What is Design Thinking?
Design thinking has been a buzzword for several years now, and for good reason! It is a work method that combines collective intelligence and creativity, a powerful cocktail for fostering innovation!
You might be wondering:
What is design thinking? What is its purpose? What are its origins?
What are the key steps? What are its advantages?
I answer all these questions in this article.
Definition, objective, and origin of design thinking
By definition, design thinking is a work method that helps find an innovative solution to a problem through co-design.
This work method has several objectives:
- Promote teamwork by leveraging collective intelligence
- Create cohesion within a team or company
- Find an innovative solution quickly
But let’s delve a bit into the history of design thinking…
In the 1950s, American advertiser Alex Osborn developed the brainstorming technique, marking the birth of design thinking.
In the 1960s, the first interdepartmental program was created at Stanford University. This human-centered program aimed to have its members reflect on various challenges.
In the 1970s, Robert H. McKim published « Experiences in Visual Thinking, » where he developed the different precepts of design thinking.
In 1992, David Kelley and Tim Brown of the design agency IDEO introduced a new way to solve problems. They were the first to truly use design thinking for innovation.
For several years now, design thinking has gained traction in France and is increasingly used. This method is widely employed in the startup universe.
But do you know the key steps of this method?
What are the key steps?
Design thinking is divided into five main steps: immersion, problem definition, ideation, prototyping, and testing.
The very first step is the immersion or research phase. This is a fundamental step in the successful execution of this process. Indeed, you will immerse yourself in the daily lives of your users to understand their needs, expectations, and, most importantly, the obstacles they face daily—the pain points. You will also gain insight into their living and working environment, daily routines, and habits. All this information will be invaluable for the rest of the reflection process.
Once the research phase is complete, you can define your problem statement. It will guide you through the next phase and help you find solutions.
During the ideation phase, you will generate as many ideas as possible while keeping your problem statement in mind. You work alone and then in a group, allowing the magic of collective intelligence to operate. According to Tim Brown, for an idea to be valid, it must meet three criteria:
- Desirability: Does it align with the desires and expectations of users/consumers/clients? (human and values sector)
- Feasibility: Is it useful and feasible given the context? (technological aspect)
- Viability: Is it likely to endure considering the economic model? (business domain)
Now that you have chosen the most suitable solution, it can come to life: this is the prototyping phase. You will embark on the creation and design of your product.
A small piece of advice: don’t get too attached to your prototype, as it may need to be destroyed or thrown away after testing…
The moment of truth has arrived: test your prototype!
Through this final step, you will determine if your solution effectively addresses the identified problem and meets the needs of your users.
If you identify issues, blockages, or significant problems with your solution, you will return to one of the previous steps, repeat the process, and iterate until you find the best possible solution.
What are the advantages?
It promotes a work method that combines co-design and collaborative work. By extension, it fosters cohesion within teams or between different departments of a company that are not used to working together and have different expertise and work methods. Thus, everyone’s work is valued, increasing individual involvement.
It encourages continuous questioning and proposing frequent innovations, such as adding new features to mobile apps. This allows for quick adaptation to a rapidly evolving market.
By using low-fidelity prototypes, it helps reduce financial costs while quickly identifying dead ends or errors and correcting them just as quickly.
Finally, it places the user at the center of the reflection. This encourages companies to work with more empathy. They try to put themselves in their users’ shoes, understand them better, and thus offer a memorable and impactful user experience.
Discover also the complete lexicon of UX/UI designers.