Design Thinking: A 5 Stage Process

By Kori Solomon

In our daily lives we all encounter a wide range of experiences. Sometimes the negative ones can irk us in such a way, where it forces us to find a suitable solution. Whether or not you consider yourself a ‘designer', we all have the ability to solve daily problems that affect others. If these solutions are implemented strategically, they can in fact improve lives.

Queue the Design Thinking methodology. This is a solution based approach/mindset that simply aims to improve the situation of people through their experiences. Design Thinking requires you to consider a person’s (user's) encounter, so you can focus on their human needs. In layman's terms, design thinking isn’t rocket science; it’s people science. It allows us to shift the way in which we perceive - from the concept of ‘as is’ - to the more inclusive approach of ‘to be’.

Not Just For Designers

I should quickly point out, even though this methodology includes the word “design”, Design Thinking is a mindset that anyone can utilise. Should you begin to implement such principles, it would mean that you are starting to think like a designer, which requires you to adopt a particular set of attitudes and flexible ways of thinking.

It would mean you are being mindful of how you can improve the current experience of the people you serve, i.e., your users. You see, because this process is heavily user-centred; all problem solving efforts require us to be creative and collaborative.

So how do we implement this Design Thinking mindset?

A variety of models exist today that outline these basic components. Stanford Business School, one of the first schools to formalise a comprehensive Design Thinking curriculum, is said to be the pioneer of this framework. This flow begins with invoking empathy; defining a problem or opportunity; then moving into ideating a solution for the problem; prototyping it and testing.

Most Design Thinking processes follow a similar pattern, and may include similar values. The best frameworks focus on real people, with real needs. A great way to kickstart this process is to interact with those people directly and by coming up with many ideas. This is one case in which quantity is actually better than quality. It's best to be very visual in your thinking and brainstorming processes and experiment, by quickly and cheaply testing ideas to understand how they might work. When you practice Design Thinking, you consider a person’s true, unique experience.

Remember, you are not just designing a product, you are designing a better user experience.


Up next:
Empathy in User Experience Design