Design Thinking

The Design Thinking process is one of the agile, iterative project management methods and consists of 5 phases: Emphasize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, Evaluate. These can also be performed several times.

In the Emphasize phase, the needs of the target group must be identified. This is done by interviewing and observing the users. The goal is to capture the target group and its needs.

In the Define phase, all observations are collected and initial patterns are identified. The goal is to answer which user needs exist and which problems need to be solved.

The core element of Design Thinking is the Ideate Phase. In this phase, as many ideas as possible should be generated according to the motto: "Quantity before quality". Finally, the ideas are summarized and evaluated.

The best ideas make it to the Prototype Phase. The goal is to make the ideas tangible for the user. These are rough drafts.

Once the prototype has been created, the most critical phase begins: Evaluate. The focus should be on the features that the user likes or dislikes and the respective argumentation.

Here are some links that can help you deepen your understanding of design thinking.

In this video the design thinking process of redesigning a shopping cart is illustrated: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M66ZU2PCIcM

You are also welcome to check out the website of ideo, the leading global design & innovation firm transforming businesses: https://designthinking.ideo.com/

Here is a design thinking use case regarding the redesign of a credit card by the Bank of America, which I found to be interesting, when I got into Design Thinking: https://thisisdesignthinking.net/2018/09/feeling-in-control-bank-of-america-helps-customers-to-keep-the-change/

Case Study for an app design: https://bootcamp.uxdesign.cc/ui-ux-case-study-designing-an-app-for-creating-healthy-routines-and-productivity-e72fa845d8d4