It has been proven that the success of your web development idea hinges on proper planning. It has been shown that the Design Thinking approach is the recommended way and has been rapidly adopted by tech leaders such as Apple, Google, and Samsung. But do you really know what Design Thinking is? And why is it getting popular? Now, let us tell you what it is and why it is in demand.
What is Design Thinking?
Design Thinking is an approach to web design that focuses on the user and their needs. By empathizing with your users, you can better understand their needs and effectively fulfill them.
Design Thinking succeeds at identifying and solving problems by taking an iterative approach to the design process: defining problems, finding solutions, testing and evaluating those solutions, and going back to the drawing board to come up with more ideas and make more improvements.
There are 5 main stages in design thinking:
- Empathizing.
- Defining.
- Ideating.
- Prototyping.
- Testing.
1. Empathize
From the web agency’s point of view, the best way to understand the customer and end-users and their needs is to empathize with them. By putting yourself in their shoes, you will better understand the problem you are trying to solve and discover creative solutions. Know more about your users by conducting user research or a design thinking workshop. Ideally, this will include in-person interviews or surveys.
2. Define
Now that you know more about your users, define a problem that you will set out to solve. Perhaps your users are unable to find information about a certain topic on your website because of unclear navigation. Maybe the process for submitting a request for a quote is confusing. If users get stuck on something, is there an easy way for them to ask for help?
Whatever problem you decide to tackle, make sure it is well-defined and achievable. If necessary, break up large problems into smaller ones and tackle them one at a time.
3. Ideate
Once you’ve defined a problem to solve, it’s time to think of solutions. Use the empathy you gained through your user research to approach the problem from different angles. Remember that you are designing the best solution for your users, not for yourself. Thinking this way may help you discover creative solutions that are more effective as well.
4. Prototype
If possible, build out smaller and/or simpler versions of each of your potential solutions. This will allow you to test several solutions to find the best one, instead of committing all of your time and energy into something that is untested and might not work. If needed, go back to the ideation phase to come up with new ideas based on what you learn from your prototypes.
5. Test / Evaluate
Once you’ve implemented a solution, use the tools available to you to evaluate its effectiveness. You could do this via user testing, or by using analytics tools such as Google Analytics or Hotjar. Once you’ve tested and evaluated your results, if the problem needs some more work or a different solution, return to the ideation or prototyping phase. If you consider the problem solved, return to the define phase and begin work on a new issue.