshops on improving collaboration using visuals for the purpose of achieving this goal.

Her dedication to unlocking people's creativity is admirable. We can't wait to see what she does next.