Forget b-school. These days, d.school is the place to go.
忘掉商学院吧，如今求学要去设计学院。
Stanford University's d.school-the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design-has gained recognition in recent years for introducing the trendy, but murky, problem-solving concept known as "design thinking" to executives, educators, scientists, doctors and lawyers. Now other schools are coming up with their own programs.
斯坦福大学(Stanford University)的哈素•普拉特纳设计学院(Hasso Plattner Institute of Design)提出一种名为"设计思维"的理念，在近年来获得了外界认可。这种设计思维是针对企业高管、教育界人士、科学家、医生和律师而提出的一种时尚、但相当模糊的问题解决方式。如今，其他学校也开始纷纷开设类似的课程。
Design thinking uses close, almost anthropological observation of people to gain insight into problems that may not be articulated yet. For example, researchers may study the habits of shoppers waiting to pay for groceries in order to create a more efficient checkout system that maximizes last-minute purchases while keeping customers moving quickly.
设计思维通过对人们进行密切、甚至近乎人类学研究式的观察，来获取深入信息，以解决那些可能尚未浮出水面的问题。举个例子，研究者可以通过研究购物者在收银台前排队时的习惯来创立一套更高效的结账系统，以便在保证消费者能够快速通过收款台的同时，充分利用消费者最后一刻的购买冲动。
Traditionally, companies have relied on focus groups to get feedback on products that were already in development. With design thinking, potential solutions-products, processes or services-are modeled, often using simple materials like markers and pipe-cleaners, then tested and quickly adjusted based on user feedback.
按照传统方式，企业会依靠对焦点人群的调查来获取对已开发产品的反馈。而采用设计思维模式后，企业会将潜在的解决方案──包括产品、流程和服务──制成模型，这些模型通常会使用简单的材料，然后对其进行测试并根据用户反馈快速地进行调整。
The d.school was launched in 2005-one of the first of its kind-with help from a $35 million donation by SAP AG SAP.XE +0.49%co-founder Hasso Plattner, who has said he was inspired to spread the practice after reading a magazine article about global consultancy IDEO, a leader in design thinking.
斯坦福的这家设计学院是于2005年在SAP AG创始人之一哈素•普拉特纳(Hasso Plattner)3,500万美元的资助下创建的，属于最早的一批设计学院。普拉特纳曾表示，他是在杂志上看到一篇关于全球咨询公司IDEO的文章后，受到了启发，遂决定要让更多人了解这种方式。IDEO公司是设计思维方式的倡导者。
Designed to ignite creativity and collaboration, the d.school's interior looks like a preschool playroom for grown-ups: Colorful furniture, open spaces and neon Post-it Notes abound. The school said much of the lay out is for the sake of teamwork, as hard chairs and small tables encourage student groups to remain on their toes and work more closely with each other.
为了激发创造力和合作精神，哈素•普拉特纳设计学院的装潢设计很独特，内部看起来就好像是为成年人准备的幼儿园游戏室：色彩明亮的家具、开放式的空间、各种颜色的即时贴比比皆是。这家学院表示，大多数设计都旨在促进团队合作，像是很硬的座椅和不大的课桌可以鼓励学生们一直站着，走近彼此以便更密切地合作。
The d.school doesn't award degrees and isn't tied to any individual department, but two to four times as many students want to take its courses than there are seats available. It now enrolls 700 students a year, up from 100 in its inaugural year. Courses run the gamut from designing products for the world's poor to "D.Compress: Designing Calm," in which students design technology that "enables calm states of cognition, emotion and physiology."
这家设计学院并不授予学位，也不附属于任何一个院系，但是希望上设计学院课程的学生人数是学院所能接受学生数的两到四倍。目前该学院每年接收700名学生，比初创那年的100名学生多出不少。课程设置涉及领域相当广泛，有些课程要求学生设计出供世界各地穷人所使用的产品，还有一门名为"D.Compress: Designing Calm"的课程，教授学生能够在认知、情感和生理上带来平静状态的设计技巧。