Design Thinking: Human-Centered Innovation and User Research Methods

Design Thinking

A human-centered, iterative approach to innovation that balances desirability, feasibility, and viability

Desirability

What people need and value from a human perspective

Feasibility

What is technically possible within current resources and technology

Viability

What is financially sustainable and makes business sense

Empathy

The foundation of design thinking—understanding people's emotions, motivations, and unspoken needs to design meaningful solutions

Design Thinking Process

Empathize → Define → Ideate → Prototype → Test, a non-linear, iterative process for solving human-centered problems

Innovation Arc

The continuous loop of empathy, insight, ideation, and experimentation that turns understanding into tested solutions

Reframing Problems

Looking at a challenge from a new perspective to uncover the real need rather than solving surface symptoms

Solution-First Thinking

The trap of jumping to ideas without understanding users—leads to solving the wrong problem

Customer Discovery

The process of interviewing and observing real users to test assumptions and find product-market fit

Personas

Fictional yet research-based user profiles that represent key segments and make customer needs tangible

Segmentation

Dividing users into groups based on shared behaviors, needs, or motivations to target design more effectively

Customer Journey Mapping

A visual tool that tracks what users do, think, and feel across touchpoints to identify pain points and opportunities

Extreme Users

People at the edges of your target audience whose behaviors reveal hidden insights and unmet needs

Implicit Assumptions

Unspoken beliefs that influence design decisions—challenged through empathy and user research

Product-Market Fit

The degree to which a product satisfies a strong market need

Tech Adoption Curve

A model showing how innovations spread: innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards

User Research Methods

Techniques for understanding users: ask (interviews), look (observe), try (empathic testing), and learn (background research)

Prototyping

Creating quick, low-cost models to learn from users and refine ideas before full implementation

Tim Brown's Design Thinking

Innovation is powered by understanding people's needs and connecting them with what's feasible and viable

Talking to Humans

Guide to customer interviews—focus on real stories, open-ended questions, and early adopters to uncover trut