Think about a new project at work— your team needs fresh ideas. The challenge is significant. You want to create a desirable, economically viable and technologically feasible product for your users. You try to understand market trends and consumer behaviors as your first step. As complexities and uncertainties arise, you must turn to design thinking. It guides your team through idea generation and promotes iterative prototype testing. Learn more about the design thinking process with the IxDF course, design thinking.
Have you ever tackled a project and felt overwhelmed by the need for innovation? It requires a unique approach to find good ideas that work. This is where design thinking becomes essential. It's a flexible approach to product development that helps you systematically extract user insights to create better solutions.
84% of executives agree that innovation is crucial to growth. It’s crucial to master design thinking. Understand design thinking principles to shift a stagnant project into a dynamic and user-centered one. Explore further to foster creativity and drive product success.
What is Design Thinking?
Design thinking is an iterative, non-linear process teams use to understand users, challenge existing assumptions, redefine problems and craft innovative solutions they prototype and test. You can use it to tackle complex or undefined problems. The process comprises five key phases: Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype and Test.
The five stages of design thinking are not always sequential. They do not have to follow a specific order; they can often occur in parallel or you can repeat them. Consider the stages as different modes which contribute to the entire design project, rather than sequential steps.
© Interaction Design Foundation, CC BY-SA 4.0
This strategy rose to prominence in modern business circles largely thanks to Tim Brown, CEO of IDEO. He highlighted its benefits in a Harvard Business Review article.
Design thinking focuses more on users than on problems. The first step in the process (empathy) makes you understand user experiences and needs. As your team understands who will use a product and how it will affect them, they can find practical solutions.
You need design thinking to innovate, stay competitive and thrive. Through design thinking, cross-functional teams collaborate to grasp user needs and develop tailored solutions. This approach also uncovers creative solutions for business success and user satisfaction.
The Design Thinking Process
Design thinking is a five-step process. Through these five stages, design thinking provides a structured yet flexible approach to innovation. It helps you develop solutions with a strong focus on user needs and practical functionality.
Empathize: Research your users' needs to gain insights into their experiences and motivations. You consult experts, engage with users and immerse yourself in their environments to understand user challenges.
Define: State your users' needs and problems. You organize and analyze the information gathered in the Empathize stage. It helps you define the core issues your solutions need to address.
Ideate: Challenge assumptions and create ideas. With a clear problem statement, you brainstorm and explore various creative solutions to the defined problem.
Prototype: Start to create solutions. Develop scaled-down versions of the product or its features to test the ideas generated in the Ideate stage. This phase allows for adjustments based on preliminary feedback before full-scale implementation.
Test: Try your solutions out with real users. This final stage involves rigorous testing of the complete product through the prototypes.
Watch Don Norman (UX design pioneer) discuss innovative solutions to problems in this video.
How to Facilitate Design Thinking in Your Team
Design thinking challenges teams to explore uncharted and often uncomfortable territories. This process requires team members to have an open mind and challenge their assumptions while they adapt to change. You keep all these demands because design thinking can lead to enhanced innovation, improved products and a strengthened team spirit.
Let’s understand three steps to facilitate design thinking in your team. It’ll help your team members feel optimistic and excited about the projects ahead.
Step 1: Explain the Design Thinking Process
Introduce your team to the design thinking process. Distribute materials that outline the five stages. Explain that these stages are not sequential but serve as a flexible framework to guide the project. Highlight the importance of an iterative approach, where stages may occur in parallel or repeat as needed.
Step 2: Break the Ice
Icebreakers help you build trust and comfort among team members. Select activities based on the specific barriers within your team. Make sure you choose inclusive exercises to build confidence without causing embarrassment.
Step 3: Get People in the Mood for Creativity
Creativity is an essential part of design thinking. You must encourage every team member to tap into their creative side, regardless of their background or inclination towards science or arts. Use engaging activities like co-create a story or play visual telephone to stimulate creativity. These exercises relax the team and foster a playful approach to problem-solving.
Design Thinking Stage 1: Strategies to Enhance Empathy in Design
Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of others. You see the world as they do. In design thinking, empathy helps you grasp the true needs and experiences of the people you design. You must understand all this to create solutions that genuinely work for users.
Watch this video to understand more about empathy and its importance.
Develop Empathy for Your Target Audience
Empathy helps you understand and identify with your users' emotions, goals and motivations. Here’s how you can develop empathy in four easy steps:
Discovery: Put yourself into the user's world to spark curiosity and grasp their context. For instance, observe the daily routines at a self-service food court to discover the staff's challenges.
Immersion: Actively interact with the environment and its people. Join as a team member, have conversations and watch how people interact and operate.
Connection: Link the information gathered to your experiences to develop empathetic insights. This helps you comprehend the emotions and motives behind user actions.
