TL;DR
Design thinking is all about solving problems by putting people first, and the best companies in the world are already using it to innovate. In this article, we break down how brands like Airbnb, Netflix, Uber, IBM, and Intuit apply design thinking in practice, and what you can learn from them to make your own products more user-centered.
Creating a truly user-friendly product goes far beyond good UI/UX design. It requires a deep immersion into the customer’s world — understanding their pains, motivations, and expectations. That’s exactly what design thinking is about: putting people at the center of problem-solving to drive innovative ideas.
In this article, we’ll discuss five design thinking examples of real companies that actively use this approach as part of their corporate strategy. And of course, we’ll share our own insights along the way so you can take practical lessons and create great user experiences.
So, get ready for some creative solutions you can bring into your own business.
What is the design thinking process?
Design thinking is a human-centered approach to problem solving that helps businesses create innovative solutions by focusing on people’s needs rather than just relying on raw data or historical trends.
For example, our client HandPrinter built their project around a powerful mission — encouraging people to protect the environment. By aligning the product design process with human values, they shaped a vision that stood out globally.
Why is design thinking crucial for businesses today? Because it allows companies to:
- Understand real user needs instead of making assumptions.
- Uncover new market opportunities by empathizing with customers.
- Reduce risks of failure through prototyping and iterative testing.
- Build stronger customer relationships by designing with empathy.
- Drive growth and differentiation in competitive markets.
In theory, this creative process might sound simple. But how does it look in practice? Let’s explore how leading companies successfully implement design thinking to achieve real business results.
Examples of design thinking from leading companies
To show how the resulting design thinking mindset can be, we won't have to dig through the whole internet. What's more, I bet that you have not only heard about the companies we're going to talk about but also use their products regularly!
Anyways, without further ado, let's analyze some cases when companies revolutionized the market using design thinking.
Airbnb
The first obvious choice to illustrate design thinking projects is Airbnb. Its founders, designers Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia, studied together at the university and then rented an apartment in San Francisco. In 2007, a design conference took place, and hotel room prices skyrocketed. To make attending the conference more affordable for their colleagues, the two bought some air mattresses and created airbedandbreakfast.com to find guests.
It worked well enough, so Chesky and Gebbia wanted to continue developing the idea. As UX designers, they were familiar with the empathy method and used it to answer the following questions: "What do people do when they are traveling? How can they learn how to get from the airport to their lodging quickly? How can one recommend their favorite place to eat in the neighborhood?"
Answering these questions gave Chesky and Gebbia insights into the direction of further developing the website. The user can now rent an apartment, order breakfast, and communicate with their host to ask them for recommendations or local knowledge. The ability to leave feedback from both sides also allowed for a break in distrust between the host and the guest.
Building trust through two-way feedback
One of Airbnb’s biggest design thinking breakthroughs was the two-way review system. By letting both hosts and guests leave feedback, the company created a software-enabled trust mechanism that allowed strangers to feel safe sharing homes — something traditional travel businesses had never solved.
The “Snow White” storytelling project
To better understand the customer journey, Airbnb’s design team created the Snow White project, a storyboard visualization of critical moments of truth in the host, guest, and hiring experiences. This narrative-driven method helped teams align around real human needs, not abstract features.
Empathy travel for employees
Every new Airbnb employee takes a trip within their first week, documenting their journey as a customer. This “empathy travel” program allows team members to personally experience both the delights and the frustrations of using the platform. By walking in the customers’ shoes from day one, employees develop a deeper understanding of user behavior, which helps ensure that design decisions stay grounded in real human experiences rather than assumptions.
Trust and safety features
To strengthen its “software-enabled trust system,” Airbnb introduced identity verification, secure payments, host guarantees, and safety checklists. These features directly addressed the emotional barrier of “staying in a stranger’s home.”
Netflix
- Think Big
- Start Small
- Fail Quickly
- Scale Fast
Netflix used these design thinking principles way back in 2011. It was not afraid to destroy its existing DVD delivery business in the wake of new tech trends, dropped the early streaming attempts once they failed, and grew rapidly thanks to the introduction of Netflix's original content. How did it come to this?
