Design thinking emerged between the 1960s and 1970s, when design began to be understood as a way to solve complex problems, not just as an aesthetic tool. Researchers like Herbert Simon, author of The Sciences of the Artificial, proposed that any ill-defined problem could be solved through an iterative process of experimentation, observation, and continuous learning.

Later, in the 1990s, David Kelley and his team at IDEO consolidated this approach. The company became a global reference by applying design thinking to create solutions that united empathy, creativity, and technical feasibility. The founding of the d.school at Stanford University, also led by Kelley, helped disseminate the method among professionals from all fields, showing that design thinking is not the privilege of designers. It's an innovation mindset centered on people.

Design thinking rests on five pillars that guide any human-centered innovation process: empathy (deeply understanding people, their behaviors, emotions, and contexts), definition (reframing the problem based on insights obtained, translating them into clear and relevant challenges), ideation (generating ideas freely, exploring diverse possibilities before choosing a path), prototyping (quickly giving shape to ideas, transforming hypotheses into something that can be tested), and testing (validating with real users, learning from feedback, and iterating until finding the adequate solution). These principles are not necessarily linear stages, but parts of a continuous process, where each discovery can redefine the path.

This methodology exemplifies how attentive listening can become the greatest innovation. Japanese manufacturer Shimano experienced this in practice: in 2004, it faced a sharp drop in sales despite engineers continuously improving bicycle components. The market, however, didn't respond. When inviting IDEO to help, what began as a product challenge transformed into a rediscovery of purpose. The team arrived not with spreadsheets, but with questions. Their goal was to understand not what people thought about bicycles, but what they felt.

The research revealed something surprising. Most people interviewed had happy memories of riding bikes in childhood: the wind on their faces, the feeling of freedom. But over time, that relationship had broken. Bike shops seemed like technical and intimidating environments, salespeople always in sportswear conveyed more performance than warmth, bicycles increasingly expensive and complex seemed designed for athletes, and streets full of risks turned the simple act of riding into something frightening. The strongest and most universal symbol of this distance was simple: bicycles abandoned in garages, covered in dust.

IDEO realized that Shimano's challenge wasn't technological. It wasn't about creating better gears, but about rebuilding people's trust. The new problem was defined like this: "How do we give ordinary people back the pleasure and safety of riding?" This shift in perspective is what differentiates design thinking from traditional approaches. The focus moves away from the product and returns to the experience.

Based on this new vision, IDEO conducted ideation sessions that sought a simple and inclusive answer. That's how the Coaster Bike concept emerged: a bicycle aimed at leisure, not performance. Brakes activated by pedaling backward, no visible cables, no complicated gears. The design was clean, intuitive, and inviting, made for those who just wanted to rediscover the pleasure of riding without hurry.

The prototypes were tested with casual cyclists, and each test generated new learnings, adjustments, and improvements. This iterative process ensured that the final experience was truly accessible, safe, and pleasurable: a product shaped by empathy, not assumptions. The impact was immediate: three major manufacturers, Trek, Raleigh, and Giant, began developing new bicycles incorporating Shimano's innovative components.

But IDEO understood that innovation didn't end with the bicycle. For people to return to cycling, the entire context needed to be transformed. In retail, stores were redesigned to become more welcoming and salespeople received training to guide, not intimidate. In communication, the Coasting brand was born. More than a product, a lifestyle. The slogan reflected this new spirit with lightness: "Relax. Explore. Go slowly. Wander aimlessly. Whoever gets there first is the preacher's wife." In the urban environment, IDEO created a website that mapped bike paths and safe streets, encouraging group riding and promoting an accessible cycling culture.

The results were significant: sales increased among casual cyclists, Shimano came to be seen as a brand that understands people (not just technology), the recreational bicycle market grew and reinvented itself, and the act of riding came to mean freedom again.

The Coaster Bike story shows that design thinking isn't about creating more, but about listening better. When we look at the world with empathy and attentiveness, we redefine not just products, but the relationships we have with them. And that's where design stops being just form and becomes transformation.