There are many ways to organize the design thinking process. I break this process into 2 general categories: PROBLEM and SOLUTION.
George Kembel, the Director of the Stanford D School, says that he heard that 50% of products fail not because they couldn't build the right solution but because they were working on the wrong problem.
Remember our example of the incubator from the Stanford D School? The problem the students were given was to find a cheaper incubator. If they had tried to just do that and not use design thinking, they would have never worked on the right problem. Through discovering the real problem, they were able to solve the real problem, which was to keep the premature babies warm.
Let's look now at the process of design thinking as we go through the wallet exercise from Stanford D School. https://dschool-old.stanford.edu/groups/designresources/wiki/4dbb2/the_wallet_project.html
First, the PROBLEM
D IS FOR DISCOVER
1.Google what’s already being done and not done.
2.Observe what you see in stores that’s being done/or in real life
E FOR EMPATHY
1.Interview: Tell me about/Ask Why/How do you feel about
2.Live the Experience: Do in Real Life/Create a Simulation
3.Observe: What/How/Why
S IS FOR SYNTHESIZE & REFRAME THE PROBLEM
1.Gather what you discovered.
2.Synthesize the information.
3.Reframe the problem.
Next, the SOLUTION
I IS FOR IDEATE
1.Brainstorm solutions.
2.Evaluate those solutions.
3.Pick 1 and refine.
G IS FOR GO PROTOTYPE.
1.Make is rapid.
2.Make it to share.
N IS FOR NEED TO TEST.
1.Test.
2.Refine.
Now that we went through the process one time with the wallet exercise. We will then pick our own design challenges and also concentrate on learning more about how to gain empathy.
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