An Introduction to
Design Thinking
Empathize
Define
Ideate
Prototype
Test
WHAT is the Empathize mode?
WHY empathize?
is to understand people, the way they
do things and why, their physical and
emotional needs.
We need to learn to see things
“with a fresh set of eyes,” and
empathizing is what gives us
those new eyes.
The stories that people tell and the
things that people say they do—even
if they are different from what
they actually do.
WHAT is the Define mode?
WHY define?
is to craft a meaningful and actionable
problem statement – this is what we
call a point-of-view. focused in
insights
needs
of a particular user.
The Define mode is sensemaking.
is an endeavor to synthesize your
scattered findings into powerful
insights. It is this synthesis
of your empathy
WHAT is the Ideate mode?
WHY ideate?
in which you concentrate on idea generation.
Ideation is your chance to combine the understanding you have of the problem space and people you are designing for with your imagination to generate solution concepts.
WHAT is the
Prototype mode?
Testing is another opportunity to understand your user, but unlike your initial empathy mode, you have now likely done more framing of the problem and created prototypes to test.
WHAT is the
Prototype mode?
A prototype can be anything that a user can interact with – be it a wall of post-it notes, a gadget you put together, a role-playing activity, or even a storyboard. Ideally you bias toward something a user can experience
WHY prototype?
To ideate and problem-solve.
To communicate.
To test possibilities.
To start a conversation.
To fail quickly and cheaply.
To manage the solution-building process.
WHY test?
To refine prototypes and solutions.
To learn more about your user.
To refine your POV.