Design thinking, My Understanding.
According to the interaction Design Foundation(IED), design thinking is a non-linear, iterative process that teams use to understand user challenges, challenge assumption, redefine problems and create innovative solutions to prototype and test. These process according to IED involves five stages including:
- Empathize
- Define
- Ideate
- prototype
- Test
As UI Designers, we are problem solvers, therefore, it is imperative we understand this processes before diving into any project. However, keep in mind that the processes are not just restricted to UI design, but can be applicable to most and if not even all professions. “with design thinking teams have the freedom to generate Ground-breaking solutions”
Five Stages of Design Thinking
- Empathize- Research your users need:
In this stage, as a designer you should gain an empathic understanding of the problem your are trying to solve. Yes they are called problem, because the client needs a solution that is why he/she has requested for your expert skills. This stage is crucial to human centered design, because it allows you to let go of your initial assumptions about the world and gain real insight into your users needs.
2. Define — identify your users need and problems:
Based on your research from the initial stage, you analyze your observations and then define the core problem(s) you have identified. Creating personas can help you keep your efforts human-centered before proceeding to the next stage. your are designing for humans and not robots remember.
3. Ideate — idea creation
with a clear understanding of your users problems and needs, now you can move to the next stage which is idea creation, here you find solutions to the identified problem(s). One way you can use to generate ideas is BRAINSTORMING.
4. Prototype — solutions
In this stage is also known as the experimental stage, it is where you identify the best solution for the problem(s) found. In UI design we have what we call wire-frames; they could be low fidelity(paper and pencil) or high fidelity. it is advisable that in these stage you use an inexpensive mock up version of the project you are working on to explore the solutions drawn out.
5.Test — trying out your solution
Here there is rigorous testing of the prototypes drawn up, though this is the last stage, however, it is important to note that the design thinking processes are iterative, this means you can return to any of the other stages to make further iterations or corrections, refinement to find more lasting solutions.
In all, there is no sequential step to the design thinking stages, even after the final product has been released out to the public, these stages are still very much in play, they come out as regular updates to the product. Overall, to me design thinking, is the processes involved in identifying and solving users problem while maintaining a human-centered approach.