Design Thinking encourages building upon ideas, drawing ideas, focusing, viewing things from a new perspective, doing experiments, and having fun.
Professor Kavitha Reddy, SOB, Woxsen University.
Learning Objectives
Gain knowledge on the key concepts of Design Thinking.
Apply learnings to re-frame any design challenge and innovate effectively.
Creativity
Design thinking emphasizes creativity and generating new ideas.
Creativity and Artistic Ability
We tend to equate creative ability with artistic ability.
Creative Confidence
Everyone can be creative.
Fostering Creative Confidence is essential.
Definition of Creative Confidence
Creative Confidence is the ability to take on problems that don't have a clear answer.
Creative Confidence and Failure
Creative Confidence is the willingness to try something and fail.
Creativity and Uncertainty
Creativity requires being comfortable with uncertainty.
Innovative ideas are, by their very nature, not yet or not fully defined.
Wicked Problems in Design Thinking
A "wicked problem" is a complex issue with no clear definition, multiple interconnected factors, and no single "correct" solution.
Traditional problem-solving methods are often inadequate for wicked problems.
Design thinking, with its iterative and user-centered approach, is valuable for addressing wicked problems.
It allows exploring various perspectives and potential solutions through prototyping and testing.
How Design Thinking Helps with Wicked Problems
Empathy and user research: Understanding the perspectives of different stakeholders provides a holistic view.
Ideation and brainstorming: Generating a wide range of potential solutions, even unconventional ones, can overcome limitations of traditional approaches.
Prototyping and iteration: Building and testing prototypes allows for rapid experimentation and refinement based on feedback, which is crucial for navigating the uncertainty.
Collaboration and stakeholder engagement: Involving various stakeholders throughout the process ensures solutions address the needs of all parties affected.
Solution-Based vs. Problem-Based Thinking
Solution-based thinking: Focuses on finding solutions and coming up with something constructive to tackle a problem effectively.
Problem-based thinking: Tends to fixate on obstacles and limitations.
Defining Design Thinking
Design thinking is both an ideology and a process, concerned with solving wicked problems in a highly user-centric way.
It is an approach used for practical and creative problem-solving.
It is based heavily on the methods and processes that designers use.
Design thinking is extremely user-centric, focusing on humans first and foremost.
It seeks to understand people’s needs and come up with effective solutions to meet those needs.
It is a solution-based approach to problem-solving.
Design Thinking Definition
"Design Thinking is a human-centered, collaborative approach to problem solving that is creative, iterative and practical."
Who is a Design Thinker?
A Design Thinker is a person who applies the Design Thinking process to solve problems and find creative innovative solutions in any field or domain.
Design Thinking can be applied to solve problems in arts, social sciences, law, medicine, engineering, business, etc.
It could even be applied to solve problems at home or in your neighborhood or in your place of work.
Whether it is a simple problem or a complex problem, a design thinker finds creative ways to tackle them.
If everyone could adopt this method to solve problems then we would be moving towards a creative society that finds solutions to many of its problems.
Exploring Possibilities and Narrowing Them Down
It's about exploring possibilities and then narrowing them down.
Uncertainty leads to focus and innovation.
Concept leads to prototype and then to building.
The 4 Principles of Design Thinking
THE HUMAN RULE: All design activity is social in nature.
THE AMBIGUITY RULE: Ambiguity is inevitable - experiment at the limits of your knowledge!
ALL DESIGN IS REDESIGN: While technology and social circumstances may change, basic human needs remain unchanged.
THE TANGIBILITY RULE: Prototypes help to make ideas tangible, enabling designers to communicate them effectively.
The Four Principles of Design Thinking Explained
The human rule: No matter what the context, all design activity is social in nature, and any social innovation will bring us back to the "human-centric point of view".
The ambiguity rule: Ambiguity is inevitable, and it cannot be removed or oversimplified. Experimenting at the limits of your knowledge and ability is crucial in being able to see things differently.
The redesign rule: All design is redesign. While technology and social circumstances may change and evolve, basic human needs remain unchanged. We essentially only redesign the means of fulfilling these needs or reaching desired outcomes.