Detachment: Take a step back to analyze the data from a designer’s viewpoint. Reflect on the insights and think about possible solutions to meet user needs.
You can use three practical methods for empathy development:
Observe user behavior: See what users do in their natural context.
Engage users in the process: Encourage users to share their thoughts and participate in the design process.
Experience it : Put yourself in the users’ shoes to gain firsthand insights.
Become a More Empathetic Designer
As a designer, you can cultivate empathy to create solutions that resonate with users. So, learn these seven key strategies:
Abandon your ego: Set aside your ego to understand others. Focus on their feelings and try not to assert your views.
Adopt humility: Embrace humility to improve empathy. Value others above yourself for effective design leadership.
Be a good listener: Listen to others without interruptions. This allows you to grasp deeper meanings and experiences.
Hone your observation skills: Observe user behaviors, non-verbal cues and environments. It can reveal more than what users explicitly say.
Care: Show genuine concern for others. This empathy drives you to understand and assist.
Be curious: Maintain curiosity to understand various aspects of users' lives. Curiosity uncovers new insights and helps you understand their motivations.
Design Thinking Stage 2: Strategies to Define the Problem
You must define a clear and actionable problem statement in the design thinking process. A problem statement is a clear, concise description of an issue you must address. This step synthesizes observations of user behavior to shape a focused design challenge. If you master this, it allows you to guide your team. You can focus on productive ideation and bring clarity to the project. A well-articulated problem statement sets the direction and pace for successful design outcomes.
Leverage Affinity Diagrams for Effective Information Synthesis
Affinity diagrams are a powerful tool to organize vast amounts of mixed information. They help you categorize data from research, brainstorming and user feedback into coherent themes. Here’s how you can create an affinity diagram:
Collect data: Write facts, ideas, drawings, quotes and observations on individual Post-it notes or cards.
Arrange data: Place these notes on a wall, whiteboard or table. Custer similar items together.
Form initial groups: Start with one note as the group leader. Compare each new note to this leader to determine if it belongs in the same group.
Discuss and adjust: Engage with your team to discuss the clusters. Move notes as needed to better reflect their relationships.
Name clusters: Once satisfied with a group, name it to reflect its contents.
Link related groups: Optionally, draw lines between related groups to create a visual map of connections.
Create Personas
Personas are fictional characters you develop based on research to represent different user types. They help you understand user needs, experiences, behaviors and goals. You need them to make the design process less complex and guide ideation.
An example of a persona that details a story around how the user interacts with the app. It also talks about the things that influence her along with her goals and motivation, as well as a short story.
© Interaction Design Foundation, CC BY-SA 4.0
Follow these 10 steps to create effective user personas:
Gather data: You collect information to start the process. You can use surveys, direct talks with users or watch how they use products.
Think of ideas: After you collect data, think about what it tells you. Use tools like affinity diagrams and empathy maps to organize your thoughts.
Check your ideas: Share your thoughts with others in the project. Use their feedback to make sure your ideas are on track.
Decide on the number of personas: Figure out how many different user profiles you need. Make sure to have a main one.
Describe each persona: Write detailed profiles for each user type. Talk about their background, what they like and what they want. Make them feel real by adding made-up personal details.
Create scenarios: Think of situations where these personas use your product. Make these situations realistic and focus on possible problems they could face.
Involve everyone: Make sure your team understands and agrees with these user profiles.
Share the information: Tell everyone in your company about these personas. This includes people who are not working directly on the project.
Use these personas to plan: Use the personas when you plan how your product will work. This helps make your designs better.
Update the personas: Keep the personas up to date. Add new information as you learn more about your users.
Create Point-of-view (POV) Problem Statements
A Point of View (POV) is a significant and actionable problem statement that guides targeted ideation. It clearly states the correct challenge to tackle in ideation sessions. A POV reframes a design challenge into a practical problem statement, allowing for focused creative efforts.
To create a problem statement, your team must first analyze observations about users. Capture the exact profile of your users in the statement. Synthesize your research findings. These insights will help you define what users need and desire. Teams often use a POV Madlib to shape the problem statement. This tool helps you articulate the statement in a clear, actionable way. The format is simple:
[User… (descriptive)] needs [need… (verb)] because [insight… (compelling)].
For example, consider this template:
User: Young parents
Need: Find quick healthy meal options
Insight: They lack time but want to maintain a healthy diet for their family.
Young parents need to find quick healthy meal options because they lack time but want to maintain a healthy diet for their family.
This format helps you combine user, need and insight. The result is a problem statement that drives your design efforts. Here’s how to apply it:
Identify the user. Describe who they are in your design context.
Define the need. What must your user be able to do?
Discover the insight. Why does this need exist based on your findings?
