Ugh, Design… what?
When you hear the term Design Thinking for the first time, you might assume that it is solely utilized by designers. In actuality, is concerned with everything. This methodology has been employed by every organization and economic sector. But do you have any idea what it is?
A little background…
The phrase is not new. John E. Arnold joined the Stanford faculty in 1957 as a Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Professor of Business Administration. In the 1950s, Arnold was an early author on the concept of “design thinking,” believing that modern engineers needed to be capable of producing innovative solutions through a creative and intellectual process. This word was coined by Robert McKim in his 1973 book “Experience in Visual Design.” But it was in 1991 that David M. Kelley formed IDEO and worked on the concept that has evolved into what it is today.
What exactly is Design Thinking?
Design Thinking is a creative problem-solving method that focuses on understanding and addressing the needs of others. It is a solution-based method designed to assist and pleasure the consumer. Human-centered design means always putting the human at the center.
Where can it be used?
Design thinking is utilized in course development, problem solving, and commercial negotiations. In a nutshell, everywhere.
But do you know what phrases are the foundation of design thinking?
So, these are the five stages associated with the design thinking process:
The first is EMPATHY
We must empathize with the user and comprehend the user requirements suggested in the solution that we are designing. We must put ourselves in the shoes of the users and be able to provide solutions to their problems.
Understand who you’re designing for
How can we empathize?
There are no particular procedures to conquer each phase in Design Thinking, but there are many approaches to finish the process.
Here are several examples:
- Consider yourself a first-time user.
- Users should be interviewed.
- Maps of empathy
- The user persona.
- Obtaining extensive user data.
- In many other aspects, understanding the user is critical.
The next step is DEFINITION
During this second step, we filter the information we gathered in the first step and take what matters and has value; we identified problems whose solutions are critical to achieving that unique result.
The crucial point is that we described the problem and identified the problems that consumers face before coming to conclusions.
IDEATION is the third step
The goal of this stage is to generate as many possibilities as possible. We gathered all of the information gathered in the previous steps and came up with solutions here. Don’t stop at the first concept; in this period, everything counts, and often the strangest ideas are the best. This is the brainstorming stage, where we can create mind maps and storyboards, assume the issue, and even consider the worst idea to eliminate any roadblocks.
PROTOTYPE is the fourth step
We create brief mockups with the prototype to give us the outline of an idea or notion. We now have a concrete manifestation of the ideas.
The main criteria of creating a mock-up or prototype are something rapid, a raw wireframe that links with the concept of an MVP (Minimum Viable Product)
Make something that will not take too much time so that you may test it, examine it, learn from your failures, and then improve it.
You can fail quickly and affordably.
TESTING is the final step
This is the stage during which you put your ideas to the test with the help of the solution’s target users. Once you have received input, use it in conjunction with the findings to improve the design.
This is not a linear process; you can iterate through the steps to arrive at a solution.
This was a brief overview of Design Thinking; maybe, it will be useful for your future endeavors.
Disclaimer:
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