Design in general and the innovation method ‘Design Thinking’ specifically are currently receiving a high level of attention from the sectors of economics and management. Numerous large enterprises are using Design Thinking, on the one hand, for development of customer-orientated products and, on the other, with the goal in mind of scrutinising traditional organisational structures. Design is, accordingly, not limited to aesthetic creation of products; rather, it is placed in a larger context. Design and Design Thinking are seen as possibilities – with the aid of a mental model – for working on fundamental problems in economic and societal systems. Crucial aspects here are the empathetic and human-centred approach of Design Thinking as well as the typical actions, for designers, involving problem-solving and planning. In order to develop a unified understanding of Design Thinking, it appears to be necessary to link the theoretical and historical roots of design with the modern management approach. Therefore, the goal of this article is to form a theoretical and practice-orientated categorisation system for Design Thinking, based on examples from non-material approaches to our current comprehension of the concept. The draft and design-ideals of Design Thinking can be tracked backwards from today’s digital and mobile age to German modernism and the Bauhaus art school in Weimar at the beginning of the 20th century. At that time ’designing’ was awarded a level of significance that went far beyond mere notions of aestheticisation and visualisation. Walter Gropius (1923), founder of the Staatliches Bauhaus Weimar, declared the credo ’art and technology – a unity’, which can be found once again in today’s approach to Design Thinking. Later on, a methodological-analytical perception of design asserted itself (Rittel 1987; Simon 1994). On this basis, Design Thinking was defined as a mindset and a problem-solving process, in which the issue revolved primarily around detection of the actual structure of a problem, as opposed to concrete results (Brown 2009). The contemporary business approach views Design Thinking overridingly as a methodology for development of creative solutions and innovative products (Brown 2009; Plattner et al. 2012; Martin 2009). This paper classifies Design Thinking in a historical and economic context. The significance of creative thinking as a premise for general actions involving problem-solving and planning is carved out hereby – regardless of temporary trends.