❖ Phases of Design Thinking : Design thinking is a way of solving problems by focusing

on the needs of people. It involves understanding what users need, thinking of creative
solutions, and testing those ideas to see what works best. The process usually includes five
steps: empathize (understand the user), define (clarify the problem), ideate (come up with ideas),
prototype (create a simple version of the solution), and test (try it out and see how it works).
Design thinking helps create solutions that are practical and user-friendly.

1. Empathize : This phase is basically the Information Gathering phase. Business-related

information gathered by searching and understanding the customer’s views. It is done by
interviews, group discussions, and most of the observations. Along with this the
questions related to What, How, Why take into consideration.

2. Define : In this phase, we focus on the collection and classification of the information
from the empathize phase. The information gets categorized according to ideal
customers, their problems, the solution to their problems and needs, and fears of users
that we have to consider.

3. Ideate : In this phase, we give an optimized and real-time solution to the problems. No
irrespective and illogical thinking accepted. These solutions are raised by Sketching and
Prototyping.

4. Prototype : In the prototyping phase, the basic implementation of the design thinking
solution is used to verify the solution in real life. During prototyping it finally takes our
 idea in real life. The prototype must be less expensive and the very first version of the
ideal solution.

5. Test : After the above phases finally, it is time to verify the product in real life. Customers
are able to use it and give feedback for their personal experience. Also, the designer can
ask questions on how to improve such products for better usage.

❖ How to Empathize : Design Thinking cannot begin without a deeper understanding

of the people you are designing for. In order to gain those insights, it is important for you
as a design thinker to empathize with the people you’re designing for so that you can
understand their needs, thoughts, emotions and motivations.
To gain empathy towards people, we as design thinkers often observe them in
their natural environment passively or engage with them in interviews. Also,
as design thinkers, we should try to imagine ourselves in these users’
environment, or stepping into their shoes as the saying goes, in order to gain
a deeper understanding of their situations.

1. Assuming a Beginner’s Mindset : If we are to empathize with users, we should always

try to adopt the mindset of a beginner. What this means is that, as designers (or design
thinkers), we should always do our best to leave our own assumptions and experiences
behind when making observations.
2. Ask What? How? Why? : By asking the three questions — What? How? Why? — we
can move from concrete observations that are free from assumptions to more abstract
motivations driving the actions we have observed.
 In “What”, we record the details (not assumptions) of what has happened. In “How”, we
analyze how the person is doing what he/she is doing.Finally, in “Why”, we make
educated guesses regarding the person’s motivations and emotions. These motivations
we can then test with users.

3. Photo and User Based Studies : Photographing or recording target users, like other
empathizing methods, can help you uncover needs that people have which they may or
may not be aware of. It can help guide your innovation efforts, identify the right end
users to design for, and discover emotions that guide behaviors.
4. Interviews : Interviews are an important part of the for empathizing with users.
However, an interview will yield only minimal results if you are not prepared to conduct
it with genuine empathy.
5. Engaging with Extreme Users : By focusing on the extremes, you will find that the
problems, needs and methods of solving problems become magnified. First, you must
identify the extremes of your potential user base; then, you should engage with this
group to establish their feelings, thoughts and behaviors, and then look at the needs you
might find in all users.
6. Analogous Empathy : Using analogies can help the design team to develop new
insights. By comparing one domain with another
7. Sharing Inspiring Stories : Each person in a team will collect different pieces of
information, have different thoughts, and come up with different solutions. For this
reason, you should share your inspiring stories to collect all of the team members’
research, from field studies, interviews, etc.
8. Bodystorming : Bodystorming is the act of physically experiencing a situation in order to
immerse oneself fully in the users’ environment.

❖ Purpose of Empathy Maps : Empathy mapping is an important tool used in

marketing, product development, and user experience design to identify and solve
individuals’ or target audience requirements, motivations, and experiences. Empathy
maps are important for the following reasons:
1. Customer-centric approach : It is a business strategy that prioritizes the needs of
customers in every aspect of a business.
2. Enhanced understanding : Empathy mapping enables companies to better understand
their target audience byconsidering their viewpoints, desires, and pain areas. It
contributes to discovering deeperinsights into customers’ behaviors, emotions, and
goals, resulting in more informeddecision-making and effective communication tactics.
3. Improved user experience : Mapping the user journey and emotions across touchpoints
helps identify potential pain points. By knowing these pain areas, businesses may
improve user experience and createmore engaging and gratifying engagements with
their products and services.

❖ How to create Empathy maps : Traditional empathy maps are split into 4
quadrants (Says, Thinks, Does, and Feels), with the user or persona in the
middle. Empathy maps provide a glance into who a user is as a whole
and are not chronological or sequential.

● The Says quadrant contains what the user says out loud in an interview or some other
usability study. Ideally, it contains verbatim and direct quotes from research.
● The Thinks quadrant captures what the user is thinking throughout the experience. Ask
yourself (from the qualitative research gathered): what occupies the user’s thoughts?
What matters to the user? It is possible to have the same content in both Says and
Thinks. However, pay special attention to what users think, but may not be willing to
vocalize. Try to understand why they are reluctant to share — are they unsure,
self-conscious, polite, or afraid to tell others something?
● The Does quadrant encloses the actions the user takes. From the research, what does
the user physically do? How does the user go about doing it?
● The Feels quadrant is the user’s emotional state, often represented as an adjective plusa
short sentence for context. Ask yourself: what worries the user? What does the user get
excited about? How does the user feel about the experience?
Steps included :
1. Establish Focus and Goals
2. Capture the Outside World
3. Explore Inside the Mind
4. Summarize and Share

❖ Customer Journey Mapping : A customer journey map is a visual depiction of the stages
customers go through when interacting with a company -- from buying products online
to accessing customer service on the phone to airing grievances on social media.

How to create a customer journey map?

1. Set goals : To begin, specify the desires and scope of the customer adventure
mapping technique. Determine the supposed goal market, desires, and effects of
the mapping system. Choose the character adventure factors you preference to
analyze, which includes the onboarding method, post-purchase interplay, or
pre-purchase revel in.
2. Conduct Research : Collect pertinent records from a range of assets, such as as
customer comments, analytics, consumer studies, and stakeholder interviews.
Insights on person behavior, options, problems, and motivations can be obtained
from this facts. Employ both qualitative and quantitative research techniques to
bring together an intensive picture of the consumer enjoy.
3. Chart the Customer Journey : List all of the factors of touch or exchanges that
clients have along with your right or service through a whole lot of channels and
levels of the process. Draw out the complete consumer adventure, which
include the stages of recognition, deliberation, decision-making, purchase, and
after-the-purchase. Graphical representations of the consumer enjoy embody
flowcharts, timelines, and diagrams.
4. Determine Meaningful Events and Emotions: During the consumer enjoy,
highlight important trades and your highs and lows emotionally.Determine the
consumer’s happy, annoyed, confused, and satisfied moments at every
touchpoint. Be aware of the emotional resonance of each come upon and the
way it influences the consumer experience as an entire.
5. Analyze and Iterate : Examine the mapped customer adventure to perceive
regions that want improvement and improvement. Identify problem regions,
roadblocks, and opportunities for growth. Collaborate with cross-useful teams
to provide principles for fresh narratives and solutions that cope with the
requirements and possibilities of clients. In response to person feedback and
statistics insights, iteratively modify the layout to ensure a continuing and
intuitive person revel in.