Design Thinking: Using Creativity and Collaboration to Transform Public Relations

Abstract

Public relations practitioners, like designers, toggle back and forth between seemingly different modes of operation: logic and creativity, specific and universal, human and non-human, time-bound and timeless. Both professions are driven by curiosity and the need to shape and change our worlds. Yet the processes at the heart of public relations have focused too narrowly on business imperatives and lost sight of the broader human dimension that fuels stories and provides meaning. Design thinking can provide a tool to help public relations reframe its role as a strategic creative driver.