- The theme of this video is design thinking stages
are verbs, not deliverables.
I'm often asked how and when other UX methods,
aside from the most popular or advertised,
fit into the design thinking process.
While the common marketed design thinking activities
like empathy maps, needs statements,
and scenario maps are useful,
there are so many other UX methods that can be aligned
to the design thinking framework.
So the design thinking framework begins with empathy.
At this stage, you are using a variety
of qualitative user research methods
to gather a rich understanding of your users.
Think interviews, diary studies, direct observation,
contextual inquiry.
The goal is to deeply understand who our user is,
so much so that we can mirror their emotions
and motivations.
While empathy maps are the most common deliverable
of the empathy stage of design thinking,
they aren't your only choice.
Remember, the goal of the stage isn't
to create perfect artifacts,
but rather help your team develop empathy and understanding
of your users.
User insight can be successfully synthesized
and communicated in other artifacts,
like a pain/gain map,
a map that identifies what your user has to lose or gain
from a situation;
or a robust research-driven persona card;
or even a current-state customer journey map.
And then as you move into the define stage,
the goal is to clearly align
and articulate the need of the user
based on insight gained from research.
Many teams do this through user need statements,
statements that summarize the need you're going to satisfy
for the user.
However, it doesn't have to be this formal.
Other UX methods like problem statements
which are oftentimes used in discovery stages,
how might we statements,
or even just a prioritization of pain points
from a current state journey map
can satisfy this define stage.
The most important thing about this stage
is making sure you have alignment
on what you are going to prioritize solving,
not debate the specific format that you end up using
to articulate it.
In the ideate stage, anything is fair game.
This is the moment in the design thinking process
where you come up with a wide range of potential ideas
that help solve your user's need.
There are several traditional UX methods
that may be useful at this point:
brainstorming,
mindmapping,
written ideation,
bodystorming,
even design charettes.
While traditional design thinking practices
promote team members capturing their individual ideas
on sticky notes,
don't feel limited to this structure.
Pair people off,
introduce different tools or materials.
Ideate remotely,
synchronously or asynchronously.
Maybe in a one hour workshop,
or maybe across a few weeks.
If you created a customer journey map,
perhaps you ideate directly on top
of the pain points you identified.
When you begin to prototype, our next stage,
the deliverable, the prototype itself,
should depend on what you're trying to learn.
For example, if you're redesigning a process,
a to-be or future-state service blueprint
would be a prototype
for future processes you plan on implementing.
In other cases, it could be an interactive set
of wireframes or a paper prototype.
The goal of this phase is to understand what components
of your ideas work and which do not.
In this phase,
you begin to weigh the impact versus feasibility
of those ideas through feedback on your prototypes.
And then lastly, the test and implement stages.
You should be asking yourself,
"Does this solution meet our user's needs?"
"Has it improved how they feel, think, or do their tasks?"
We can do this by conducting traditional usability tests,
watching real users using our new designs
and iterating on those designs
until we are ready to implement.
Now, while the prescribed nature
of design thinking makes it scalable and approachable,
many practitioners unintentionally limit their practice
to the marketed design thinking activities.
I can't say it enough.
The design thinking stages are verbs for a reason,
not deliverables.
Don't be scared to switch it up.
Be a master chef, not a line cook.
Take the recipe as a framework and then tweak it as needed.