5 Stages of the Design Thinking Process
Design thinking process is a way to solve problems through several steps, from understanding a problem to finding the solution.
These stages are not just random steps that happen, but a process that happens in order to produce a viable solution.
According to Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Standford, the design thinking process comprises five stages: empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and test.
This series of steps can apply to many different problems and situations, but they work especially well when applied to innovation projects.
1. Empathize
The first stage of design thinking is to empathize with the problem and to understand the root cause. Design thinking framework requires you to focus on empathy and needs of the people.
During this stage, you will think about the problem and understanding what is going on.
The people behind the problem — the customers, employees, and any other group that is involved — need to be considered at this stage.
Gather significant insights about users. This will help to make the final product more relevant for a particular group of people.
2. Define
Once you have understood what exactly is happening in your project, it is time to define the problem. Different from empathize stage, define stage requires you to specify the problem and clarify the root cause.
Clarifying the root cause of the problem using a design thinking approach is a step towards understanding the problem.
You need to come up with a clear definition of the problem so that you can understand how to solve it. Consider all feasible solutions, analyze their pros and cons, and choose one of them as the final solution.
3. Ideate
In this stage, you have to be creative and innovative as you will create ideas on how you can solve the problem effectively.
The nature of design thinking requires you to come up with new and alternative solutions on how to solve the problem. The intended solutions are not just random, but they should be innovative, creative, and useful.
Your target users will be your guide in this stage, and their needs will be very helpful in coming up with creative solutions that are useful and efficient.
4. Prototype
Before going into user testing, you should already have a prototype of the final product.
A prototype is just a mock-up of your product and it should be in a form of a working prototype or in an early design phase.
Since you’re still experimenting, you can use any prototype as a testing tool for your product.
You can begin with a paper prototype and then move on to the finished product.
A prototype helps to validate your ideas and identify potential problems before you move into user testing. This stage also helps to identify and test the best ideas to solve the problem.
5. Test
In the final stage, you will do a test to see how effective your prototype is in solving the problem at hand. You will also do it on a larger scale to check if there are any issues that need to be fixed.
Whether it’s user experience, usability, or design, you will test everything to check the product’s effectiveness. This is also the stage where you can see whether your idea has the potential to develop further or not.
If you have come up with a great idea and the problem seems to be solvable, it’s time to move on to the next step.
However, if there are some issues with your prototype or product, it’s time to figure out how to fix them before moving forward.
This process is similar to how a company like Google works on products like Gmail, Chrome browser, and Android mobile operating system.
They iterate on their products and make them better through several stages of user testing.
Mastering Design Thinking Stages
This five-step process of design thinking can apply to any problem-solving scenario.
Following the principles of design thinking can help you find solutions to the problem in a better way. Also, it will definitely help you develop your product or service better.
In fact, this human-centered design thinking process helps you to find the right idea that works for the target audience and comes up with an insightful design and solution.
While doing this process, you should always think of your target audience and how they can use your product or service best.
The target audience will determine how effective your product or service is in solving their problem and how they can use it to get their desired results.
About the Author
I hope that my post has helped you know more about Design Thinking Process. Feel free to leave a comment and tag me and I will answer them. Follow my profile to get the latest content I post to stay ahead of the curve.
I am the Founder of Cudy Technologies, a full-stack EdTech startup helping teachers and students learn better. I am also a mentor and angel investor in other Startups of my other interests (Proptech, Fintech, HRtech, Ride-hailing, C2C marketplaces, and SaaS). You can also find me on Cudy for early-stage Startup Founder mentorship and advice.
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