A Deeper Dive into Design Thinking Methodologies
A Deeper Dive into Design Thinking Methodologies
Logistics of Design Thinking
In last week’s post ( How to Use Design Thinking to Boost Revenue ) we learned what Design Thinking is and touched on how to use the framework to boost revenue in your business. This week, we’re going to take a closer look at the how by breaking down the steps of a typical Design Thinking workshop… I say “typical” because there are various ways to facilitate a Design Thinking practice ( imagine that, varying creative approaches to a practice meant to boost creative solutions?! ). Don’t forget, the main goal of Design Thinking is to increase empathy and understanding of your ideal client to ensure you are developing products/services that meet their unique needs.
As you can imagine, there are many ways to accomplish this goal!
For example, when I was a High Net Worth Client Manager in corporate, I had the opportunity to attend a Design Thinking 101 workshop sponsored by Disney’s Imagineers ( an arm of the Disney Company founded by Walt Disney in 1952 to support the research and development of Disneyland ); these guys are at the top of the game when it comes to innovation and creative problem solving!
And their creative processes have only gotten better over the last 70 years! ( Exhibit A: the entire Star Wars land in Hollywood Studios… any Rise of the Resistance fans out there?! )
If you’re interested in learning more about how Disney Imagineers create jaw-dropping attractions, you can read more about their creative process on their website here.
The Design Thinking Process
Empathize
Define
Ideate
Prototype
Test
Empathize and Define
The first two steps of Design Thinking are extremely important and must be done in this order:
1. Empathize – spend time trying to deeply understand your client; what are they currently struggling with? What are their biggest pain points? etc
** Check out my free ‘Know Your Client – Create a Client Avatar’ worksheet for more! **
2. Define – create a Problem Statement to ensure you ( and your team, if you have one ) are in agreement on the specific problem that you are attempting to solve for your clients.
Once you have clarity on who you are serving and what problem you are solving, you can move on to the next steps.
the design thinking workflow
Check out this slide from my upcoming Design Thinking workshop! Registration opening soon.
Ideate
This is personally my favorite step within the framework! Who doesn’t love to just brain dump with no limitations?!
That’s right… no limitations, no wrong answers and NO rules in this step ( besides keeping your client and their needs at the forefront ).
Prototype
We’ve finally reached the step where you can create something tangible! It’s time to turn your prioritized idea into a reality by creating your minimum viable product (MVP).
An MVP is the bare bones prototype of the new product/service that you want to introduce to your clients. It’s not meant to be perfect; an MVP is meant to test interest in your solution without spending valuable time and money creating the “perfect” product/service that includes all of the bells and whistles — you’ll begin to implement those bells and whistles as you validate your solution with your audience.
Which brings us to the next step…
Test and Repeat
We’ve reached the end!… or have we??
This process is meant to be continuous, iterative and builds upon itself.
Before you’ve launched your MVP, you should 1) have decided on a handful of key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure and track impact of your solution and 2) have a feedback loop in place to gather insight from your clients.
As you’re monitoring your impact measures and client feedback, consider how you can build a continuous improvement cycle into your business to continue to level up your product/service offers.
When you keep your client front and center in everything you do, you are sure to create valuable solutions that will keep them coming back for more!
Interested in learning more? Sign up for our Design Thinking workshop here for a free 45 minute workshop and 16-page workbook!