With a clear problem statement, you explore why specific needs exist. Then, you figure out how to meet those needs. It guides your brainstorming sessions. This keeps everyone on track toward innovative solutions.
Frame How Might We Questions
How Might We" (HMW) is a design thinking method. Designers create questions that help them explore creative solutions to specific challenges. They reframe problems into opportunities to encourage a creative exploration of ideas.
Follow this helpful HMW formula to start your ideation session: “How might we” + Intended Action (as an action verb) + “for” + Potential User (as the subject) + “so that” + Desired Outcome.
© Interaction Design Foundation, CC BY-SA 4.0
Let’s say your team deals with poor customer service feedback. Then, a HMW question might be: "How might we improve our response time for customers that ask queries so that we can enhance customer satisfaction?"
You can either use the formula or use this simple trick to frame how might we questions:
Identify a problem area.
Phrase it as a HMW question to spark creativity.
Use the question to brainstorm solutions that focus on potential rather than problems.
Design Thinking Stage 3: Strategies to Ideate the Solution
Ideation is a crucial stage where you generate many ideas to solve specific problems. In ideation sessions, participants aim to think outside the box in a structured, judgment-free setting. The goal is to produce as many ideas as possible.
Teams need a conducive environment with all distractions removed. A facilitator often leads the session. This method allows team members to build upon each other's ideas. Let’s understand the techniques that would help you think of good ideas.
Brainstorm Ideas
Watch this short video to understand what it means to brainstorm ideas.
Brainstorming is a technique where team members gather to generate ideas to solve specific problems. You use it in the early stages of a project to explore possible solutions and encourage creative thinking. Here’s how you can generate ideas through brainstorming.
Define the problem: Understand the issue you want to address.
Encourage open participation: Make sure everyone feels comfortable sharing their ideas.
Build on others' ideas: Listen actively to suggestions and consider how to expand or improve them.
Keep the energy high: Maintain a lively pace and use activities or prompts to keep the session engaging.
Record all ideas: Write down every suggestion so you don't lose ideas.
Use the SCAMPER Method
The SCAMPER method is a creative tool to improve or innovate existing products, services or ideas. This method allows you to examine a subject through seven different lenses or approaches to spark new thoughts and possibilities. Here’s how you can use this method:
Choose an existing product: Select a product, service or idea you want to develop or enhance.
Apply the SCAMPER senses: Systematically ask questions related to each of the seven lenses:
Substitute: What elements can you replace to improve the product?
Combine: Can you merge this product with another to create something new?
Adapt: How can you alter the product to serve another purpose or market?
Modify/Magnify/Minify: What changes in size, form or pattern could benefit the product?
Put to another use: Can you use the product in ways other than its intended use?
Eliminate: What features or elements can you remove without compromising functionality?
Rearrange: Can you change the order of components or processes for improvement?
Evaluate answers: Review the ideas generated from these questions. Identify any that stand out as practical and promising.
Explore further: Take the good ideas and develop them to assess their viability.
Think about the Worst Possible Idea
In the worst possible idea method, team members intentionally think of the worst solutions in brainstorming sessions. This approach helps relax participants, boosts their confidence and sparks creativity. You list bad ideas and examine why they are undesirable. Then, you flip these qualities to explore potential good ideas.
As your team focuses on bad ideas, they don't feel the pressure that they might be judged. It encourages free thinking and often leads to innovative solutions. This method turns traditional brainstorming into a playful, productive way to overcome creative blocks and find unexpected insights.
Design Thinking Stage 4: Strategies to Prototype Your Ideas
A prototype is an early sample, model or release of a product that helps you test a concept or process. It serves as a tool to visualize how a new product will function. Prototypes allows you to explore ideas and test functionalities before full-scale production. It also helps detect design flaws early to save time and money.
To start prototyping, you must have clear goals. Choose the right tools and materials that suit your product's needs. Build your prototype, then test and refine it based on feedback. This process helps ensure the final product meets user needs and functions as intended.
Create Low-fidelity Prototypes
Low-fidelity prototypes are basic product versions of products that you can use to explore ideas. They help you test functionality early in the development process. These prototypes do not look like the final product. But, they help you understand user interactions and design concepts. The five types of low-fidelity prototypes include:
Sketches are a rapid prototyping technique. They help you visualize ideas and make decisions early in the design process. You can easily create and discard them. Use them for quick iterations and adjustments to ideas.
Paper prototypes involve sketches or printouts that represent user interfaces. You use them to simulate and test the flow of an application or website.
Lego prototypes use Lego bricks to build physical models of products. These models help visualize and test product concepts for easy adjustments.
Digital wireframes are basic illustrations of an application or website layout. They focus on the structure and functionality without detailed design elements like colors or images.
