Design Thinking
Design Thinking is a creative problem solving process that focuses on understanding the needs of others (empathizing), rapid testing and iterating to provide solutions.
There are 5 stages of design thinking according to stanford design school areโEmpathize, Define (the problem), Ideate, Prototype and Test.
๐๐ฉ๐๐๐ 1: ๐๐ข๐ฅ๐๐ฉ๐๐๐ฏ๐โ๐๐๐จ๐๐๐ง๐๐ ๐ฎ๐ค๐ช๐ง ๐ช๐จ๐๐ง๐จ ๐ฃ๐๐๐๐จ
Here, you should gain an empathetic understanding of the problem youโre trying to solve, typically through user research. Empathy is crucial to a human-centered design process such as design thinking because it allows you to set aside your own assumptions about the world and gain real insight into users and their needs.
๐๐ฉ๐๐๐ 2: ๐ฟ๐๐๐๐ฃ๐โ๐๐ฉ๐๐ฉ๐ ๐ฎ๐ค๐ช๐ง ๐ช๐จ๐๐ง๐จ ๐ฃ๐๐๐๐จ ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ฅ๐ง๐ค๐๐ก๐๐ข๐จ
Itโs time to accumulate the information gathered during the Empathize stage. You then analyze your observations and synthesize them to define the core problems you and your team have identified. These definitions are called problem statements. You can create personas to help keep your efforts human-centered before proceeding to ideation.
๐๐ฉ๐๐๐ 3: ๐๐๐๐๐ฉ๐โ ๐พ๐๐๐ก๐ก๐๐ฃ๐๐ ๐๐จ๐จ๐ช๐ข๐ฅ๐ฉ๐๐ค๐ฃ๐จ ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐๐ง๐๐๐ฉ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐จ
Now, youโre ready to generate ideas. The solid background of knowledge from the first two phases means you can start to โthink outside the boxโ, look for alternative ways to view the problem and identify innovative solutions to the problem statement youโve created. Brainstorming is particularly useful here.
๐๐ฉ๐๐๐ 4: ๐๐ง๐ค๐ฉ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐โ๐จ๐ฉ๐๐ง๐ฉ ๐ฉ๐ค ๐๐ง๐๐๐ฉ๐ ๐จ๐ค๐ก๐ช๐ฉ๐๐ค๐ฃ๐จ
This is an experimental phase. The aim is to identify the best possible solution for each problem found. Your team should produce some inexpensive, scaled-down versions of the product (or specific features found within the product) to investigate the ideas youโve generated. This could involve simply paper prototyping.
๐๐ฉ๐๐๐ 5: ๐๐๐จ๐ฉโ๐๐ง๐ฎ ๐ฎ๐ค๐ช๐ง ๐จ๐ค๐ก๐ช๐ฉ๐๐ค๐ฃ๐จ ๐ค๐ช๐ฉ
Evaluators rigorously test the prototypes. Although this is the final phase, design thinking is iterative: Teams often use the results to redefine one or more further problems. So, you can return to previous stages to make further iterations, alterations and refinements โ to find or rule out alternative solutions.
