Design Thinking Process

Ford Institute Design Thinking

STAGE 1: EMPATHY
Empathy - a process for uncovering or understanding the problem beyond surface appearances by
studying those who are affected by the problem. Designers uncover key needs by interviewing and
observing the people whose needs much be met.
During the Empathy stage you:
*Build Empathy for who people are and what they value.
*Go beyond your assumption, seek understanding and insights.
*Uncover essential needs, expect surprise insights.
Getting Started: Do something to begin moving beyond your assumptions to uncover what users need.
How might you do this? Ask questions? Gathering information? Observing users?
Goal - To start seeing the user and their needs differently than when you started. New insights or
surprises are often a part of this phase.

STAGE 2: DEFINE
DefiNE- a process for narrowing down the problem to a clear and simple definition that results in an
accurate shared understanding of the problem that designers will address.
The goal of this phase is to come up with at least one actionable problem statement, often referred
to as point of view (POV), that focuses on the insights that you uncovered in the Empathy phase.
During the Defining stage you:
*Bring the problem into focus.
*Develop a problem statement that focuses on specific
users and their needs and frames your design actions
-What exactly is the problem?
-WHo are we targeting or benefiting?
-Why is this issue important?
Getting Started: Taking your insights and understanding from the Empathy phase, do you know enough to
start drafting a design challenge?
Goal: To have an unambiguous challenge statement that will serve as a common ground for your
challenge team.

STAGE 3: IDEATE
Ideating - Collective idea making that harnesses divergent thinking, creates synergies from the ideas of
others, and results in ideas that can be made into solutions.
During the Ideating Stage you:
*Move beyond obvious solutions
*Strive to create a high volume of solutions and a high diversity of solutions
*Harness and build on the collective ideas of your team
Getting Started: One method to generate ideas is to individually write them down then discuss them with
your group. You may want to group related ideas and themes that emerge.
Goal: Have a diverse suite of solutions that you can choose from to prototype.

STAGE 3: IDEATE
BRAINSTORMING GUIDELINES
There are several guidelines that will make your brainstorming session focused, effective and fun.
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Defer judgement - There are no bad ideas at this point. There will be plenty of time to narrow
them down later.
Encourage wild ideas - Even if an idea doesnt seem realistic, it may spark a great idea for someone
else.
Build on the ideas of others - Think and rather than but.
Stay focused on the topic - To get more out of your session, keep your brainstorm question in
sight.
One conversation at a time - All ideas need to be heard so that they may be built upon.
Be Visual - Draw your idea as opposed to just writing it down. Stick figures and simple sketches can
say more than words.
Go for quantity - Set an outrageous goal, then surpass it. The best way to find one good idea is to
to come up with lots of ideas.

STAGE 4: PROTOTYPE
Prototype - a process for building to think - creating a prototype and learning from how it:
*interacts with the environment
*affects the needs it was designed to meet
*requires adjustment or reconceptualization in order to meet needs
During the prototyping stage you:
*Move your ideas out of your head and into the physical world
*Start with rough and rapid prototypes to gather information and learn quickly
*Build to think - expecting the learning and insights that come with the lingering in the problem space
Getting Started - Did new ideas occur to you over lunch/last night/breakfast? Include those, then start
to decide what solutions your group will prototype.
Goal - You will have created something that takes a physical formbe it a wall of post-it notes, a
role-playing activity, an object, an interface, or even a story boardthat enables your team and/or the
users to experience and interact with the solution.

STAGE 4: PROTOTYPE
MAKING PROTOTYPES
Prototypes enable you to share your idea with other people and discuss how to further refine it. You
can prototype just about anything. Choose the form that suits your ideas best:
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CREATE A STORYBOARD - Visualize the complete experience of your idea over time through a series of
sketches, cartoons, or even just text blocks. Stick figures are great - you dont need to be an artist. Use PostIt Notes or an individual sheet of paper to create a storyboard so that you can rearrange the order.
CREATE A DIAGRAM - Map out the structure, network, journey or process of your idea. Try different versions.
CREATE A STORY - Tell the story of your idea from the future. Describe what the experience would be like.
CREATE AN ADVERTISEMENT - Create a fake advertisement that promotes the best part of your idea. Have fun
with it and feel free to exaggerate!
CREATE A MOCK-UP - Build mock-ups of digital tools and websites with simple sketches of screens on paper. Fix
the paper mock-up to an actual computer screen or mobile phone when demonstrating it.
CREATE A MODEL - Put together simple, three-dimensional representations of your idea. Use paper, cardboard, pipe
cleaners, etc. Keep it rough and at a low fidelity point to start and evolve the resolution over time.
CREATE A ROLE-PLAY - Act out the experience of your idea. Try on the roles of the people that are part of
the situation and uncover questions they might ask.

STAGE 5: FEEDBACK
Feedback - The process of gathering information from key sources to make design improvement
adjust, tune, or create new prototypes. We should always prototype as if we know we are right, but
test as if we know we are wrong - feedback is the chance to refine our solutions and make them
better.
During the Feedback stage you:
*Test and refine solutions with users
*Learn even more from your user
*Glean insights that refine or direct your prototype
Getting started: Start with sharing. When you share your solution with a user, youre looking to uncover
even more understanding of what your user needs and values in order to adjust, refine, or re-envision a
solution.
Goal: To have more understanding and insight that you can use to iterate and improve your solution.

STAGE 6: REFLECT
Reflect - Assess the process and the designs. Do the designs meet the user needs?
During the reflect stage you:
*Review Your process looking for insights
*Apply feedback
*Assess your design
*Decide to continue course or take new action
Getting Started: What feedback or insights might be used to iterate your design further?
Goal - To have understandings that enable you to create a new iteration of your prototype.

SHARING
SHARING IS AN IMPORTANT PART OF THE DESIGN THINKING PROCESS. BE PREPARED TO SHARE:
*PROBLEMS
*IDEATION PROCESS
*SOLUTIONS & PROTOTYPES
*INSIGHTS, OBSERVATIONS & QUESTIONS YOU HAVE AS A RESULT OF YOUR WORK