The tangibility rule: Making ideas tangible in the form of prototypes enables designers to communicate them more effectively.
Three Lenses of Design Thinking
Three lenses to consider are: Desirability (What do people desire?), Feasibility (Is it technically possible to build the solution?), and Viability (Can the company profit from the solution?).
DT Frameworks
DT can be executed using the Double Diamond framework defined by The Design Council.
The process includes: Discover, Define, Develop, and Deliver.
How to use the Double Diamond
DISCOVER: The first diamond helps people understand, rather than simply assume, what the problem is. It involves speaking to and spending time with people who are affected by the issues.
DEFINE: The insight gathered from the discovery phase can help you to define the challenge in a different way.
DEVELOP: The second diamond encourages people to give different answers to the clearly defined problem, seeking inspiration from elsewhere and co-designing with a range of different people.
DELIVER: Delivery involves testing out different solutions at small-scale, rejecting those that will not work and improving the ones that will.
DT using the Double Diamond framework defined by The Design Council follows divergent and convergent thinking patterns.
DT Frameworks - David Kelley
DT can be executed using the framework defined by David Kelley.
The framework includes: Frame a Question, Gather Inspiration, Generate Ideas, Make Ideas Tangible, Test to Learn, and Share the Story.
DT Frameworks - Core Activities
DT can be executed using the framework defined by David Kelley
The 3 core activities of design thinking are Inspiration, Ideation, and Implementation
The Design Thinking Process
The Design Thinking Process involves five phases in the process of solving a problem: Observe/Empathize/Research, Understand/Analyze/Define, Ideate/Alternate/Create, Build/Prototype/Detail, and Reflect/Feedback/Implement.
Observe/Empathize/Research: Identify needs and locate issues to be solved through observation and empathy.
Understand/Analyze/Define: Understand, define, and analyze the problem area.
Ideate/Alternate/Create: Come out with several alternate creative innovative solutions to the problem.
Build/Prototype/Detail: Actualize the solution by building mock-ups, creating scenarios, and then prototyping and detailing.
Reflect/Feedback/Implement: Get feedback through evaluation so that the suggestions can be implemented in the final solution.
Common Elements of Design Thinking Frameworks
The Design Thinking Frameworks share common elements:
Start with empathy
Reframe the problem
Iterate
Create and test prototypes
Employ a divergent style of thinking
Employ a convergent style of thinking
The Design Thinking Mindsets
A mindset is a characteristic mental attitude that determines how one interprets and responds to situations.
Design thinking mindsets are how individuals think, feel and express themselves during design thinking activities
Key Mindsets: Be empathetic, Be collaborative, Be optimistic, Embrace ambiguity, Be curious, Reframe, Embrace diversity, Make tangible, Take action.
Traditional Problem-solving vs. Design Thinking
Traditional Problem-solving: Designer-centered, talk about problems, existing ideas/best practices, failure is avoided.
Design Thinking: Client/user-centered, test solutions, innovate ideas, failure is how you learn.
What is Innovation
Innovation involves the implementation of something new and replacing or reframing the existing mindset.
It is about translating a concept, idea, thought, or invention into artifacts and services that create value in life.
It is the process of transforming ideas into commercial reality.
Innovation plays a major role in society. It helps us cater to the needs of people that arise from constant physical and emotional changes. It helps identify the crucial applications of technology and scientific inventions.
Invention happens once in a while, but each Invention may produce millions of Innovative Products.
Innovation is in how an invention can be used to solve problems. Hence, Design pursues Creativity of Innovation.
Creativity vs Innovation
Creativity is unleashing the potential of the mind to conceive new ideas, the "Aha! moment", a flash of insight, and coming up with an idea.
Innovation is the work required to make an idea viable. It's also about introducing change into relatively stable systems, a process like design thinking, and capitalizing on an idea.
Creativity is spending money to generate ideas, while innovation is spending ideas to generate money.
Innovation Cycle
The Innovation Cycle involves:
Allocate resources
Investigate
Ideate & Design
Build & Test
Evaluate
Experiment
Launch
Full Launch
Data Feedback Incorporation
Rapid Refine Reason
New ideas continue to evolve and refine offering
Vision of the DT & I Course
DT&I will promote socially responsible practices by enlightening students with ways to solve problems within the Sustainable Development Goals as mentioned by the United Nations.
