What is Design Thinking?
Design thinking is an innovative approach to problem-solving. It is different from the traditional approach of starting with business needs to creating a solution that achieves a business objective and, instead, starts with the needs and preferences of the people.
The traditional approach creates a basic misunderstanding; the solution is developed without the full scope of the user’s needs, whereas Design Thinking offers a better way to understand the multidisciplinary, systemic problems of contemporary businesses. It is a widely used approach or tool among engineers, artists, and managers, which is described as a non-linear, iterative process that focuses on the human element, developing feasible and marketable options. Some of the top design colleges in Nashik are offering programs in diverse fields of design to boost the scope of design thinking approaches in the future.
The Five Phases of Design Thinking
While the name may imply a purely design or artistic process, Design Thinking is primarily a problem-solving approach. It relies on observation rather than presumption. Focusing the analysis of the problem rather than a predetermined solution that creates a better understanding of the problem. The five-phases Design Thinking are as follows:
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Empathy in Design Thinking
The first stage of the Design Thinking Process is called Empathy. In the business world, there is a tendency to look at metrics such as falling sales or rising user engagement and attribute the ‘why’ to the qualitative metrics. To figure out the ‘why’ of the user engagement, qualitative data is needed. This is also important to answer the ‘why’ questions of the metric data.
Let us look at this example. The founder of OXO, Sam Farber, observed his wife, who had mild arthritis, was struggling to use a standard metal vegetable peeler, which was thin, slippery, and painful for her to grip. Here, he used the Empathic approach and instead of designing for the “average” user, he designed it for the “extreme” user (someone with limited mobility) and tested hundreds of prototypes with people who had hand pain or grip issues. As a result, he could create a peeler with a thick, oval-shaped, non-slip rubber handle that absorbed pressure. Thus, he designed a product that was more comfortable for everyone, eventually becoming a kitchen essential.
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Define: Framing the Right Problem
This stage involves recording, analysing the observations, and user feedback into a clear problem statement. This is a pivotal process for framing the problem accurately. One must come up with the problem statement from the perspective of the users.
Companies frequently omit this stage in favour of immediate execution, which leads to the failure of initiatives. A well-defined problem requires information to accelerate the ordering process. It provides a room for creativity and narrows down the focus.
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Ideate: Generating Creative Solutions
Once the problem has been clearly defined, the next step in the process is ideation. Producing many possible solutions is the goal of this phase. A team can use different techniques like brainstorming, brainwriting, SCAMPER (substitute, combine, adapt, modify, put to another use, eliminate and reverse) to generate multiple ideas.
Design Thinking promotes validating every option, even if that doesn’t seem feasible at first. This strategy is based on knowledge and innovative concepts. Teams can find innovative solutions by expanding the scope of their enquiry, which would take a perfectionist approach.
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Prototype: From Idea to Model
Prototyping is the next step in the process of Design Thinking. It is a process of converting an abstract idea into a concrete idea. A team or an individual can make either low fidelity or high-fidelity models. A low fidelity model can be made using sketch boards or wireframes, whereas high-fidelity models can be made using digital tools like 3D printing, adobe XD. The goal of the phase is to quickly and affordably build a preliminary model rather than devoting extensive resources to a finished product.
The prototype has three aspects: low cost, validity and fidelity. Rapid prototyping reduces long-term risk by enabling early failure when the cost of error is minimal.
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Test: Iteration Based on User Feedback
It is the last stage of Design Thinking. The prototype must be tested on the real users so that their feedback can be observed. At this point, the designer’s job is limited to observation; the product must be able to stand alone without assistance from salespeople or explanations.
Important user interactions provide experiential evidence. This feedback is very helpful if a user is having trouble in handling an interface or misunderstanding about a feature. By pointing out design errors and communication breakdowns, it helps the team to go back to earlier Ideating or Prototyping phases and improve the final product. This cycle of iteration assurances that the final implementation is founded on verified user behaviour rather than speculation.
Conclusion
Design Thinking is a strategic tool that can be applied to any complex system that needs to be improved; it is not just for designers. It is useful for developing organisational culture, managing the home, and designing educational curricula for programs like B.Des in Product Design. It recognises complexity and eliminates cognitive bias, which makes it effective. Design Thinking guarantees that solutions are not only technically possible but also profoundly in alignment with the needs of people.