Design Thinking

• It is a repetitive process in which we try to get to know the end-users/ customers.
• Sometimes, we need to redefine the problem to understand it wholly and come up with the solutions.
• Design thinking involves five primary stages:

Stage 1: Empathize

• Research your user’s needs.
• Interview them asking questions about their needs.
• Get to know them better.

Stage 2: Define- State your user’s needs and problems

• Accumulate all the information you gathered during stage 1.
• Understand and analyze the issues.
• Redefine and breakdown the problem into several parts if necessary.

Stage 3: Ideate- Challenge assumptions and create ideas

• Start thinking out of the box.
• Look at the issues from different perspectives.
• Brainstorming

Stage 4: Prototype- Start to create solutions

• Explore ideas and come up with as many answers as you can.
• This is an experimental process where you can implement your ideas.
• This step is crucial as you develop a solid foundation and give your user a clearer picture of potential benefits, risks, and costs.

Stage 5: Test- Trying out your solutions

• This is a trial and error phase.
• In this step, you try out all the solutions you have come up with in the above steps and filter out the best ones.

The 4 questions that we need to ask ourselves

What is?- Exploring the current reality

What if?- Envisioning the alternative futures

What wows?- Getting users to help us make some tough choices

What works?- Making it work (market/ business, etc.)

How to understand your customers’ needs?

• It would be best if you have a deep sense of interest in developing an understanding.
• Empathize with them.