What is Design thinking?

In reality, design thinking is a process for solving creative problems. Process and creativity are two words that may appear at odds with one another. A process is about following steps and rules, and creativity is more whimsical and spontaneous. But in fact, processes enable us to be more creative. More so than if we had a blank canvas of endless possibilities. We are more creative when we have limitations to work with, such as a methodology. While the output is concrete and measurable, how we look at and approach the problem and solution space is creative. There are five key steps in the Design Thinking Process: Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype and Test.

Let’s cover these steps now. Keep in mind that this is an iterative process, which means that after each step, you may go back to the previous step to improve your design.

Empathize

The first step is to relate to the problem you are attempting to solve. It enables us to delve deeper into understanding the user and develop solutions that not only meet a need but also significantly improve our users’ lives by removing unnecessary discomfort or strife. For example, a user might be thinking: “This is taking too long to figure out.”

Define

Now you must decide what to do with all this empathy. During the definition phase, you will analyze and synthesize observations to define the core problems. In his phase, a problem statement is developed, such as “As a user, I want to understand the product offering so I can make an informed decision quickly.”

Ideate

Now that you have some empathy, an excellent contextual understanding of the problem, and a well-crafted problem statement, you’re ready to start thinking about ways to solve it. The ideate phase is where you can get creative and there are hundreds of techniques for doing so.

Prototype

So, what do you do with those ideas that have been prioritized? You can now put together a prototype. A prototype can be pen on paper, wireframes, rough sketches, or a full-fledged high-fidelity prototype.

Test

After you create a prototype based on the information you gathered from the previous steps, you can now test it. Testing frequently entails getting a prototype into the hands of a real user. You see them completing a series of tasks or attempting to achieve a specific goal. You observe their actions and try to comprehend and empathize with their choices, and the design cycle continues.

Final thoughts

Using any or all of these five key steps or phases is an iterative and non-linear process. Consider it a toolbox. After you gain more experience, you will probably feel like you can pick and choose which steps to take for the problem you wish to solve. There are a lot of concepts and processes to comprehend. However, throughout this course, you will be guided through them in more detail.