What is design thinking?

Design thinking is a methodology used by designers to solve complex problems and find desirable solutions for clients. Anyone in this world can use what we call “design thinking”.

The five main stages of the design thinking process are the following:

The first step in this process is empathize. Being empathetic can be both good and bad. If one is TOO empathetic then it may change the way one can do the problem at stake. Without the empathize part to this process, we would be unable to complete the design process.

Define is the simplest of the five words in the process. Define is “the problem”. During this stage we put together the problem. We would use the information we have gathered from the empathize step and use it in this step. This stage will help the team gather some ideas and use them to establish features, functions and other elements that will help us solve the problems.

The third step is ideate. Obviously their is a word inside this word that gives away what this stage is about, idea. This stage is about generating ideas for the group. At this point we understand the first step, which is understanding the users and the needs of those users. In the second step we analyzed the data. At this point, us as a team would just use our brain and our own ideas and create new perceptions and new ways of coming at these problems. There are many ideas and many ways to approach these problems, the main technique used is brainstorming.

The fourth step in this process is called prototype. In this stage we will physically try to test this ourselves. This stage is made for experimenting and we want to try to find the best solution possible. The solutions are implemented within the prototypes and they are all tested and each one is either rejected or it is accepted. This is made to help us come up with even more solutions.

The last step in this whole process is test. The testing process to me is the most important because now we can see how far we have come as a group and determine whether these tests were good or bad or if they work or do not work. We also need to think is this test good enough to get us a solution or is it not good enough and do we just need to do it over again.

Design thinking is basically just as it sounds. There are many, many ways to begin to start a problem. The process within the design thinking stages is very well thought out and is here to help people and their teams come up with solutions for very complex problems. I really liked the poster board one where you divide it in four sections and each section is used for different purposes.

Design thinking can be used to help find out complex problems. How can I start using this everyday? It would help a lot because I would be able to find out problems quicker and in a easier manner.

-Seth Jones

Related posts:

The AARRR framework consists of five phases a customer goes through in order to achieve growth and each phase has it’s own set of metrics to focus on.

This is not an argument I ever imagined making. The chilling assertion by British Prime Minister Theresa May that ‘If you believe you are a citizen of everywhere you’re a citizen of nowhere’ makes me…

I think maybe I have a love- hate kind of relationship with myself. Every time it gets easier my heart finds new ways to discover that maybe its not and maybe I have (*note again) buried my problems…