Design limitations?

Design is undoubtedly a tremendous force for value creation. What piqued my curiosity is the following question - "Is there a limit to what design thinking can help?" My first reaction was no, how could design thinking help someone get through calculus? Personal experience kicked in here, as I (and I'm sure most of the class) came up with a clever way to help remember the anti-derivatives of sin functions. I wrote out the functions and their anti-derivatives on paper, and posted it up on a wall in my dorm. It became part of my life, I couldn't avoid learning them if I tried. But is there some situation, class, job, or anything that can't be helped by a little right-brain help? Any situations I can think of can be at least ameliorated, if not resolved. The only exceptions are where you have no control over the issue, e.g. an apocalypse. Thoughts?