An introduction to the design thinking process for high school students using an exercise developed by Tina Lessig and shared by Justin Ferrell at the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford University. 45-60 minutes.

1. Redesigning the carry-on bag
Beatrice Motamedi/Global Student Square

5. Redesigning the carry-on bag

6. Gather extremely
impressive, cutting-edge
tools
Shake hands with your
partner
Choose sides (A or B)

7. Needfinding and empathy (5 minutes)
• A, interview B.
• What kind of carry-on bag do you have? Where did you
get it? How much did it cost? What do you put in it?
Where (which pockets)? Why do you carry what you
carry? Describe your worst-ever carry-on bag
experience.
• Mr. or Ms. A: Say little. Take notes (a lot). Empathize,
but do not add your own stories. This is not about you
(yet).

8. Switch and repeat (5 minutes)

9. Design, using cutting-edge tools (5 minutes)

10. My first prototype: the TravelBit

12. Show and tell … and tell us
Share with your partner
(5 minutes)
What was this exercise really
about?*
*hint: It is not about designing a better carry-on bag
Share with the room
(5 minutes)

13. What is a carry-on bag really for?
neck pillow,
blankie, socks
— comfort stuff
carry important
documents, e.g.,
your wallet
books,
movies, tunes
—
entertainment
stuff you can’t put
in your suitcase
because it might
blow up or leak
(hair spray?)
extra room for all
the crap you can’t
fit in your suitcase
go shopping and
bring stuff back!

14. HMW statements
How might we … create a way to feel confident
that we have what we need
when we get where we’re going?

15. Design, again (5 minutes)
a way for your partner to have what your partner needs
when she gets where she’s going
it could be: a process, a service, a product, a tool, an app
… let yourself dream

16. Re/create
Eliminate
clothes 3D printers make
clothes on the
spot
Do you really
need all that
crap?
Flying Toothbrush:
Pre-order your
toiletries so they’re
there when you
arrive wearables that track your heartbeat
and respiration and tell you when to
b r e a t h e
Drones follow you to your destination
with all your stuff

17. –Tina Seelig
“What you create depends on how you ask
the question. Reframing the problem can lead
to creative solutions.”
.”

18. “Situation hopeless: No one wears shoes.”
“Glorious business opportunity. They don’t have shoes.”

21. could you apply this again ... to the world?
where is the pain?

24. “Type a quote here.”

25. –Bob Schwartz, head of global design for GE
“We did simple things that get overlooked .... some
of the most effective insights we got came from
kneeling down and looking at rooms from the height
of a child.”

27. with thanks to Justin Ferrell and Tina Lessig
Hasso Plattner Institute of Design
Stanford University

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