Design Thinking

When to start a Design Thinking project?

The best time to start a Design Thinking project is once you have a well defined innovation strategy by means of an innovation roadmap. Therefore you make sure to develop the right products at the right time, and also meet market demands at the right time. The roadmap is a lookout into 5-10 years into the future and at success patterns from the past, while a Design Thinking project helps to create future value by looking at needs and problems of the near future (1-3 years).

Why Design Thinking?

Design Thinking places the user and his/her needs in the center of their existence, and help him or her to improve something in their life.

Design Thinking helps to create products that are surprisingly simple for the user and help to get a certain job done.

Design Thinking Speeds up the product development process. A great prototype can be done very quickly.

The Design Thinking process helps to unleash the creative potential of your colleagues and employes.

Design Thinking is a interdisciplinary approach, that integrates perspectives from many stakeholders to create better products and services.

We accept the uncertainty that arises in complex environments and take active action to resolve it. Design Thinking helps to take rapid action through the process.

Real user insights

Design Thinking always places the user and his or her problems in the center. Therefore the first step of the process is to step into the users shoes, and get insights of the users daily life to uncover problems and needs. Through that it can be assured that the development of ideas and prototypes focuses on generating value for the user.

Quick realization of ideas

Due to the iterative design process, the ideas pass through the project steps at a very high speed. With everyday materials, an idea becomes a prototype. A prototype is tested with users fast and feedback is incorporated immediately to the improve the prototype. Users feedback can also lead to start over with the generation of new ideas.

Less spendings

Due to the iterative and agile process of the Design Thinking method the process requires less time and cost than most innovation projects. It follows the principle of failing as early and often as possible, to get a better solution fast. Through that, sunk costs can be reduced compared to linear processes, since a failing direction is corrected and adjusted early, before costs arise that can not be recovered later.

Empathize

Conduct research to develop and understanding of the market and the people within

In the first phase of the Design Thinking project we deal with the target group and their needs and problems. We try to understand the overall context of the problem, and the market they are in. The following 6 - key questions are suitable for this. Data is collected and user personas are created.

Who? Why? What? When? Where? How?

Observe

In the second phase we get to know the customer in detail. We now know where to look and whom to talk to. We observe, interview, walk in the customers shoes, or experience a day with him or her. We build empathy for their problems and learn to understand them better. We deal intensively with their:

Activities
Surrounding
Interactions with systems or others
Objects he uses
Stakeholders who have an influence
Pains and needs

We document the observations with Customer Journeys, Vision Boards, Mood Boards, Empathy Maps, Mind Maps and photos & videos.

Define

Specify the problem you want to solve

In the third phase we bring the collected results together, and all team members to a level of knowledge. Based on the collected interpreted results, we define the problem and phrase the challenge in a "How-Might-We..." question.

Ideate

Generate a range of crazy, creative ideas and possible solutions

In the Ideate phase, we create a large amount of ideas using proven creativity methods. These ideas are clustered with different evaluation methods and the best ones are selected. In this phase, advanced users can be involved.

Prototype

Build real, tactile representations for a range of your ideas

The ideas created and selected in Phase 4 are translated into prototypes as quickly as possible. The aim of these prototypes is to present the concept as simply as possible and to make it tangible for the user. The prototypes serve as a basis for the test phase. The more the better. The first prototype is never the best! Kill your darlings.

Prototypes can be detailed sketches, explanatory videos, played scenes, renderings or cardboard constructions.

Test

Return to your users for feedback

In the fifth phase the user is strongly involved again. The prototypes are tested as quickly and easily as possible in the right target group. User feedback is immediately incorporated into the improvement of the prototype. In the first step, testing is qualitative testing. It is not uncommon for the first prototype to be discarded and the teams to restart.

Pilot

Put the vision into effect

As soon as an idea has proven to be promising in the test phase, the pilot phase starts. A small target group is selected or geographically defined and the idea is launched and tested as the first purchasable prototype. Market acceptance is put to the test, as are further suggestions for improvement.

An example of a product pilot is a one-product online shop that is advertised in a small geographical region.

An example of a service pilot could be Car-Sharing that starts in just one city.

Service Design improves the experience of users and employees by designing, aligning and streamlining a company's operations to better support customer journeys.