The Design Thinking Process

At this point in time, I’m sure you’ve at least heard everyone’s favorite buzzword in business: design thinking. While more and more organizations have begun to implement this human-centric approach for anything from product development to management restructuring, the understanding of what design thinking actually is remains vague to many.

In short, design thinking is a human-centered approach to creative problem-solving.

That really doesn’t tell you much, does it? This article will break down the sometimes controversial method, giving you the tools to decide for yourself whether this practice makes sense for you or your business.

1. Empathize

Design thinking is all about solving a problem. Correspondingly, the first step in the design thinking process requires you to research the needs of your user to gain a better understanding of the problem that you hope to solve.

You should ask yourself: Who is my target user? What problem(s) do they face? Why do I want to help?

This step requires you to set aside your personal assumptions. Strive for unbiased information as you interview potential users. Keep your questions open-ended and continually ask why. Better yet, ask them to describe various scenarios where the problem affected them.

2. Define

The second step is simple in theory: Define the problem. However, effectively doing so takes time.

Defining the problem begins by organizing the information you gained during the first step. Try underlining the verbs and activities that the people mentioned when describing their problems, as these can point toward the underlying issue.

3. Ideate

Step three gets to the fun part: building ideas. During your ideation session, be imaginative — even crazy. The goal is not to find the perfect idea but rather, to come up with many ideas. However, don’t completely throw quality out the window in your aim for quantity. Remember your target users and sketch out ideas according to their perspectives. Relevancy is key.

Following an ideation session, present all ideas, good or bad. You never know what may strike the match.

Finalize this step by picking a few ideas to flesh out further. Present these fleshed-out descriptions (whether they be verbal, illustrative, etc.) to your target users for feedback.

4. Prototype

Take a moment to reflect. What have you learned from your target users? How does your idea fit into the context of their lives?

Try illustrating your final idea on paper first. Then, figure out how to translate that into something functional. What is the bare minimum? Your prototype should be the most simple and least expensive version of your idea.

Don’t be afraid to make multiple variations of your prototype, tweaking specific features with each design to address the problem from various angles and giving you a better understanding of the constraints of your prototype.

5. Test

Now’s your moment; test your idea! Let actual users try out your prototype. Establish an open space for feedback, and don’t defend your idea against criticism. Listen to your users; they will tell you what does and does not work.

While I’ve presented design thinking to you in a linear manner, the process doesn’t end with step five. Apply what you have learned by returning to the ideation or prototyping stage. Design thinking works best through multiple iterations. Cycle through the process until you reach the best solution for your users.

Want to learn more about the conversation (good and bad) surrounding design thinking? Here are a few articles from all ends of the spectrum:

Design Thinking is B.S. — Fast Company

Design Thinking Is Fundamentally Conservative — Harvard Business Review

How Design Thinking Became a Buzzword at School — The Atlantic

Why Design Thinking Should Be at the Core of Your Business — Forbes

Why Design Thinking is Relevant — IDEO U

Why Design Thinking Works — Harvard Business Review