In 2001, Netflix founder Reed Hastings spent $10 million a year on streaming technology research (Forbes) to better understand the market, the trends, and target users. What makes Netflix's user-centered design so distinctive is that it goes further than digital design itself. It's all about the user experience from start to finish.
Interactive card design
Netflix's card design is a hallmark of its user interface, offering a visually engaging and intuitive way to browse content. Each card represents a movie or TV show, providing users with key visuals, such as posters or stills, that invite exploration and interaction. This user-centered design allows for an organized presentation of vast libraries, making it easier for people to scan and find content that appeals to them. Additionally, the card layout adapts to various screen sizes, ensuring a consistent and accessible user experience across devices.
AI-powered personalized recommendations
The AI-powered recommendations are another cornerstone of Netflix's design. By analyzing a user's viewing history, preferences, and even the time spent on specific titles, Netflix's algorithms curate a bespoke selection of content tailored to each viewer. This system not only enhances user satisfaction by reducing the time spent searching for something to watch but also introduces users to new content they might not have discovered otherwise.
Seamless cross-platform user experience
Netflix offers a consistent user experience across various devices and platforms, including smart TVs, gaming consoles, smartphones, and tablets. This consistency ensures that users have a familiar interface, making it easy to switch between devices without relearning the navigation.
Efficient search functionality
The platform's highly optimized search feature allows users to find content by titles, actors, genres, or even specific keywords. This efficiency reduces users' time searching for content, enhancing their overall experience.
Personalized user profiles
Netflix allows the creation of multiple user profiles within a single account, each with its personalized recommendations, watch history, and content preferences. This feature is particularly useful for families or shared accounts, ensuring each user's experience is tailored to their tastes.
Smart download feature
Netflix introduced the 'Smart Downloads' feature for mobile users. This feature automatically downloads the next episode of a series you're watching and deletes the ones you've already watched. This feature is particularly useful for users who watch content on the go, ensuring they can always access their favorite shows without manual management.
High-quality thumbnails
Netflix employs a unique strategy of using multiple, high-quality thumbnails for each title, which change dynamically. This approach is designed to capture the attention of different users based on their interests, making the content more appealing and increasing the likelihood of engagement.
Using design thinking to prioritize the customer has allowed Netflix to become a household name and an essential part of how we consume media.
Uber
Uber driver app, with its global footprint spanning over 600 cities across 65 countries and serving more than 75 million users, stands as a testament to the transformative power of the design thinking process in creating innovative business models. The core of Uber's human-centered design lies in its deep empathy for users, particularly addressing the universal disdain for waiting. This insight has been pivotal in shaping a service that is not just a ride-hailing app but a seamless part of modern urban mobility.
Minimizing the pain of waiting
One of Uber's design thinking triumphs is the minimization of user inaction. Through engaging animations and interactive elements, Uber transforms passive waiting times into moments of engagement and information. This approach not only entertains but also reduces the perceived wait time by keeping riders informed about their driver’s progress.
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Transparency that builds trust
Transparency is another cornerstone of Uber's design strategy. By openly displaying key operational aspects, such as the dynamic calculation of arrival times, Uber fosters trust and appreciation among its users. This transparency ensures that users are not burdened with unnecessary technical details, yet they receive enough information to understand the efforts made to optimize their experience.
Clear ride journey communication
Uber excels in setting and communicating clear expectations for the ride journey. By detailing each phase of the ride process, from car arrival to destination reach, Uber keeps users informed about their progress towards their goal, enhancing the overall experience and anticipation.
Safety and convenience features
Uber's design extends to features like safety protocols, real-time tracking, and easy payment options, which collectively contribute to a user-friendly, reliable, and efficient service. This holistic, user-centric design approach has solved practical transportation challenges and redefined the very fabric of urban mobility, making Uber an indispensable tool in daily life.
