dt@hsg method sticker

Design space exploration

Final prototype

Critical function

prototype

Dark horse

prototype

D I V E R G I N G C O N V E R G I N G

Funky prototype Functional

prototypeX-is

finished prototype

Design Thinking Phases

Design Thinking Process(Re) define the problem

Design never ends

Needfinding & SynthesisUnderstand the

users & the design

space

Ideate Brainstorm

PrototypeBuild

TestLearn

(Re)Define

(Re)-Defining the problem asks you to simplify the visionary

challenge into a more differentiated problem statement. By

(Re)defining the problem statement from the users perspec-

tive, you are able to focus on unanswered and specific areas

during the needfinding phase. Framing what your team seeks

to ‘understand’ enables you to generate interview questions

and to come up with places for observations that seem prom-

ising to understand the problem statement. Through constant

and critical reflection, the problem statement needs to be

redefined as insights provide new directions.

Needfinding

Ask, listen, observe and engage! Understanding the people

you are designing for is the foundation of human-centered

innovation. By observing and directly engaging with users, your

team learns about the way people think and the values they

hold. Gaining empathy enables you to discover the emotions

that guide peoples behavior and helps to capture physical

manifestations of experiences. This allows to sense intangible

meanings of user experiences and define latent needs. These

insights evoke user-centered inspirations for ideation and

prototyping.

Ideate

Ideation is the mode of generating a large quantity of diverse

ideas. Mentally, it represents the process of “going wide” which

enables to explore a broad solution space. Brainstorming is a

renowned method to come up with a lot of ideas. It leverages

collective thinking of your team by engaging with each other,

listening, and building on each others ideas. Generating ideas

based on specific user needs and insights provides the fuel

and source material for building rapid prototypes in order to

get relevant innovations into the hands of your users.

Prototype

Build to think! Prototypes are tools to have a conversation

around. Prototyping gets ideas and explorations out of your

head into the physical world. A prototype can be anything that

takes an experienceable form – a role play activity, a paper

wireframe or even a sketch or storyboard. Creating quick,

low-resolution prototypes allow your team to test assumptions

early and learn without investing a lot of time and money. Rap-

id prototypes also enable to refine ideas together with the user

and gain deeper empathy, by allowing people to interact with a

tangible version of your vision.

Test

Testing is the chance to refine solutions together with the user.

It is another opportunity to gain empathy through observa-

tion and engagement and often yields unexpected insights.

Testing is the mode in which the low-resolution artifacts are

put into practice by placing the prototype in the appropriate

user context. Handing over a prototype into the users’ hands,

observing how they interact with it and listening to what they

say, allows your team to discover new insights and gain deeper

understanding of hidden user needs.

Synthesize

After user engagements and the team share of collected

materials, it’s time to look for insights within your data. It is a

difficult mental task to work out what connects to what, which

ideas are more outliers on their own, and which concepts tie

to the core of the design challenge. By looking at your findings,

try to link similarities, contradictions, exceptions or patterns.

Common themes provide inspirations for new, improved

prototypes which solve uncovered user needs. The process

of focusing your needfinding and testing data enables you to

create shared understanding and team knowledge.

Design Space Map

» Establish a common understanding of your challenge

» Formulate key questions and discuss important aspects

» Keep modifying and expanding your map throughout your project

» Treat your map as a visual record of how your projects evolves

» Revisit this map from time to time, so your team stays aligned

Challenge

(RE-)D

EFINE

How To Interview

Shortly introduce yourself. Tell the interviewee that you are interested in

their experiences regarding your topic.

What do you like about coffee (example topic)?

Have you had coffee today? How was your experience? How did you buy it?

How was the provided service?

Can you describe your most memorable coffee experience? What happened?

If you would design the ultimate coffee experience, what would that be like?

Intro

Kick-offBuild rapport

Grand tourReflection

NEEDFINDIN

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Intro Kick-Off

Build rapport

Grand tour

Explore emotions

Reflections

Wrap up

Choose one who is leading the interview while the other is documenting

Encourage storytelling: use open-ended questions like “Tell me about…”

Always ask why! (“5 Whys”)

Do not skip to a new topic before you’ve exhausted the current one

Capture memorable quotes to illustrate your findings

Look for inconsistencies and non-verbal clues (body-language, tone)

Expand your notes as soon as possible after each interview

Keep in mind: there might be a gap between what people say and what

they do!

1. 2.3.4.5.6.7.8.

8 Interview Tips

NEEDFINDIN

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How To Engage

Self Test and Self Documentation » make first-hand experiences and walk in

the shoes of your customers

» engage in things and activities that people

normally do

» do typical activities of your stakeholders

» use empathy tools

Tips Don’t lose the balance between objectivity and subjectivity.

You are still the design team and not the target group

Empathize without judgement!

1.

2.

NEEDFINDIN

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» Do desk research to get a first deep dive into your challenge

(read articles, blogs, forums regarding your topic and look at

your company’s website, …)

» Identify sources of inspiration

» Explore emerging trends and market opportunities

» Constantly share your research with the team (Diigo.com)

» Print out important numbers, quotes, and findings to share

your desk research within the team

» Update your Design Space Map accordingly

How To Become An

Expert Instantly

INSTA

NT

EXPERTISIN

G

What To

Observe I

What do people

do? What are

the specific

activities they

go through?

Activities Environment Interactions Objects User

What is the

character and

function of the

space?

