Along the road to organizational success and in search of market growth, Design Thinking provides a framework for developers to incorporate a systemic methodology to problem solving and strategies, thus promoting ‘out-of-the-box thought-process’ that leads to the development of the perfect functions and applications for the right people. Here, we’re focusing on the five steps that make up the Design Thinking framework to help you get going by applying this methodology to your own agency.

The design thinking process aims to reduce the uncertainty and possibility of creativity by focusing on observations from real-world experiences rather than empirical evidence or consumer study. Design Thinking is a “Creative Problem Solving Process.” It’s a strategy, typically used in a Design Thinking workshop that everyone can start taking to fix a corporation or inventive challenge. Although there are different strategies to Design Thinking based on who demonstrates it, the method typically comes down to the following five phases. This is a non-linear mechanism that comprises five steps:

• Empathize
• Define
• Ideate
• Prototype and
• Test

Empathize

The first step of any Design Thinking initiative requires an empathetic interpretation of the issue you are attempting to address with the application of consumer and market research. This phase in the design thinking system offers us the ability to put aside our expectations and partake in the complexity of the issue that we are trying to address. This specific issue defines who would bring a valuable remedy and which specialists can help shed some light on how the problem is actually being addressed. This consumer analysis will try to define the needs and expectations of the end-user pertaining to a specific issue. The aim of this stage is for the teams behind the process to ‘become a customer,’ putting aside their own pre-existing ideas about the issue in order to address the unaddressed or unconsidered expectations of people who typically encounter it.

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Define

It is where the experiences and insights gained during the Empathize stage are compiled and evaluated to identify the main issues at hand. Like the first step, this phase aims at developing a perception that can generate a detailed understanding. As they merge the experience and expertise they have obtained, the teams seek to frame the problem in a human-centered manner and to create a defining ‘problem-statement.’ In this stage, we integrate and review the analysis to derive conclusions from the data that will help identify our problem statement and guide proposals in step three. The corresponding issue statement will be described in human-centered terminology rather than focused solely on market goals. From this one, the team goes to the third step of Design Thinking, Ideate.

Ideate

This step of the Design Thinking process is more about the generation of ideas. Here now, teams use the insights they have collected in the previous runs to shape rational ideas. The objective is to come up with as many ideas as feasible, thinking “outside the box” to identify potential alternatives to the problem-statement as described in the second stage. Embracing the mindset that ‘there are no wrong solutions’ at the beginning of this phase allows teams to participate in open imagination and extend the issue field. At the completion of the stage of ideation, the teams should have defined the best solutions for resolving the issue.

Prototype

In the fourth phase of the Design Thinking method, you transform your designs from the third stage into prototypes. A prototype is basically a scaled-down variant of a new product or service — be it a basic cardboard model or a more engaging bitmap picture. It emphasizes on creativity and provides an impetus to improve by doing so. Here, the team can generate a range of scaled-down iterations of the development project or attributes embedded inside it centered on the shortlist described during the third stage. It is necessary to remember that this step is not about reinforcing finished concepts, but about enhancing, re-examining, or dismissing ideas generated in the preceding steps on the grounds of the user interface.

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Test

The fifth and final step is a process of iteration. Here, the team checks the designs produced in the fourth step to see how well they fix the issue found throughout steps one and two. The outcomes created during this step should be used to make significant changes and modifications, and also to reframe issues and perhaps to update the perception of the users concerned.  The findings produced during this step are also used to reevaluate one or more issues, terms of usage, what and how people perceive, respond and feel, and empathize. During this process, changes and adjustments are considered in order to rule out alternative approaches so as to obtain a good, general understanding of the system and its users. The team can continue working on this step once they have the outcome they require.

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