Through the design thinking process, Uber has successfully transformed the concept of getting from point A to point B into an experience that users value and rely upon.
IBM
Bridget van Kralingen, senior vice president of IBM Global Business Services, once said: “There's no longer any real distinction between business strategy and the design of the user experience.” This philosophy has guided IBM’s shift toward design thinking as a core part of its culture.
IBM's design has gone through many stages in its product development process ("good design is good business"), and now the company invests more than $100 million into implementing design thinking principles across teams and services.
In 2014, IBM used design thinking when creating Bluemix (now IBM Cloud), a cloud platform for application development. IBM's main business goal was to help developers in big companies create cloud applications much faster.
The user research allowed IBM to create an easy-to-use and functional platform that attracted more than 1,000,000 developers.
Let's take a look at why all these developers fall in love with this proposed solution.
Choice and flexibility in potential solutions
Bluemix allows developers to build applications that can run both on-premise and in the cloud. This flexibility reduces the time and cost of infrastructure setup, removing a major barrier to innovation.
Extensive catalog of tools
The platform offers nearly 150 integrated tools and services — from IoT solutions for secure data collection to Watson’s cognitive computing services. This vast toolkit accelerates development cycles and enables teams to explore cutting-edge technologies without starting from scratch.
Scalable DevOps methodology
Using an integrated DevOps toolchain, Bluemix helps teams easily manage, test, and scale projects. This approach ensures that innovation is not only fast but also sustainable over time.
Embedding design thinking into culture
Beyond individual products, IBM has developed a Design Language and Enterprise Design Thinking framework to align its massive global teams. These frameworks provide shared methods, principles, and patterns that keep teams customer-focused and consistent while still fostering creativity.
That's how identifying the pains and needs of the target audience allowed IBM to create a platform that helps developers quickly build applications.
Intuit
Intuit is a global platform that helps its customers cope with financial issues (accounting, tax preparation, etc.).
Back in 2006, Scott Cook, the founder of Intuit, decided that his accounting software company had to be more innovative. Inspired by an article about the design thinking process written by Roger Martin, Cook started thinking about how this approach could help to develop and improve his product.
First of all, Intuit's team identified the problem. Most people hate spreadsheet-based personal finance tracking solutions, and they stop using them as soon as they start. The research on competitors helped to realize that existing solutions are suitable for professional accountants but difficult to use for an average person. However, there is a need for financial planning for individuals or small businesses as well.
The solution was to create an easy-to-use and consistent UX.
When Intuit introduced its software to help people control their finances, there were 46 similar products on the market. At the beginning of the journey, they joked that at that moment they had the "47th mover advantage."
Simplified financial tracking
Instead of complex spreadsheets, Intuit introduced a design that used familiar, visual elements like check receipts. This made personal finance management feel less intimidating and more relatable for everyday users.
Feature-light but design-strong
The first release of Intuit’s redesigned software included only about one-third of the features competitors offered. But by prioritizing usability over feature bloat, the company won users’ trust and loyalty.
QuickBooks Online and TurboTax innovations
Over the years, Intuit has embedded design thinking into products like QuickBooks Online and TurboTax, making them easier for small businesses and individuals to navigate complicated financial tasks without needing deep accounting knowledge.
Customer-driven experimentation
Intuit pioneered a practice called “Follow Me Home” research, where designers and product managers literally observed customers using their products at home or in the office. These real-world insights informed continuous improvements to the UX.
As a result, Intuit has shown software companies that good design is something every industry should care about. You can use empathy and usability testing to create well-designed software that can both solve business problems and serve people.
Think of people, and they will think about you
To make a successful product, you need to put user needs at the center of your efforts, focusing on designing usable, delightful, and efficient experiences. Design thinking helps you to understand real people's needs and problems and uncovers ways of improving user experiences.
So, don't hesitate to make design thinking a part of your company culture. It will promote creating products that deeply resonate with your customers — ultimately driving engagement and growth.
And if you need help in creating products that show how much you care about your customers, come to Eleken for a human-centered UI/UX design.
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