Design thinking is a problem-solving methodology that involves a human-centered approach to innovation. It emphasizes empathy for users, an iterative and collaborative process, and a focus on creating solutions that meet both the needs of the user and the business.
Design thinking typically involves five key stages: empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and test. In the empathize stage, designers seek to understand the needs, wants, and pain points of the user through observation, interviews, and other methods. In the define stage, designers synthesize their findings and develop a problem statement. In the ideate stage, designers generate a wide range of possible solutions to the problem. In the prototype stage, designers create low-fidelity versions of the solutions to test and refine. Finally, in the test stage, designers gather feedback from users on the prototypes and use that feedback to further refine the solutions.
Design thinking is often used in product design, but it can be applied to many other areas, including business strategy, organizational change, and social innovation.
