Design Thinking refocuses your project on humans

Design Thinking is a collaborative method of innovation. Based on empathy towards users or final clients, it optimizes their experience. The collected objective data on your targeted audience favorizes the creation of ideas. Next is the prototype. It is updated depending on the feedbacks of our testers with a qualified profile. It determines a basis for a pertinent product or service.

Simple definition of Design Thinking

Design Thinking, literally “think design”, is not a recent concept. It was invented in the second half of the 20th century in California. Rolfe Faste, Jakob Nielsen, Don Norman, Tim Brown and Jeremy Gutsche are the best-known representative of Design Thinking. The goal of this method that is also a state of mind, is to consolidate innovation. Structured in steps, it relies on workshops of co-creation and of the norm “Conception centered on the human operator for interactive systems” ISO 9241-210. A created prototype and tested. According to the testers with a qualified profile, it is upgraded to deliver a more realistic solution.

Steps of Design Thinking: from empathy to innovation

Design Thinking allows you of an innovative and applicable solution. Its method is iterative and follows, according to the versions, 3 to 7 steps. The principles are empathy (UX research), the definition (UX strategy), creation of idea, prototype realization (UX design) and the test (UX evaluation). Tim Brown, CEO of IDEO, condenses it in 3 phases:

  1. Inspiration;
  2. Imagination;
  3. Implementation.

The comprehension of the personas allows the generation of ideas to put in place a pertinent project.

But how to transit from the generation of ideas to the one that will stick? We must iterate, meaning start over until total satisfaction of your targeted audience. Prototype with a low cost and low definition will allow you to multiply tests rapidly. The tester’s profile corresponds to the final users. A solution is born from improvement. It answers as Tim Brown would say:

  • desirability (the needs and wants of the final users);
  • feasibility (the technological possibilities);
  • viability (business exigence).

Innovation is found at a crossroad of people, technology, and business.

Start well a project thanks to empathy

The base of this innovative method is empathy. Prior any project, Telono makes a UX research dedicated to comprehending your personas. This observation of users in their environment resembles to ethnographic studies. Real field studies, they bring objective data on behaviors and utilization context. The knowledge of needs and wants of your targeted audience is fundamental. It allows the conception of a product or a service on a concrete basis.

When to use Design Thinking?

This way of doing is particularly efficient in the initial phase of the development. It allows the launch of a project on solid grounds. It limits the errors and the risks of rejection by the users or final clients. It manages the risks of overspending. The thought of integrated design allows a company to:

  • reorganize the work based on a multidisciplinary approach;
  • valorize the analytical competences and intuitiveness of each collaborator;
  • structure the brainstorming to make them more efficient;
  • favorize the emergence of innovative ideas.

The structures are not always ready for a change like this. If you are interested in this approach, Telono can help you promote UX in your company.

Design Thinking is an end-user centred method. Empathising with them and iterating are part of this way of thinking. The approach is particularly effective for launching or renewing a product or service. Structured in stages, the duration of this approach depends on the nature of the project. For a condensed version, you should look at the 4-day Design Sprint format.

Since 2005, more than 320 UX projects done.