Design Thinking Process
Innovator Studio . Resources . Design Thinking Process (diagram)
As the centerpiece of DT, this diagram is generally referred to as the “design thinking process”.
This is what most people encounter when they’re introduced to DT. And, it’s a simple way to visualize what’s unique about taking a more human-centered approach to design.
Instead of starting with ideas (as we most often do), design thinking encourages us to start with “empathy” — to clarify who we’re designing for, to understand their experience & needs, and to “define” what problems/opportunities are worth focusing our creative attention on.
And then, instead of going with obvious ideas, safe ideas, or ideas we can all agree on, DT suggests that we ideate to explore all the different ways we might approach solutioning and then rely on rapid prototyping and testing to quickly learn what really works.
I like to refer to the first half of the process as “need-finding” and the second half as “solution-finding”. Indeed, the big take-away here is that DT recommends spending as much time need-finding as solution-finding.