What is Design Thinking? : 5 Stages in the Design Thinking Process [OverView]

• In this article you will get
• 1.Design Thinking Phases
• 2.How Design Thinking has helped businesses in a promoting innovation?
• 3.Conclusion

Design Thinking Phases

While a stages or phases of Design Thinking can vary depending on a school of thought followed, there are the five distinct phases core to almost every iteration. It’s important to note that a while these phases below are in order, Design Thinking is not linear process. Teams continually use these phases to be review, question and enhance their product to the further understand the needs of user and improve the user experience.

Phase 1:Empathize

The first step in a solving any issues is to understand a problem. In Design Thinking, this understanding needs empathy which is gained from observing and engaging. By an empathizing with a concern, gain a deeper understanding of motivation and experiences of users. This allows those practicing Design Thinking to set aside personal bias and an assumptions to more fully understand a needs of users.

This phase of a Design Thinking needs gathering a substantial amount of an information from users that will continue throughout a process. During the iteration, this phase can be visited the multiple times in order to redefine a problems and concerns encountered by a end user.

Phase 2:Define

Once have a insights, need to use them to explain the difficulties of a customers face and decide which problems to be prioritize. A popular way of a problem statement is using Ishikawa fishbone diagram .Frame a problem in a way that is a user-centered: For example, if realize the customers wait in line for too long to get their airline ticket, can state a problem in this way: customers need a system for a faster check-in, as opposed to: need to ensure lines move faster during a check-in.This way, can automatically start to look at a problem from the customer’s point of view as a opposed to yours.

Phase 3:Ideate

Once have a problem statement, it’s time to start coming up with the potential solutions. Ideating is an important because it allows designers to come up with the optimal solution rather than use a first path that comes to mind to solve problem.

This stage needs a creativity and to think up as more solutions as possible. Some characteristics of an ideation phase include:

Postpone judgment: Generate as more broad ideas as a possible without evaluating or judging any of them.

Documentation of an ideas: When a team members look at the visual ideas on whiteboard, for instance, their brains will begin to be fire in various ways and generate a more ideas. Documentation is also for the memory.

Collaboration: This not only an ensures buy-in but also guarantees that can ideas will be varied and drawn from a various styles of thinking.

Some creative methods used for an ideation include: Mind mapping, analogies, reverse thinking, brainstorming and a role-playing. Can also use a provocation technique, which employs lateral thinking to the challenge the existing belief system and explore the other alternatives.

Once have an exhausted all ideas, narrow down to most preferred options.

Phase4:Prototyping

The process of a turning ideas into the tangible solutions and products is known as a prototyping. This stage involves an experimentation where the identified solution is be tested, constraints identified and flaws corrected. Depending on how prototype fares, a solution may be an improved on, redesigned, accepted or rejected.

Phase5:Test

• This stage involves a testing a prototypes on end users. Once get results of a test, may need to go back to previous stages. This cycle may carry on until a final solution is acceptable to the consumers.
• The design thinking phases can outlined above are the non-linear.
• The processes loop are back and forth and around. Each time discover something new, may need to go back to earlier phases and redefine again. Rarely will this process move in the set order.

How Design Thinking has helped businesses in a promoting innovation?

As a stated earlier, design thinking involves an analyzing all facets of project before jumping in to solve it. This more aspect promotes human-centered innovation. For any problem, an impulse is to always jump into the solving it, and this can lead to be mistakes, time wastage, and failed projects. Some benefits of a design thinking approach include:

Minimizing Risk:As a process engages users and customers, a risks and uncertainty that come with an innovation are minimized.

Real Insights:The process are relies on a insights drawn from a real customers in the real world, not just market research.

An Immediately Applicable:To become design thinker, don’t need to go through years of the studies to be a designer. Can immediately learn a skills and apply them to leading management and innovation.

It Helps to Think a Strategically:This is because first have to assess every problem from all the dimensions then map a strategy for tackling it.

A Better Business Performance:Companies have used a design thinking with the great success.

Conclusion

Design Thinking might sound like a something from an art school but it’s actually a complex business solution that has scaled successful businesses like Airbnb. In essence, a practice of Design Thinking revolves around solving a issues from the perspective of the end user i.e. your market. Sounds simple, right? Well, not so fast, how do get to solution? Design Thinking not only needs to think like an end user and a designer but also figure out how to an iterate solutions for multiple possibilities which is why it makes for stellar tool in business. When know have an explored probable outcomes and explained a solution that solves multiple avenues, deliver a successful product to the market.