Design thinking. Stages, examples, application in practice

Design thinking is a methodology for inventing new things and improving old ones, as well as a principle of thinking that focuses on human needs.

The main goal is to go beyond the existing stereotypes and usual ways of solving a problem.

In the original, it is called thinking outside the box - literally, “thinking outside the box”.

History of origin

Design thinking originated in the 1960s as an approach to solving problems in the field of design. Its foundations were laid at Stanford University by professors David Kelly and Bill Moggridge, who later founded the world-famous IDEO company.

In the 1990s, design thinking became popular thanks to the work of Tim Brown, who made this approach accessible to a wide range of professionals. range of professionals. Today, design thinking is actively used not only in design, but also in business, education, and other areas to create innovative user-oriented products and services.

Design thinking in UX/UI design

In UX/UI design, this methodology allows you to create interfaces that are primarily user-centered.

The design thinking process begins with a deep understanding of user needs and problems. The main stages of design thinking include empathy, problem definition, idea generation, prototyping, and testing.

Empathy helps designers better understand the real needs of users, which allows them to create more effective solutions. Prototyping and testing make it possible to quickly test ideas and make the necessary changes. I will describe each stage in detail in the next section.

In general, design thinking fosters innovation and ensures a high level of user satisfaction, because products created in this way products are more convenient, intuitive, and useful.

Main stages

The main stages of the problem-solving process using design thinking consist of five stages:

Empathy

is the ability to get involved in the feelings and experiences of other people, to understand what really worries them. This is the main quality of design thinking, because it allows you to step back from your assumptions and beliefs and look at the problem through the eyes of the user. A true designer is an empath. They look for the most comfortable solution.

Focus -

is a systematization of the information we received through empathy. We analyze the observations and identify the key problems of the user. The purpose of focusing is to formulate a question that you will look for an answer to in the next stage.

Idea generation -

is when we’ve identified the user’s problem, it’s time to come up with out-of-the-box solutions. Give up critical thinking. Criticism can ruin a good idea. Write down everything, even the most ridiculous thoughts. When the creative process is over, we select viable ideas and move on to the next stage.

Prototyping

Here, the task is to test the feasibility of ideas in practice. It is enough to create a budget version of the product with features that that will help solve the problem. If successful, prototyping will help you find the right solution, identify shortcomings, finalize and create a product. In case of failure, it will help to refute the hypothesis, save time and money. If the prototype is successful, move on to the next stage. If not, try to redefine the problem.

Testing

testing the finished product and the best solutions developed during prototyping. This is the final stage, but design thinking - is an iterative process. Next, we use the test results to identify and solve other problems. This can be done with the help of customer feedback.

None of the design areas requires such a deep immersion into the client’s world as UI/UX design. To create a convenient and practical product, you need to understand the user’s pains and fears. Design thinking is all about that.

What does the design thinking methodology allow you to create?

• Focus on User Experience A company that creates and sells online courses used design thinking to improve the user experience on its their website. They started with an in-depth analysis of user journeys, identifying where problems and obstacles occurred.

Through empathy and research, the team realized that users needed more intuitive navigation and personalized and personalized recommendations. As a result, a new design was created that included a responsive interface, easy registration, and individualized course recommendations based on previous user actions. This significantly increased user satisfaction and retention.

• Focus on creativity A food manufacturer decided to use design thinking to create new packaging that would attract attention and provide a better experience for consumers. They held creative thinking workshops where the team generated a lot of ideas, without being limited to traditional approaches.

After that, several prototypes of new packaging were created, which were then tested by consumers. The result was innovative, environmentally friendly packaging with interactive elements that stood out on store shelves and provided ease of use.

• Focus on teamwork A large technology company decided to develop a new product using design thinking with a focus on teamwork. They organized cross-functional teams that included designers, engineers, marketers, and customer service representatives.

The team worked together to research user needs, generate ideas, and create prototypes. Each stage of the project was accompanied by joint feedback sessions and brainstorming sessions, which facilitated effective collaboration and integration of different points of view. This allowed us to create a product that met market needs and was of high quality thanks to the joint efforts of the team.

Examples

Sphere: Online banking

Many banks are using design thinking to improve their online platforms. For example, one of the world’s leading financial institution found that users often have difficulty navigating and understanding banking services.

Using empathy, the design team conducted numerous interviews and observations to understand the users’ problems. Based on the data collected, they created several prototypes of new interfaces and tested them with users. The result was a user-friendly and intuitive interface that significantly improved the user experience and reduced the number of to the support team.

Sphere: Healthcare

A medical company specializing in telemedicine has used design thinking to create an application that allows patients to receive online medical consultations.

The team began by researching the needs of patients and doctors, identifying key issues such as the difficulty of making an appointment and appointments and lack of awareness of health conditions.

They created prototypes of the app that included a user-friendly interface for making appointments, integration with medical records and a video consultation feature. After testing and collecting feedback, the application was improved, which significantly increase the level of user satisfaction and the efficiency of medical consultations.

Instead of a conclusion

Design thinking is a powerful tool in UX/UI that allows you to create innovative and user-centered products.

By using empathy, design teams can gain a deeper understanding of their users’ needs and problems, which allows them to to develop more effective and intuitive solutions.

Creativity and continuous prototyping provide the ability to quickly test new ideas and improve products in the early stages of development.

Thanks to these advantages, design thinking helps companies not only meet the needs of their users, but also stay competitive in the market, constantly innovate. competitive in the market by constantly innovating and improving the user experience.