Design Thinking

What is Design Thinking?

In simple terms, it is a framework that puts user needs at the core of any product development.

Design thinking is an iterative process that seeks to understand your users, challenge assumptions, redefine challenges, and generate unique ideas that can be prototyped and tested. The ultimate goal is to uncover alternate techniques and answers that are not immediately obvious based on your current level of understanding.

Design thinking is more than simply a technique; it introduces a completely new way of thinking and provides a variety of hands-on methods to assist you in implementing this new attitude.

Combining the Best of Analytical and Intuitive Thinking

Design thinking falls between analytical and intuitive thinking. Analytical thinking is characterized by strictly deductive and inductive logical reasoning, which relies on quantitative approaches to reach results. In contrast, intuitive thinking refers to knowing something without recourse to logic.

These are two extreme modes of thought. Design thinking makes the best possible use of both extremes. Intuitive thinking aids in the future invention, whereas analytical thinking aids in creating something new in the present that is replicable.

Step-by-Step Approach to Design Thinking

Design thinking is a five-step process, each phase focusing on a distinct purpose. Each step is independent of the one succeeding it but is influenced by the one before it. Designers should not worry about the next step when working on one step. For example, it is not advisable to worry about solutions while the problem is being defined. Even if it makes finding a solution difficult, the problem specification must be written in depth without skipping any points. Let us look at the five steps involved in design thinking.

Empathize

At the Empathize stage, the design thinker puts themselves in the end user's shoes and attempts to comprehend the customer's wants. Many interviews, field trips, and other activities are required to acquire information on the requirements. The customer is directly involved in the design thinking process during this phase.

Define

The Define step assists in framing the problem definition after the requirements are known. Problem shaping occurs during this phase.

Ideate

During the Ideate phase, a design thinker brainstorms other people's ideas as well as their own. The ideas are not evaluated for feasibility or viability.

Prototype

During the Prototype phase, a design thinker focuses on testing ideas for practicality and viability. Unfeasible ideas are abandoned, while feasible ones are developed into prototypes. The prototype method assists the design thinker in understanding previously unseen challenges associated with an idea. This helps the team of design thinkers in developing the best prototype and determining the best solution at hand. Furthermore, the consumer is involved directly in this phase, and their feedback is crucial for design thinking.

Test

The prototype or model is shown to the customer during the Test phase, and the consumer fully experiences it on a full scale. The feedback from the end user determines whether the design thinkers' solution was fruitful or not. The entire procedure must be repeated if the end user rejects the solution. Hence the concept of iteration is crucial to the design thinking process.

Design Thinking is More Than Just Design

The word 'design' in the name Design Thinking may be misleading. Indeed, as previously said, design thinking is not just about looks and can be applied to any business — from the automotive industry to software development — and applies to all stages of product development. As an example, consider the software development process. Design thinking can be utilized at any level of the software development lifecycle (planning, development, testing, and so on), including design.

Moving ahead, let us understand the significance of design thinking in the context of software product design and development.

Design Thinking for Software Design

Taking the example of UI design, design thinking at the software design stage allows companies to avoid various problems like the user not being able to locate a button or the user having to spend a lot of time finding a required functionality, etc.

When you have a good understanding of the user problem (the define stage), you may propose a few solutions to this problem (the ideate step), then choose the best one and build the greatest possible design for all product elements. Consequently, end consumers are not confused when using your product and eventually become committed customers.

On the other hand, design thinking is a strong tool that allows businesses to push customers to do what they want through particular design.

Design Thinking for Software Development

Consider design thinking at the next stage of the software development lifecycle – development itself. Consider the development of a mobile shopping app as an example. In small teams, if there are no UX designers or business analysts, firm owners or software developers take on these roles. To create a high-quality product, they delve deeply into customer concerns and examine each feature through the eyes of the users. Developers employ the design thinking approach to get through all stages, from empathy to testing, and seek to give users a solution that makes product searching on the shopping app as quick and easy as possible. They meticulously evaluate all elements, arrange them rationally, and go out of their way to make the client journey as pleasant as possible.

Benefits of Design Thinking for Software Development

Many products in the IT business require trials and proof of concept. Instead of simply deploying technologies, the sector must sympathize with its users. IT is about more than just technology or goods; it is also about processes. The developers, analysts, consultants, and managers must brainstorm potential solutions to the client's problems. This is when design thinking comes in handy.

Some key advantages that design thinking brings to the table are:

• Feasibility check: Design thinking allows software development organizations to assess the feasibility of a future product's functionality early on. It enables them to keep end-user needs in mind while clearly specifying all requirements and translating all of this into product features.
• No surprises: The team can confidently and securely continue with product development after testing the MVP and gathering user input. You can be certain that there will be very little variation between the approved concept and the final version.
• Clarity and transparency: The design thinking method enables software developers to identify and clearly comprehend the end goals and issues and have a thorough picture of the solution they should ultimately deliver.
• Continuous improvement: When consumer feedback is available, the product can (and sometimes should) be updated after its initial release. Now you can see which features function and which do not, how the product may be improved, and what ideas should be implemented. This allows for ongoing improvement, making the software development process more adaptable and fluid.