Design thinking
What is design thinking?
Design thinking in simple words means how we design products and make decisions that are based on users needs.
Design thinking is a design methodology that provides a solution-based approach to solving problems.
Design thinking process
There are five stages of design thinking process
- Empathize
This is the first stage of design thinking process. It means to gain an empathetic understanding of the problem you are trying to solve. This involve carrying out users interview and research, consulting experts to understand the problem and find out more information, making you immerse yourself in the physical environment to gain deeper personal understanding of the problem.
2. Define (the problem)
This means putting together all the information you have gathered during the empathize stage which also include the user’s needs and frustration. Analysis of the problem is done in order to define core problems that have been identified which aids decision making and problem solving.
3. Ideate
During this stage, you start to identify new solutions, think outside- the-box, get as many ideas possible which are relevant to the problem you are trying to solve. Discuss all the ideas and highlight the ones you find most effective.
4.Prototype
During this design thinking stage, production of less costly, scaled down versions of the product is produced. This is done to investigate the problem solutions generated in the previous stage. Prototypes are done and shared among potential users. This is an experimental phase, and the aim is to identify the best possible solution. The solutions are implemented within the prototypes and investigated to be either accepted, rejected or re-examined.
5. Test
This is the final stage of the design thinking process, the prototypes are rigorously tested using the best solutions identified during the prototyping phase. This can be a simple paper or a more polished clickable version. As with all previous phases, this is an iterative process and you will gain insights with each test you conduct. These will drive you to redefine the issues themselves or the user needs, while others push you to polish up and refine the prototype.
What does it mean for a designer to be able to fit himself into the shoe of a user?
Empathy.
As a designer, to be able to fit yourself into the shoe of a user means you have to be empathetic, you have to understand your user’s needs, frustration and pain points and how you can create design solutions to solve these problems. This is done by carrying out users interviews and research, consulting experts to understand the problem and find out more information, making you immerse yourself in the physical environment to gain deeper personal understanding of the problem to provide best solutions.
