Hi, I'm Rebecca and I'll be your digital host for the Interaction Design Foundation's blog post onThe 5 Stages in the Design Thinking Process, written by Rikke Friis Dam.
Design thinking is a methodology that provides a solution-based approach to solving problems. It’s extremely useful when tackling complex problems that are ill-defined or unknown because it serves to understand human needs, reframe the problem in human-centric ways, create numerous ideas in brainstorming sessions, and adopt a hands-on approach to prototyping and testing. By applying the five stages of design thinking, you'll be empowered to solve complex problems that occur in our companies, our countries, and across the world.
Design thinking is a non-linear, iterative process that can have anywhere from three to seven phases, depending on whom you talk to. We focus on the five-stage design thinking model proposed by the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford, also known as the d.school, because they are world-renowned for the way they teach and apply design thinking.
The five stages of design thinking, according to the d.school, are: Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, and Test.
Let's dive into each stage of the design thinking process.
First, there's Empathize. This stage focuses on user-centric research to gain an empathic understanding of the problem you're trying to solve. You consult experts, conduct observations, and immerse yourself in your users’ physical environment to gain a deeper, personal understanding of the issues involved, as well as their experiences and motivations. Empathy is crucial because it allows design thinkers to set aside their own assumptions about the world and gain real insight into users and their needs. The main aim of the Empathize stage is to develop the best possible understanding of your users, their needs, and the problems that underlie the development of the product or service you want to create.
Next is Define. In this stage, you organize the information gathered during the Empathize stage. You analyze your observations to define the core problems you and your team have identified. Defining the problem and problem statement must be done in a human-centered manner. For example, instead of defining the problem as your own need, you should pitch the problem statement from your perception of the users’ needs. The Define stage helps the design team collect great ideas to establish features, functions, and other elements to solve the problem at hand. You start to progress to the third stage, ideation, by asking questions to help you look for solutions.
The third stage is Ideate. Here, designers are ready to generate ideas. You've grown to understand your users and their needs in the Empathize stage, and you've analyzed your observations in the Define stage to create a user-centric problem statement. With this solid background, you and your team can start to look at the problem from different perspectives and ideate innovative solutions. There are hundreds of ideation techniques, such as Brainstorm, Brainwrite, Worst Possible Idea, and SCAMPER. These techniques are used to stimulate free thinking and expand the problem space, allowing you to generate as many ideas as possible.
In the fourth stage, Prototype, the design team produces a number of inexpensive, scaled-down versions of the product to investigate the key solutions generated in the ideation phase. These prototypes can be shared and tested within the team, in other departments, or on a small group of people outside the design team. This experimental phase aims to identify the best possible solution for each of the problems identified during the first three stages. The solutions are implemented within the prototypes and are then investigated and either accepted, improved, or rejected based on users’ experiences. By the end of the Prototype stage, the design team will have a better idea of the product’s limitations and problems and a clearer view of how real users would interact with the end product.
Finally, we reach the Test stage. Here, designers or evaluators rigorously test the complete product using the best solutions identified in the Prototype stage. Although this is the final stage of the five-stage model, the results generated often lead to redefining one or more problems, helping you investigate the conditions of use and how people think, behave, and feel towards the product. This iterative process allows for further iterations, alterations, and refinements to rule out alternative solutions, with the ultimate goal being to gain as deep an understanding of the product and its users as possible.
Design thinking is a non-linear process, meaning the stages identified should serve as a guide to the activities you carry out. The stages might be switched, conducted concurrently, or repeated several times to gain the most informative insights about your users, expand the solution space, and hone in on innovative solutions. This creates a perpetual loop, allowing designers to continuously gain new insights, develop new ways to view the product or service, and gain a far more profound understanding of their real users and the problems they face.
In summary, design thinking is an iterative, non-linear process that focuses on collaboration between designers and users, bringing innovative solutions to life based on how real users think, feel, and behave. This human-centered design process consists of five core stages: Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, and Test. These stages are a guide, and their iterative, non-linear nature allows you and your design team to carry them out simultaneously, repeat them, and even circle back to previous stages at any point in the design thinking process.
By understanding and applying these stages, you can effectively tackle complex problems and create innovative, user-centered solutions.
Take our Design Thinking course to learn how you can apply design thinking methods throughout a design thinking process.
return
