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The Role of This Tool in the Fourth Phase of the Design Thinking Method
In the Develop phase, the Super‑Power technique helps an individual break out of conventional limitations by imagining the solution or organisation with an exaggerated, fantastical ability, then translating that into bold but realistic concept ideas.
It supports high‑ambition ideation by encouraging you to design from an ideal future state and then “step back” toward what is feasible, often revealing new service promises, data uses, or experience elements that standard thinking would miss. This leads to more differentiated concepts that can still be grounded in practical implementation later.
Super‑Power is most suitable for problems where current ideas feel incremental, and you want to elevate ambition—for example, “making customers feel truly cared for,” “removing friction from a complex task,” “anticipating needs before customers ask,” or “ensuring zero errors.” It is especially useful when you seek breakthrough experiences rather than minor optimisations.
Super‑Power is constrained by the risk of drifting into pure fantasy; without a disciplined translation step, ideas may remain unrealistic or disconnected from constraints. It also depends on the individual’s ability to later “ground” exaggerations in practical moves, and it may be uncomfortable for very analytical personalities unless you clearly signal that feasibility comes later.
The Procedure for Using This Design Thinking Tool
Step 1: Define a specific challenge or aspiration (e.g., “customers never feel lost,” “we always respond instantly,” “we never make a mistake”) and write it clearly.
Step 2: Choose a related super‑power (e.g., “time travel,” “perfect foresight,” “instant duplication,” “reading emotions”) or imagine you become a person who has a super-power.
Step 3: Brainstorm what you would design or do if that super‑power were real—ideal behaviours, features, and services that would completely solve the challenge—capturing even the most extreme ideas.
Step 4: For each fantastical idea, ask, “What is the underlying principle?” and convert it into one or more realistic concepts using available or near‑term capabilities (e.g., proactive alerts, personalised guidance, automation, smart defaults).
Step 5: Prioritise the most promising and plausible concepts and develop them into high‑level solution sketches or value propositions to advance into further Development-phase evaluation or prototyping.
Tips for Facilitators: The facilitator should clarify the target challenge or aspiration and pre‑select a small menu of relevant “super‑powers” (e.g., perfect memory, instant teleportation, reading emotions, time travel) that map meaningfully onto that challenge. They prepare a simple worksheet with three sections—“Super‑power description,” “If it were real, what would we do?”, and “Realistic equivalents”—to guide the individual from fantasy to practicality. The facilitator also fosters psychological safety by explicitly stating that wild, unrealistic ideas are welcome in the first part and that grounding and feasibility will follow in a separate step.
Next Steps in Your Design Thinking Journey
Continue your innovation journey with the following 3 Options to deepen your Design Thinking practice and amplify your impact.
