Design Thinking is an approach to problem solving that engages a person to understand and empathize with user needs, identifying/re-defining problems, brainstorming ideas, and test those ideas using prototypes to learn and iterate towards the best solution for the users.
There are 5-steps in the Design Thinking Process, which consist of:
- Empathy
- Define
- Ideate
- Prototype
- Test
Getting the Right Insights through Empathy
Observe real users
- Observing helps with understanding how they think, feel, and make decisions.
- “What?” focuses on understanding actions, behaviors, and characteristics
- “How” looks into the process of how users accomplish their goals
- “Why” uncovers motivations, emotions, and values that drive user behavior
Conducting video based studies in the user’s natural environment
- Helps uncover usability issues that may not happen in artificial testing environments, involving real-world constraints such as distractions.
- Most importantly, usability testing helps the designer gain insights into their workflow, decision-making process, and pain points
- Ensures the design solutions are within the users’ needs and context
Customer Journey Map
- The goal of a journey map is to gain an understanding of how a user engages with a product. It captures the perspectives, emotions, and motivations at different stages of their journey.
- The goal of a journey map is to gain an understanding of how a user engages with a product. It captures the perspectives, emotions, and motivations at different stages of their journey.
Establishing Personas
- After learning more about your users, you can create accurate profiles of users for your product.