Double Diamond — The most popular UX Design method Model

There are several methods popular in the UX design world. Today I will introduce the Double Diamond.

The Double Diamond model originated from American Linguist Bela H.Banathy in 1996. It became extremely popular nowadays after the British Design Council popularized it in 2005.

Bela H.Banathy

The double diamond is so popular right now that it’s even a little bit of a cliche. But that doesn’t stop it from being one of the most reliable methods in our design process. We will talk about what a double diamond is, how to use it in an ideal situation, and how to apply it in a real project.

What consists of a Double diamond?

The double diamonds consist of two Rhombus. One rhombus is one diamond. Each diamond has its specific objective. The first diamond focuses on the exploring objective and understanding. And it is answering the question: Are we building the right things? The second diamond focuses on the execution and solution. And it is answering “ Are we building the things right?”

Both of them are consist of two kind of action stage:Divergent stage and Convergent stage. In the divergent stage, we explore widely and deeply. In the convergent stage, we take focused execution.

At this point, an ideal double diamond process have four distinct design phase:
Discover（Divergent-Diamond 1）
Define（Convergent-Diamond 1）
Develop（Divergent-Diamond 2）
Deliver（Convergent-Diamond 2）

And each Stage has several unique steps.

First Diamond: Are we building the right things?

1. Discover/Divergent Phase of the First diamond
   What we need to do the most in the Discover Phase is research. Only based on the brief, we won’t clarify the problem space we will work on, we might just have a direction, but that is not enough. As designers, we will not only understand the objectives, we need to make sure there is real need in that problem space, we will read tons of statistics papers, and find what other competitors are solving. We should do a great amount of research, qualitative research and quantitative research. Therefore, we won’t miss any possibility.
2. Define/Convergent part of the First diamond
   In the Define stage, we need to analyze, orient and locate the problem. Once we have so many materials and data, we need to transform them into something actionable. This process is orientation. We will observe the data or materials we collected and look for possible insights, or possible opportunities which require a lot of scientific analysis through scientific method. We may make some amendment about our assumption about the problem space, adjust the direction, externalize the problem space or redirect specific problems. And even might need to refine the brief. Therefore, the next steps will have a right direction.
   When the First Diamond finished, we went through a round of “Divergent to Convergent” process. At this time, we have cleared the actionable objectives, clarified problems and the direction to work on with.

Second Diamond: Are we building the things right?

1. Develop/Prototype and Assemble — Divergent part of the Second diamond
   Based on the observation and insights from the first diamond. We will begin to explore again. In this section, we will explore all the possible answers/solutions to the problems we decided at the end of the first diamond. We might use the method”how might we” to get the several possible features/user flow. After that, we can sketch or prototype rapidly based on each possibility. So we might get several flows for the answers. And we also need to assemble several features into one flow.
2. Deliver/Test Improve — Convergent part of the Second diamond
   After we’ve got all those user flows or features, we shall let users to test them. Trying to figure out which is the right answer to the problems, we need to validate and evaluate the effectiveness and feasibility of the solutions we developed in the last stage. Making some adjustment and improvement is also a necessary step. After that we can continue to improve fidelity which might include visual layout, components, icons and interact effects.

Finally, we get the final product.

Apply in Real world

Here is the whole ideal diamond process. But in the real world, it can’t move forward step by step as expected. Because in reality, we have a lot of constraints, like cost, time, stakeholder’s opinions, difficulty of implementation, etc. There are some situations that must happened a thousand times, like when we analyze the data and quality survey, we find the question we designed for the interviewer is not good as we expect. When we finish high-fidelity, we just find we need to redesign the prototype first so that we can add some new features. We just find the double diamond tends to fall apart!

So what can we do with this method? Throw it out?

Of course not. The ideal model is still reliable and scientific, but we need to adjust it therefore we can use it more effectively and make it conform with reality。

There are also some rules we must remember when we use this method in real project.

1.The whole diamond process is not linear, but repeatable and reversible. All the actions can be repeated. You can go back to redo the research again when you find the data you collect is not correct. You can go back to redesign the prototype when your stakeholder believes the features can’t solve the problem.

2.The repeatable and reversible rules only apply in diamond interio. For example, when you are doing some visual design, you cannot go back to the Research part which is the divergent part of the first diamond. One diamond is a totality, you must complete one then be allowed to move into the next one.

If you don’t obey the rule, the product won’t have a healthy foundation, and then you will spend more time and energy trying to figure out where the problem is, and rebuild it. That is a nightmare.