Design Thinking

I practice Design Thinking, which is about putting the user at the center of the design process and solving problems for them. Design Thinking is really a design process with 5 iterative steps.

Empathize

The design process begins by empathizing with the user. For me, this means working to understand my users, who they are, what they do, what their needs are, and why they are using the experience my team and I am creating for them. I start here to ensure my designs are rooted in solving meaningful problems for my users in ways they will find usable, helpful, and fun.

Define

In the define stage I focus on specifying who the users are, what they need, and how they will use the product. In particular, I work with my team to define the personas that represent my users along with the use cases and user stories that describe what the users are trying to achieve. These definitions are useful as touchstones throughout the design process to keep the goal centered on users and what they want to do.

Ideate

Ideation is about generating new ideas for how to solve the problems at hand. In ideation I look for new ways of thinking, how other designers approach the same or similar problems, what lessons and ideas have I learned that are relevant to the current design, and what ideas my teammates present. Once we have a pool of ideas I try combining them together in complementary ways to reach several cohesive solutions.

Prototype

The prototype phase is about building simple versions of the cohesive solutions so that they can be tested. This phase helps me consider the specific rules and interactions that each solution will involve. I commonly find problems with the ideas in the prototype phase which we then have to reconsider and adapt to.

Test

The final phase is to test the prototypes with other people. This means testing my designs with fellow designers, team members, and especially with users. I seek real and honest feedback about what works well and what does not. With this feedback we can then revisit the ideas that need improvement and improve the design.

Iteration

Design Thinking is an iterative process, which is about revisiting and refining ideas and solutions to make them better. Human beings rarely get everything right on the first pass or with the first idea, so we practice and refine ourselves. The same goes for our designs. Seeking feedback and integrating it into the design is a critical facet to make a truly great design.

Collaboration

Design is not about me and how I think a problem is best solved. Design is about trying out ideas and discovering what the best solution is. Each person on the team brings a unique perspective, sees different complications, and offers new ideas to the team. This collaboration helps designers generate better ideas, refine the ideas of the team, challenge each other, and think about a problem from varied perspectives. Together, we can see the best path forward and figure out how best to design and implement our solution.