What is Design Thinking? Design Thinking in 5 Steps

Design thinking is both an ideology and a process that aims to solve complex problems in a user-centered way. 

The design thinking process outlines a series of steps from empathizing for the user to generating ideas and turning them into prototypes.

What are the Principles of Design Thinking?

There are certain principles that are crucial to design thinking. These principles are as follows:

1. User orientation and empathy

The Design thinking is about finding solutions that respond to human needs and users feedback. The driving force of innovation is people, not technology. Therefore, an important part of the process is to replace the user and truly empathize with your target audience.

2. Cooperation

The purpose of design thinking is to pool various perspectives and ideas. At this point, design thinking encourages collaboration between heterogeneous and multidisciplinary teams that do not generally work together.

3. Idea

Design thinking is a solution-based framework, so the focus is on finding as many ideas and potential solutions as possible. Idea generation is both a fundamental design thinking principle and a step in the design thinking process. The idea generation step is a judgment-free zone where participants are encouraged to focus on the quantity rather than the quality of the ideas.

4. Experiment and iteration

Experiment and iteration are not just about finding ideas; it's also about turning them into prototypes, testing them and making changes based on user feedback. Design thinking is an iterative approach, so you need to be prepared to repeat certain steps in the process while uncovering flaws and shortcomings in early versions of your proposed solution.

5. Bias towards action

Design thinking is a highly hands-on approach to problem solving that prefers action over discussion. Design thinking encourages you to get there and engage with them face-to-face rather than making assumptions about what your users want. You can turn them into concrete prototypes and test them in the real world, not to mention potential solutions.

Design Thinking in 5 Steps

The design thinking process can be divided into five basic steps:

• Empathize
• Define
• Ideate
• Prototype
• Test.

As you consider the five steps of Design Thinking, it's important to know that this is not a linear process. We'll talk about the process as sequential steps below, but it's a pretty iterative cycle. At each stage, you can make new discoveries that may require you to revisit previous stages.

1. Empathy

The design thinking process starts with empathy. To create desired products and services, you need to understand who your users are and what they need. 

For example;

What are their expectations about the product you are designing? 

What challenges and pitfalls do they face in this context?

During the empathizing phase , you need to observe and engage with real users (or people who represent your target group), chat, see how they interact with an existing product, and pay attention to their facial expressions and body language in general. 

Empathy, the first step of the design thinking process, encourages you to put your assumptions aside. Armed with first-hand insights, you can design with real users in mind.

2. Identification

In the second step of the design thinking process, you need to define the user problem you want to solve. In other words, you need to collect all your findings in the empathy phase and bring them together. 

For example;

What common themes and patterns have you observed?

What user needs and challenges have consistently emerged?

After synthesizing your findings, formulate what is known as a problem statement. An issue statement, sometimes called a point of view (POV) statement, outlines the issue or challenge you're trying to address.

As with everything in the design thinking process, the problem statement keeps the user in focus. So instead of framing your statement as a business goal (“we need to increase 50+ gym membership by 30%”), you should frame it from the user's perspective:

At the end of the definition phase, you will have a clear problem statement to guide you through the design process. This forms the basis of your ideas and possible solutions.

3. Generating Ideas

The third stage of the design thinking process consists of idea generation or idea generation. At this point, you know who your target users are and what they want from your product. You also have a clear problem statement that you hope to resolve. This phase will allow you to find possible solutions.

The idea generation phase is a judgment-free zone where the group is encouraged to step away from the norm, explore new angles, and think outside the box. With or without feasibility, idea generation sessions are held to generate as many ideas as possible. In fact, for maximum creativity, ideation sessions are often held in unconventional areas.

Throughout this phase of the design thinking process, you need to continually return to your problem statement. As you prepare to take the next step, it's imperative that you reduce this to a few ideas that you then turn into prototypes for testing on real users.

4. Prototype

In the fourth stage of the design thinking process, you need to turn the ideas in the third stage into prototypes. A prototype is basically a scaled-down version of a product or feature.

The purpose of the prototyping phase is to turn your ideas into something tangible that can be tested on real users. This is crucial in maintaining a user-centered approach, allowing you to collect feedback before you go ahead and improve the entire product. This ensures that the final design actually solves the user's problem and becomes enjoyable to use.

5. Test

The fifth step in the design thinking process is to put your prototypes in front of real users and test them to see how they progress. During the testing phase, you can observe your target users or representative users interacting with your prototype. You can also collect feedback on how your users are feeling throughout the process.

The testing phase quickly highlights any design flaws that need to be addressed. You can go back and make improvements based on what you learned through user testing. 

Remember, the design thinking process is iterative, not linear. The results of the testing phase will often require you to revisit the empathy phase or go through several ideation sessions before building the winning prototype.

Applying the Design Thinking Framework to Your Own Business

You don't need to be a UX designer to apply design thinking to your own business. You can choose to focus on just one aspect of the design thinking process, such as knowing your customers and making a conscious effort to be more empathetic day in and day out. For example, if you have a hard time collecting positive customer reviews, you can conduct user interviews.

If you want to focus on the collaborative nature of design thinking, then you can hold ideation sessions with representatives from various teams. For example, if you find that marketing and design are constantly struggling to agree, a few design thinking styles brainstorming session can help everyone agree.

Another increasingly popular way to practice design thinking is through design thinking workshops. If you have a specific problem you want to solve, such as coming up with a new product idea or figuring out how to increase employee engagement, a design thinking workshop will cover the entire design thinking process in no time.