Design thinking is anchored in three main pillars. They are:
empathy: consists of looking at the problem through the eyes of the person experiencing it. In the case of a project, it means putting yourself in the public's shoes;
collaboration: the approach also considers the union of professionals from different areas to generate the best ideas;
experimentation: design thinking is not something theoretical, but practical. Therefore, it includes a testing phase, to verify what was previously thought.
How to do design thinking in five phases
One of the questions many people have is how to apply design thinking effectively, since it can seem somewhat abstract. To do this, it is essential to follow the steps of the approach.
We will help you understand how this concept works. By following the steps, it will be easier to identify how the user experience is valued throughout the process. See:
What are the stages of Design Thinking?
Empathy
Remember when we talked about empathy? This is the georgia whatsapp data first step and one of the most important, because it’s where you put yourself in your target audience’s shoes. Research everything about them, what their interests are and what is most important to them in relation to the project you are creating.
At this point, drawing up an empathy map can be of great help, as this will help you understand not only the profile, but also more in-depth information — such as the pains and difficulties they feel, what their expectations are, and much more.
Data like this helps you understand how to connect more easily, finding the most suitable solutions.
Definition
Based on the information acquired in the empathy phase, it is necessary to define the main problem to be solved, as well as the secondary ones. In the definition phase, consider the persona's pain points to list priorities and know which issues need to be addressed from now on.
Ideation
Now that you know what problems need to be solved and the reasons behind each one, it's time to think about solutions. The ideation phase is nothing more than the brainstorming phase, where the team comes together to find the best way forward.
Since this is not yet the practical stage, ideas can come out in full swing. This is the time to unleash your creativity, without fear of making mistakes.
Prototyping
The hands-on part of design thinking comes at the time of prototyping, the phase in which ideas begin to take shape and come to life.
For example: a landing page — a page for capturing leads —, before being 100% ready, goes through the wireframe stage (a kind of “draft”) until it is created in the MVP format — Minimum Viable Product, that is, Smallest Viable Product.
In this format, the page comes to life with only the essential attributes for its operation. However, it is not yet the final version, as it may undergo improvements.
Tests
That's why there's the testing phase, where prototypes are put to the test so you can find all the gaps and know exactly what to improve.
Here at Mestre, for example, our design and development teams believe that this moment is crucial, as it is in practice that they know what needs to be modified to generate a better experience for the user.