Design Thinking is a framework that UX designers use to create products with a user-centered approach to problem-solving. This framework involves activities like research, prototyping, and testing to help you deeply understand your users. The design thinking framework consists of five phases:

1. Empathize

This phase is all about getting to know your users and understanding their problems, needs, and how they interact with your design. It’s crucial to step away from your assumptions and let your research guide your decisions. User research might include surveys, interviews, and observation sessions.

2. Define

In the Define phase, you’ll analyze the findings from the Empathize phase to identify the most important problem that needs solving and why. This step helps you establish a clear design goal for the product.

3. Ideate

The Ideate phase is where you brainstorm as many design solutions as possible. Work with your team members, product managers, engineers, and stakeholders to generate a wide range of ideas. At this stage, don’t judge whether an idea is good or bad — just focus on gathering as many ideas as you can.

4. Prototype

Prototyping involves creating a sketch or wireframe (low-fidelity prototype) to test the functionality and user experience of your design. This allows you to gather feedback and make improvements. You might also develop an interactive model (high-fidelity prototype) and conduct further testing across different platforms, such as laptops, tablets, and smartphones.

5. Test

During the Test phase, you refine your prototypes based on user feedback, helping you determine whether the product design is user-friendly and solves the intended problems. Once the prototype is finalized, it’s handed off to developers to turn the design into a fully functioning product.

Regardless of which framework you use in your design process, they all share a few core principles:

• Focus on the user.
• Create solutions that address the user’s problems.
• Collaborate with teammates across departments.
• Validate your designs.
• Iterate as needed to ensure the right user experience.

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Reference:

Design thinking 101 by Nielsen Norman Group

The Design thinking Process — An Introduction (2021) by CareerFoundry

UX Design Process: Everything You Need to Know by Adobe

What is Design Thinking? by The Interaction Design Foundation