What is the

nature of inter-

actions between

people, objects,

and across

distances?

What are the

objects and

devices people

have in their

environments?

Who is there?

What is their

role and

behavior?

NEEDFINDIN

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A E I O U

Distinguish interpretation from observation

Don’t let your expectations affect your observations

Look for anything that surprises you, that you may find irrational, that

makes you question your assumptions, that prompts shifts in (routine)

behaviors

Take field notes, photos, videos, audio recordings

Try to picture the scene from different perspectives

Capture everything (notes) you experience, see, hear, feel, and taste

After the observation - print pictures and put quotes on post-its

Share the observations with your team

1. 2.3.

4.5.6.7.8.

8 Observation Tips

NEEDFINDIN

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What To Observe II

Confusion Watch the users’ facial expressions. A confused look

signals an opportunity to make the experience more intuitive.

Exhaustion Notice moments when people must work too hard

(even if they don’t realize it) as they seek to solve their problem.

Pain Points Look for moments that are actualy unpleasant or

annoying. You will see it in the users’ facial expressions and body

language.

Appropriation + Workarounds Pay attention to adaptations and

the use of a product for a new/different purpose.

Skipped Steps If users skip a step, it might signal that they don’t

need, want, or understand the value of that step.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

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What to look for during observations

Team Share

Share your findings with your team! Which

stories/behaviours are most intriguing?

Look for patterns, repetitions, exceptions.

Group notes together that form a theme.

Find titles for each cluster.

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Storytelling

Clustering

Think & FeelWhat really counts, Major preoccupations,

Worries and aspirations

Say & DoAttitude in public, Appearance, Behaviour towards others

HearWhat friends, boss, or

influencers say

SeeEnvironment, Friends, What the

market offers

PainFears, Frustrations, Obstacles

GainWants/needs, Measures of success

Empathy Map Who‘s your user...

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Persona

demographics like age, education

needs and tasks

goals and aspirations

behavoiour, bugs and likes

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Name & Picture

typical statements

Need Classification

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I need to...

Common needs …feel respected

Context needs …confirm the validity of my work

Activity needs …get feedback at the end of a project

Qualifier needs …talk to my project supervisorHow?

Why?

How To Structure Insights

cheap

expensive

organic conventional

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Venn Diagram 2x2 Matrix

Coffee Sugar

Cream Heaven

How To Generate a

Point of View (POV)

NEEDFINDIN

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User + Need + insight = Persona

Problem POV

How To Generate Insights

interviews,

observations,

articles

life experience,

intuition values, morals

learning about your

user that you wouldn’t

have assumed before

observations

NEEDFINDIN

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I saw I know Insight+ =

Brainstorming Tips

IDEATE

Define goals & state the problem. Start by defining a clear, concise

statement that explains the purpose of the session. Make sure the

problem statement isn’t too specific as this can limit creativity.

Ideate individually. Instead of immediately shouting out ideas in a

group setting, allow to generate ideas individually for a fixed amount

of time. Then come together, share and build on each others ideas.

Categorize and synthesize. It’s crucial to move forward with the

ideas that you generate. Categorize common themes and decide on

evaluation criteria that allow you to identify the most promising ideas

for prototyping and testing.

Go for quantity

Defer judgement

Encourage wild ideas

Be visual

Build on the ideas of others (Yes, AND...)

Stay focused on user need

1. 2.3.4.5.6.

Brainstorming Rules

IDEATE

Prototyp Tips

PROTOTYPE

One question, one prototype

Build fast, before overthinking your idea

Stop before it’s perfect

Cannibalize as much ideas as possible

Don’t fall in love with your prototype

Always build and share more than one prototype

Create to provoke and persuade

Break rules, laws and facts

1. 2.3.4.5.6.7.8.

Prototypes

PROTOTYPE

» Right Perfection is a waste of time. Just

build it good enough to figure out what

works and what doesn’t.

» Rapid Allow yourself to learn quickly and

investigate a lot of different possibilities.

» Rough Get things built fast and cheap, a

scribble or artefact not looking pretty, to

see what people think by testing your idea.

Principles Versions

» Form Suntorporrum nitiatiunt, optatem.

Solorem niminitaque.

» Action Suntorporrum nitiatiunt, optatem.


» Behavoir the prototype encourages to

consciously change behaviors.

» Content Suntorporrum nitiatiunt, optatem.


Prototypes

Prototyping is a tool to deepen your understanding of the design space and your

user, even at a pre-solution phase of your project. By identifying a variable to explore

encourages you to break a large problem down into smaller, testable chunks.

» Paper prototypes

» Customer Journey

» Storyboards

» Graphics and interface moc-ups

» Role Play

» Videos

» And many more

PROTOTYPE

Testing Tips

TEST

Show don’t tell Communicate your vision in an impactful and

meaningful way by creating experiences, using illustrative visuals,

and telling good stories.

Collaborate to innovate Bring together innovators with varied

backgrounds and viewpoints. Enable breakthrough testing insights

in order to allow solutions and inspirations to emerge from the

diversity.

Embrace feedback Testing is not simply a way to validate your

idea. We test to learn. Not only do we not get the solution right,

but we sometimes also fail to frame the problem correctly. Testing

inspires to reframe and focus the POV.

Arrange your feedback and draw a mini-synthesis in order to decide what to take

further into your next iteration.

USER WONDERS

USER CRITISIZES

USER IDEATES

Feedback Capture Grid

TEST

USER LIKES