5 Steps of Design Thinking
5 Steps of Design Thinking
Design Thinking is a methodology used by designers to solve complex problems, and find desirable solutions for clients. It draws upon logic, imagination, intuition, and systemic reasoning, to explore possibilities of what could be, and to create desired outcomes that benefit the end user (the customer).
What are the 5 Steps of Design Thinking?
- Empathize: This is the first stage of the Design Thinking process. It involves gaining an empathetic understanding of the problem you are trying to solve, typically through user research.
- Define: This stage involves making sense of the information you have gathered during the Empathize stage. You will analyze your observations and synthesize them to define the core problems.
- Ideate: During the third stage of the Design Thinking process, designers are ready to start generating ideas. The solid background of knowledge from the first two phases means you can start to “think outside the box”, look for alternative ways to view the problem and identify innovative solutions.
- Prototype: This stage is all about experimentation. Designers will produce a number of inexpensive, scaled down versions of the product (or specific features found within the product) to investigate the problem solutions generated in the previous stage.
- Test: This is the final stage of the 5 step Design Thinking model. Rigorous testing is conducted to iterate and refine the solution based on how users respond to the prototype. This is an iterative process and feedback is often used to redefine one or more problems.
For more detailed information, you can visit the Design Thinking Wikipedia page.
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