The Design Thinking Process (Simplified)
The Design Thinking Process consists of the following stages: Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, and Test.
Stage 1: Empathize
It describes the ability to put yourself in another person’s shoes; to truly see the world through their eyes in a given context or situation.
Empathy is defined as “the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another without having the feelings, thoughts, and experience fully communicated in an objectively explicit manner.”
Importance of Empathy
In building empathy, designers can create products which truly please the user and make their lives easier.
Without this empathy, the design process lacks that all-important user-centricity which often marks the distinction between product success and failure.
Designers need to build empathy for their users in order to take the right course of action.
Empathize Phase Details
During the empathize phase, the designer spends time getting to know the user and understanding their needs, wants, and objectives.
This means observing and engaging with people in order to understand them on a psychological and emotional level.
The empathize phase requires you to set aside your assumptions.
The first step in empathizing with your users is to suspend your own view of the world around you in order to truly see it through your users’ eyes.
When it comes to Design Thinking and human-centered design, it’s time to stop guessing and start gathering real insights about the user!
Empathic Design
Empathic design caters to real user needs, rather than supposed “averages”.
One of the main objectives of the empathize stage is to identify user needs and behaviors that are latent, or unarticulated.
It’s essential for the designer to observe the user in action.
It focuses on their feelings towards a product and their motivations in certain situations.
Get answers for : Why do they behave in a certain way? Why do they prefer to do this instead of that?
Practicing Empathy
Practice Empathy in your Daily Lives
The power of facial expressions
Assume a beginner’s mindset (Listen, don’t judge!)
Pay attention to body language
Key Empathy-Building Methods
Empathy interviews: Open conversation, constantly asking “why?” (even if you think you already know the answer!), & be present and attentive.
Immersion and observation: Observe your users in action.
Extreme users: Turn to extreme users-“Extreme users’ needs are somewhat amplified. They need/want less or more of something to solve their problems. They often find workarounds to existing problems, unlike average users.”
Constant curiosity: Ask what, how, and why?
Empathy maps
Define Stage
The relationship between the empathize and define stages can best be described in terms of analysis and synthesis.
In the empathize phase, we use analysis to break down everything we observe and discover about our users into smaller, more manageable components—dividing their actions and behavior into “what”, “why” and “how” categories.
In the define stage, we piece these components back together, synthesizing our findings to create a detailed overall picture.
Define Phase Outcome
By the end of the define phase, you’ll have turned your findings from the empathize stage into a meaningful, actionable problem statement.
With your problem statement to hand, you’ll be ready to move on to the ideation phase, where you’ll turn your problem statement into “how might we” questions and generate as many potential solutions as possible.
Importance of the Define Stage
The define stage ensures you fully understand the goal of your design project.
It helps you to articulate your design problem and provides a clear-cut objective to work towards.
The point of view statement should include a specific user, a need, and an insight.
Problem Statement
A problem statement identifies the gap between the current state (i.e. the problem) and the desired state (i.e. the goal) of a process or product.
Within the design context, you can think of the user problem as an unmet need.
By designing a solution that meets this need, you can satisfy the user and ensure a pleasant user experience.
A problem statement, or point of view (POV) statement, frames this problem (or need) in a way that is actionable for designers.
It provides a clear description of the issue that the designer seeks to address, keeping the focus on the user at all times.
Continued Importance of Problem Statement
As you move through the Design Thinking process, you’ll constantly refer back to your problem statement to make sure you’re moving in the right direction.
A well-thought-out problem statement will keep you on track, help you communicate your objectives to key stakeholders, and ultimately lead you to that all-important user solution.
Ideation Phase
Ideation sessions help you to challenge assumptions, beliefs & approaches, think outside the box, and explore uncharted territory.
Ideation is the process of generating a broad set of ideas on a given topic, with no attempt to judge or evaluate them
Focus on quantity and not quality of your ideas- our main idea is to explore new angles and avenues.
For the sake of innovation and creativity, it is essential that the ideation phase is a judgment-free zone.