Wizard of Oz prototypes simulate complex system functions using human intervention behind the scenes. They appear functional to the user, which helps gather authentic feedback on the interaction.
Focus on Feasibility and Viability
To move from a prototype to a successful product, you should focus on three key aspects: desirability, feasibility and viability.
Make sure your design meets user needs, which focuses on desirability. Use testing and feedback to align your design with what users want.
As your project moves forward, look at feasibility to see if you can realistically implement your solution.
Have a sustainable financial model for your product. It shows the product’s viability.
Design Thinking Stage 5: Strategies to Test Your Ideas
Testing prototypes helps you collect useful user feedback. This feedback helps refine solutions to better meet user needs.
Perform Usability Tests
Watch William Hudson, User Experience Expert, discuss usability tests in this video.
Usability testing evaluates how easy your design is to use. This process helps identify any issues with your design. Here's how to conduct effective usability tests:
Prepare Your test: Define clear, specific tasks for participants to perform. Choose tasks critical to the product’s core functions.
Select participants: Recruit users who represent your target audience.
Conduct the test: Observe participants as they interact with your design. Note where they succeed and where they face difficulties.
Record results: Document how each participant performs the tasks. Pay attention to where they hesitate, ask questions or make errors.
Analyze feedback: Review the data to understand the usability issues. Look for patterns that suggest common problems.
Make improvements: Use the insights gained to refine your design. Address the usability issues identified to enhance user satisfaction.
Use Heuristic Evaluation
Heuristic evaluation uses established guidelines or heuristics, to check if an interface is user-friendly. You can use them to identify usability issues before real user testing. Here’s how to conduct a heuristic evaluation:
Select heuristics: Choose a set of heuristics that fits your product. E.g., Nielsen and Molich's 10 heuristics or another well-known set.
Choose evaluators: Pick evaluators with usability expertise, ideally those who know the industry well. They should not be the end users of the product.
Brief evaluators: Explain the evaluation process and what you expect from them. Make sure all evaluators get the same instructions to prevent bias.
Conduct initial evaluation: Let evaluators freely explore the product to understand its interaction methods and scope. This usually takes about two hours.
Apply heuristics in the second phase: Evaluators will do a thorough run again. They will apply the chosen heuristics to elements they identify in the first phase.
Record problems: Write down problems found in the evaluations. Ask evaluators to describe each issue in detail.
Debrief and suggest solutions: After the evaluations, bring evaluators together to discuss what they found. You can propose improvements based on the heuristics.
You need a group of three to five evaluators to find most usability issues. With five evaluators, you can identify up to 75% of problems. If you add more evaluators, you might find more issues but it'll also increase time and costs.
The Take Away
Design thinking is a user-centered approach that innovatively solves complex problems across various domains. You empathize with users, define problems, ideate solutions, prototype and test. This iterative process helps you create innovative solutions that deeply align with user needs.
The IxDF Design Thinking: The Ultimate Guide will provide deeper insights into what we discussed in this piece. It teaches participants to generate innovative, user-centric solutions. It covers the essential phases and design thinking methods. You learn from industry leaders through hands-on exercises and case studies. This course features exclusive video content produced in collaboration with notable design leaders, including:
Alan Dix, Director of the Computational Foundry at Swansea University, author of Statistics for HCI: Making Sense of Quantitative Data
William Hudson, User Experience Strategist and Founder of Syntagm
Frank Spillers, Service Designer, Founder and CEO of Experience Dynamics
This course is ideal for you if you are:
UX, UI and Graphic Designer: Gain new strategies for solving design problems and creating effective solutions.
Project manager: Manage processes that integrate all stakeholders to develop user-centric solutions.
Software engineer: Participate actively in idea generation and the design process.
Entrepreneur: Create products that fit the market by deeply understanding user needs.
Marketer: Acquire deep insights into customer behavior to drive effective marketing strategies.
Stakeholder: Involve yourself in developing products or services within your company.
Problem solver: Apply innovative problem-solving methods to challenges in both professional and personal contexts.
In IxDF Design Thinking: The Ultimate Guide course, you can enhance your learning experience and apply design thinking methods in Build Your Portfolio Project. This course will allow you to engage in hands-on exercises that build on one another. These projects will serve as valuable portfolio pieces. You can use them to show your skills to potential employers and show your proficiency in human-centered design.
References and Where to Learn More
Enroll in the IxDF Design Thinking: The Ultimate Guide course. It’s included in an IxDF membership. Sign up to become a member.
Read our topic definition on Design thinking.
Understand What is Design Thinking and Why Is It So Popular?
Get detailed insights into the 5 Stages in the Design Thinking Process.
Read McKinsey’s report on growth and innovation.
Have a look at Neilsen’s and Molich’s 10 heuristics.
