What if I told you there was a way to design products or goods that would satisfy the needs and wants of both the consumer and the businesses responsible for bringing these products or goods to life? 

Good News! There is, and it’s called Design Thinking. 

Design Thinking is a design methodology that places the user, or human, at the center of the entire design process. Design thinking is different from other innovation and ideation processes in that it’s solution-based and user-centric rather than problem-based. This means it focuses on the solution to a problem instead of the problem itself.

In a basic definition, Design Thinking is a five-stage process. It consists of empathizing with the potential user of the product and listening to their needs and wants. Then, defining what the problem at hand is and answering the How Might We question to solve the problem. Following these two steps, we begin the process of ideating or sketching out very basic ideas and concepts of solutions, and there could be anywhere from 5 sketches to 500 sketches… that’s up to you and your design team!

Then the final two stages are Prototyping and Testing. Prototyping is when you bring ideas to life. This can be in 2D or 3D, depending on your product or service. Then comes the fun part, to really get an idea of your product’s potential success by testing the prototype against your target users. Once the testing is done, you can bring any notes or recommendations back to the drawing board to reiterate your product and further tailor it for success. 

The benefits of utilizing Design Thinking

So now that we know what design thinking is, why does it matter in the world of design? 

Design thinking can be useful for both consumers and the businesses that utilize this methodology. 

For businesses, design thinking is beneficial in a variety of ways.

• Time Saving: Design thinking allows you to speed up the entire ideation process of designing a product or service. Whether you choose to break the process down over its typical and recommended time frame of five days or speed it up to fit five hours, you are sure to walk away with a fully thought-out and tested design after the five phases are completed. 
• Saves money: This is a huge component of why I believe design thinking should be utilized more by companies. You save money, and when it comes to businesses, that’s very important in our ever-changing economic times. Through the five stages of this methodology, you aren’t constantly scraping ideas and starting over and wasting money; you actually are saving money and potentially making more as you have insights from your target audience. 
• Shows consumers you care: Since the first step is literally empathizing with your consumers over what needs to be fixed or what is missing, and then building an entire design around their thoughts and feelings. By understanding the person affected by a problem, you can find a more impactful solution. 

Sources: Han, Esther. “What Is Design Thinking & Why Is It Important? | HBS Online.” Harvard Business School Online, 18 Jan. 2022, online.hbs.edu/blog/post/what-is-design-thinking