Preparing for Ideation
From the Empathize & Define stages-prepare a set of “How might we questions” related to the problem statement.
This helps in breaking the problem into actionable segments to work on.
A how might we indicates that a solution exists, but unsure as what it is- leaving a room for thinking laterally and innovatively.
Key Ideation Techniques
Analogies: Compare the situation with something similar- to look at the problem in a different angle- leading to plausible solutions
Bodystorming/Role play: Trying to physically experience the problem yourself.
Brainstorming
Brainwriting
Brainwalking
Challenging Assumptions: To break conventional thought process and evoke innovation.
Gamestorming
Mind mapping: visual ideation technique linking multiple ideas.
Reverse Thinking.
Recap
we’ve covered the empathize stage and the methods you can use to get to know your target audience;
the define stage, looking at how to craft a meaningful problem statement;
and the ideate stage, exploring various techniques for generating new ideas.
Now it’s time to explore the fourth stage: prototyping.
Prototype
Long story short, a prototype is an early tangible form of your ideas created to test a concept or process (Ideas brought to life).
They’re typically created to evaluate the accuracy of assumptions made by the designers in the design process.
Many designers make prototypes to test their designs before investing in the final product.
The point of a prototype is to have a tangible visual representation of the solutions discussed throughout the design process.
Having this model allows designers to validate their concepts by sharing their prototypes with users quickly - so they can resolve any concerns that might still be present.
With a simple, scaled down version of the product, the designer can observe, record, judge and measure the responses, behavior and reactions of the user.
Prototypes also encourage learning from failing, as failures are quick and cheap.
Types of Prototypes
Prototypes can vary in terms of their form, fidelity, interactivity, and lifecycle:
Form: Is it a hand-drawn prototype, or a digital one?
Fidelity: How detailed and polished is the prototype? You’ll often hear the terms high-fidelity and low-fidelity in relation to prototypes.
Interactivity: How functional is the prototype? Can the user click on it or interact with it, or is it view-only?
Lifecycle: Is the prototype a quick, disposable version that will be replaced with a new and improved version? Or is it a more enduring creation that can be built and improved upon, potentially ending up as the final product?
Prototyping and Testing
Prototyping and testing go hand in hand, so once you’ve created a prototype, you’ll need to put it in front of real users.
You’ll observe how they interact with the product in its current state and ask for feedback on how the experience feels.
Test Phase
Test: Put your prototype in front of real users and see how it fares!
The testing phase gives you the feedback and insight you need to iterate on your prototype and make improvements.
During the test phase, you’ll see how your target users interact with your prototype and gather valuable feedback.
You’ll learn where your prototype succeeds and where it needs to be improved.
The insights gathered during the testing phase will enable you to iterate on your prototype.
Why Conduct User Testing?
User testing saves time and money
User testing reveals unexpected insights
User testing improves user satisfaction
User Testing Methods
Remote vs. in-person user testing
Moderated vs. unmoderated user testing
Concept testing-Low-Fidelity Models
A/B testing (A/B testing is used to compare two different versions of a design simultaneously)
Usability testing (Usability testing is usually an observational exercise)
First-click testing (When designing an app or a website, you want to make sure that the user takes the intended action whenever they land on a certain page or screen. First-click testing shows you what your users' first steps are when they encounter an interface; in other words, where do they click first.
Tree testing (Once you’ve come up with the information architecture of your digital product, you can use tree testing to see how user-friendly it really is. You’ll present the user with a “tree” of information—representative of how your site menus would be laid out—and ask them to find specific items. If users struggle to locate certain information, you’ll need to rethink your information architecture)
Next Steps After User Testing
After a round of user tests, you’ll need to spend some time analyzing the results.
You’ll look for patterns in what you’ve observed and the feedback you received.
Your tests will either validate that something works well, or highlight issues that need to be fixed.
Either way, the insights you gather from user testing will inform your next steps.
Do you need to reiterate on the current design in order to fix a usability issue?
Did your initial concept completely fail in front of your users, sending you back to the ideation phase?
Perhaps your test users confirmed that your information architecture is extremely user friendly, meaning you’re ready to start refining the design.