Design thinking is regarded as a holy grail of innovation, and a great remedy to stagnation. It is credited with exceptional feats, such as transforming Airbnb from a failed startup to a successful business. It is a concept which has become increasingly difficult to ignore, and still, despite such great success stories, it is a concept which continues to be more shrouded in mystery. Enough of such abstract descriptions and vague definitions. Today, we are here to describe design thinking and how to apply it.
What Exactly is Design Thinking?
Design thinking is a procedure that involves problem-solving by preferring consumer needs above anything else. It depends on observing how people communicate with their environments, and includes a hands-on and iterative technique to establish innovative solutions.
Design thinking is a human-focused approach which means that it uses evidence of how people actually interact with a service or product, instead of how someone else or a company thinks they would interact with it. In order to be completely human-centered, designers observe how consumers use a service or product to refine the service or product to enhance the experience of consumers. It can be called the iterative part of design thinking. It prefers moving rapidly to get prototypes out to test, instead of endless rumination or research.
Contrary to traditional problem-solving, which is a procedure of identifying an issue and then brainstorming solutions, design thinking can work only if it is iterative. It does not mean getting to a single solution, but it is more of a way to evolve your thinking and interact with consumers to respond to their needs.
How to Apply Design Thinking?
1. Empathize
At first, a designer observes consumers to get a deeper understanding of how they communicate with or are impacted by a problem or a product. The observations should happen with empathy that means withholding judgment and not imparting notions of needs of customers.
2. Define
Secondly, you collect your observations from the initial stage to determine the problem you are trying to resolve. Think about the hardships your customers are brushing up against, what you have gleaned from how they are impacted by the problem, and what they struggle with.
3. Ideate
The third step is to brainstorm ideas regarding solving the problem you have identified. Such ideation sessions might be in a group, where your staff gathers in an office space that motivates collaboration and creativity, an innovation lab, or might be done solo.
4. Prototype
It is a stage where you turn ideas into a real solution. Prototypes aren’t meant to be ideal. The point of a prototype might come out quickly with a concrete version of the idea to identify how it is accepted by the customers.
5. Test
After giving a prototyped solution to customers, you should observe how they communicate with it. This testing phase is the one in which you gather feedback on your work. Nippy Brands can help you with design thinking and applying it in a perfect manner. Get in touch with us today!