5 Steps To Align Your Design Thinking Process

Design is thinking made visual. — Saul Bass

The succinct methodology of applying solution-based approaches to complex problems in finding a concrete way to tackle them in a clearly defined way is what design thinking revolves around.

This extremely useful technique is purposefully crafted around refreshing ways to solve human-centric problems through brainstorming sessions and application of hands-on approach in identifying and prototyping ideas that include testing and solving complex problems.

Companies that put design at the very core of their brand are design-led. They weave design principles into everything they do — from research and strategy to creating content. They think beyond transactions and focus on beautiful experiences that build lasting and meaningful relationships with customers. — Adobe

There are 5 exquisite steps that go a long way in emphasizing and defining design thinking process:

1. Empathizing

Gaining an incredibly empathic ability that pertains to solving the problems you need to work on is the first and foremost step involved in the design thinking process.

The simulation of observations and engagement in finding a way to empathize with the concerned people in order to gain an understanding of the numerous ways of their thought processes and the physical environment that allows you to gain insights on the involved logistics and issues.

This is one of the most crucial steps involved as it helps design thinkers to put their own assumptions on the back-seat and dive deeper into the needs and aspirations of the users. The basic necessities and problems underlying them that require sufficient attention help in gathering purposeful information regarding the development of the product.

2. Defining The Problem

Analyzing the observations, creating a perfect defining perspective out of them and synthesizing the core problems in order to reach a smooth conclusion is what it takes to create a design thinking process.

Defining the core problem in a human-centric manner in order to create an illustration that pertains to market research of the product in a cogent manner is what you need to know and deal with, in order to increase the involvement of the product in the market on a regular basis.

The stage of defining would smoothly help the team of designers in creating a balance and establishing thought processes that consist of regulatory functions and features of efficient problem-solving techniques. In this step, the modulation of several issues that need effective solution and encouragement in the progressive stage are thoughtfully handled through the establishment of smooth ideas and promising features.

3. Ideation

Generating exquisite ideas that pertain to innovative designing process is one of the necessary steps while defining your design thinking process. Analyzing the needs of the users, creating an observational synthesis of the definitions involved and interacting with the ideological problem statements are the fundamental features contained in this step.

The solid background of creating statements that revolve around human-centered problems can go a long way in helping the members of your designing team and enable them to think out of the box and ponder over the need of finding alternative solutions to the problems.

Brainstorming, brainwriting, idea sessions, etc., are some of the most probable ideating techniques that are perceived vividly.

Thinking out of the box and generating possible solutions to pervading problems can hugely help in simulating the techniques of free thinking and visualization. The more the number of ideas involved in the design thinking process, the better it is.

You can use investigative techniques and alternate testing sequences to pick up possible solutions in the beginning. Circumnavigating through the problem, creating a structural unification and gaining effective insights on the design thinking is a sequential part of the alignment and your way forward to it. The more you get indulged with the ideation part, the more efficient your design thinking would become.

4. Prototyping

A number of scaled-down versions of the inherent features of the products involved are produced by the design team that is inexpensive and authoritatively interactive while creating a problem statement base. The inherent prototypes are a way forward when sharing and testing of products is considered. The process can be carried out by the team itself or efficient design team from outside can be manageably deployed.

The implementation of possible solutions is done through creating an effective prototype of problem-solving databases and engaging with experimental design steps. The first phase is basically aimed at identifying the problem structures and applying probable improvement techniques to them. The constraints provide a scientific measure to deal with inherent database structures and gain a better perspective about the behaviour of the users. The processes involved in interactions and subsequent thinking techniques are effectively taken care of using prototyping.

5. Testing

After the prototyping phase is complete, the next major step involves testing and evaluation of design thinking processes connected with the product using the best possible solution methods.

Redefining the problem statements in an interactive way and creating iterative sequences to generate effective results is a sure shot way of making the design thinking process more relevant and precise. The results generated in the testing phase may prove out to be extremely helpful in deciding the ideation profitability of the brainstorming sessions deployed during the prototyping phase.

One important point that needs efficient attention is the fact that it is rather unnecessary to assume that these steps would be sequential and occur one after the other. They may be followed in any sequence, depending on demand and need of the day. The activities that pertain to specification and designing of the product, variably introduce inherent features in the development process.

These steps serve as a friendly guide in helping you make more informed insights while making changes to your solution space. Another benefit of using this model consisting of five effective steps is that an efficient feedback mechanism evolves out of the perpetual loop where the design thinkers can considerably apply problem-solving techniques to make their product development more flexible and focussed.