Innovating business models with pinball designs

Many companies see the need to rethink their ways of doing business, in particular under the pervasive influence of Internet business. Design can play a prominent role here, as a way of expanding from a linear, rational conception of business model development. But rather than proposing ‘design thinking’ as an abstract approach, this paper shows howdesign materials (as used routinely in the design profession), when introduced in a business context can engage a cross-disciplinary circle of stakeholders and challenge them to reconsider their business assumptions. We will show how‘tangible business models’ – for example in the form of pinball-like contraptions – encourage participants to play withhypotheses and experiment with scenarios as a way of innovating business models. In a sense this is ‘design thinking’with hands and body.