Think like a designer - the 6 phases of design thinking

Think like a designer - the 6 phases of design thinking

At the FITC event in Amsterdam, experience design director Sebastiaan spoke about design thinking. A methodology that makes the creative process transparent and manageable, in a way that 'non-designers' can be more familiar with it. All parties involved in a project will come to a better final result, more effectively and with more pleasure.

First of all: what is FITC?

The origin of FITC can be found in Toronto, where it once started with a few enthusiastic (then Macromedia) Flash developers/designers. This group of people wanted to exchange knowledge and inspire each other with new, cool concepts. At the time they called this "Flash-In-The-Can", on which the abbreviation of the event is based. Since Flash no longer exists, the content of the abbreviation has been updated and now stands for "Future, Innovation, Technology & Creativity".

Speakers from all over the world from the creative industry visit this event. This year I was invited to share my knowledge. It was really special to experience the event from the 'other side' because I have been an enthusiastic visitor for years. Different, yet familiar. The nice thing about this event is that it is very intimate. Speakers stand close to the audience, making the digital specialists easily approachable. You have the chance to talk during the day, or in the evening during one of the networking drinks, and to exchange ideas with people you normally don't get to talk to so easily.

Design thinking

In my presentation (which you can find below), I spoke about design thinking: a solution-oriented methodology for designing and creating products/applications in which people have a central position. This way of working describes the phases you'll go through in a creative process towards the optimal solution. These steps are familiar to designers, but it is often difficult for others to understand the process, let alone participate in it. I encourage designers to take control of this process and create more involvement so that teams can work more efficiently and come up with better solutions and results. By making story maps, for example, we visualize our thinking process and make it easily accessible for all involved (think about for example the other team members and customers, but also end users) to help us (designers) think. 

The 6 fases of design thinking

Phase 1: understanding the bigger picture

The first thing you do is collecting as much information as possible, to get a clear picture of your assignment and the overall context. This includes looking beyond the question of the customer. You are looking for the bigger picture: why do I make this product, how does it fit into the organization, and how should it be able to solve the alleged problem? It really makes little sense to struggle through the briefing and all the accompanying requirements: they immediately "lock you" and sometimes even put you on the wrong track. It is especially important that you empathize with the role of people who deal with this company (and your client). With this information, you are able to map the customer journey. Not the customer journey of only the solution (product), but of the entire company and how a random customer experiences this company.

Phase 2: (re)defining the challenges 

From this perspective, you determine what the actual challenges are. In other words: what needs to happen to reach your customer's needs and the needs of their customers? This will enable your customer's customers to do business with the company in a pleasant way and therefore offers your customer the greatest chance of (more) success.

Phase 3: looking for solutions

Now that it is clear what's on the to-do list, sum up the possible solutions. You always look from the perspective of a customer who wants to complete a task. You think through all possible scenarios, you take preferences into account, but you also consider the context from which you are trying to achieve something. In this way, you map all options, and that gives an overview of the chances that your customer has to interact with their customers in the right way.

Phase 4: set priorities and start creating

Then, you determine which of these touch points will have the most effect, both for your client and for their clients. Start with working out these touchpoints into a prototype. Make sure you'll work out all of the details. What issues do we need and how does it work,  and how does it look like?

Phase 5: launching your prototype

When the first concept is ready, it's time for the first launch of your prototype. That means that all parts must be brought together, and internal functional tests must be carried out. Then the time comes to actually start testing with real audiences.

Phase 6: test, learn & repeat

You can start with a closed group of customers who are willing to participate in a test, but also immediately fully public. During the test, or running your application, you observe, collect data, which you then use to learn from and to improve your first version with that information. The central question is always: "Have we properly solved the problem we had defined and are the users happy with it?".

It will also be clear to you that this process can be repeated until nothing can be improved. Because although the prototype that you build will work functionally, it is probably not yet optimal. Based on the results, it is important to determine together with your customers when you are at the point where you can say you've reached an optimal experience, and whether the product has value for the end-user.