Design Thinking is a Mindset 💡

I am Solaimuthu, a 3rd-year CSE student at LICET. I participated in a design thinking workshop at Intellect Design Arena and took part in their 50-hour non-stop Design Spark Challenge.

In the workshop, I learned about what design thinking is, its importance, why it matters, and its principles. Sounds boring, right? Long theories? But I was surprised at how they conducted the workshop in a gamified way—it made me think instead of just waiting for the time to pass.

One thing that impacted me the most was questioning assumptions—asking why. Before this, whenever there was a problem, I would try to prove my point right. But after this workshop, I started asking, Why is this correct? Why will this make an impact?

My problem-solving approach changed entirely. Here are some points you can also follow while solving a problem. Most of the time, it's not just about solving but understanding the real problem. Software or products can be developed by anyone, but are we solving the right problem? Will it make an impact? That’s the real question.

Design thinking is a mindset—you have to design the thinking.

Then comes the actual process—50 hours non-stop challenge from March 7 2025, to March 9, 2025, at Intellect in Siruseri.

I've been to many hackathons where industries sponsor the prize money, and some club or organization conducts the hackathon. But Intellect questioned—Why do industries only sponsor hackathons? Why can’t they conduct them? This led to a completely different kind of hackathon, which I was lucky to be part of.

For this hackathon, I teamed up with Afshaan, Jayasurya, Battisto, Maria Reena, and our mentor, Mr. Marshal Mano, from various domains.

Upon arrival, we received IDs and were asked to pick a chit from a bowl. There were five domains, each containing a real-world problem statement. A total of 15 teams participated, with five members and one faculty mentor each.

When I picked the chit, I got number 10. We entered the company, placed our bags, took out our laptops, and were guided to the hackathon venue. My first impression? The workspace was completely different from any other hackathon I had seen—six chairs, six notebooks, six pens, cookies, and chocolates in the center of the table. Still, we hadn't received our problem statement.

After the inauguration, the 50-hour timer started. Industry experts gave talks during the hackathon, but the timer was paused during these sessions to ensure our hacking time wasn't wasted. I was amazed at how well-thought-out and detailed everything was.

We received training on design thinking principles—how to identify and create personas, power-interest matrices for stakeholders, and journey mapping. We practiced each concept with real-world scenarios, and this went on for 6 hours.

Still, no problem statement. Then, they introduced the problem statement sponsors—the people facing the issues, along with technical mentors from their side and the jury. At this point, the timer was paused. Then, we finally received a pack containing the problem statement, persona sheets, journey maps, and access to whiteboards, charts, sketches, and any other stationery we needed.

After receiving the pack, we placed everything at the venue and took a break outside with our team and mentor to refresh and calm our nerves. After praying for 2 minutes, we entered with the mindset—"Enna vanthalum paathukalam."

When we opened the pack, we saw our domain: Disaster Management. It included stated requirements and detailed information about the real-world problem.

We spent 2 hours understanding the problem, but I couldn't empathize just by reading. Disasters are something I’ve read about, but I’ve never been in one. Then, I noticed something unique—interaction with the sponsor. It wasn't just about receiving a problem statement and finding a solution. We got the chance to talk to the person who needed the solution. This allowed us to clearly ask about their challenges and requirements, giving us much more clarity.

We then moved on to identifying stakeholders and writing personas for each one. We split the work—each team member worked on a different persona, then we shared our insights to finalize them. By 1 AM on March 8, our team started feeling nervous. Other teams had already started developing their solutions, but we were still in the first phase—design thinking.

There were three stages:

1️⃣Design Thinking 2️⃣Design Development 3️⃣Solution Development

We were supposed to transition to the second stage by 2 AM, but we hadn’t. I reassured my team: Don’t compare with others. What matters is—did everyone in the team learn something in this first phase? If yes, that’s enough. Let’s go slow and complete it properly.

We took short 10-minute breaks to clear our minds and went for small walks. We were supposed to start the development phase by 11 AM on March 8, but we only transitioned into design development at that time.

After personas, journey mapping, and identifying stated and unstated requirements, we finally had a rough idea of what to do. Then, we had a second interaction with the sponsor, where we explained our idea and workflow. She gave us insights to improve, and with that, we got full clarity on what we needed to do.

I believe that when you know what to do and how to do it, executing it is much easier.

By 6 PM on March 8, we had completed our flow and interactions but still had some gaps in journey mapping. After refining those, we started discussing functionalities. My team was still nervous—30 hours had passed, and we hadn’t started developing yet. But I reminded them—if the foundation is strong, the rest will follow.

To ensure clarity during development, we finalized features and prioritized functionality over UI. We started coding in the last 12 hours, set up a repository, and finished the core features by 5 AM on March 9. The submission link for artifacts, documents, and source code would open at 11 AM. I hadn’t slept for 40 hours, so I planned to rest for an hour—but ended up sleeping for three.

When I woke up, I worked on the UI while my team prepared the presentation and documents. We deployed the project, not just for submission, but to ensure it would work during the live demo, even if the jury asked us to test it on the spot.

We presented in a storytelling way—explaining our approach, steps followed, and key learnings so that the jury could empathize with us. We split the topics among team members and kept the presentation engaging while maintaining professionalism. At the end, we received swags from the jury.

After the presentation, we had lunch, shared our experiences, and attended the closing ceremony. Participation was recognized, surprise awards were given, and some students even received internship offers.

What made this hackathon different?

✔ The way we were given the problem statement

✔ The structured approach we followed

✔ Freedom to use whiteboards, charts, and other tools

✔ Focus on understanding the problem, not just solving it

✔ Conducting the hackathon inside the industry

✔ Interacting with the actual problem stakeholders

✔ A well-organized event

✔ I didn’t feel sleepy throughout the process

✔ The unstated needs of participants were met

✔ Recognition of participation, surprise awards, and internships

I received a 6-month internship offer at Intellect Design Arena and won the Best Subject Matter Expert Award.

This event made me realize how design thinking can turn something ordinary into something remarkable. I’m grateful for the new connections I made.

The experience was completely new, and the organizers made us feel comfortable throughout the event. A huge thank you to the Intellect team(James Deepak D, Anand Babu Pushparaj, Kapil Kumar, Ramakrishnan R, Ramnath Prabhu, Hema Narayanan, Ahemed Haris, Sasireka A, Dr. Vinay Raj Menon) and all the working staff who took care of us. I was truly inspired by their efforts and the way they managed the entire event.

A huge thanks to Mr.Marshal Mano for his support, Ms. Freesie Greta for the opportunity, and Dr. Anbu Rathinavel for the idea of providing vintage chocolates throughout the event. Most importantly, thanks to my team for making this hackathon special for me.

Excited to start work with Intellect! 🚀