Design Thinking is a 5-step process to come up with
meaningful ideas that solve real problems
for a particular group of people.
The process is taught in top design
and business schools around the world.
It has brought many businesses lots of happy customers
and helped entrepreneurs from all around the world,
to solve problems with innovative new solutions.
Step 1: Empathize
The purpose of step one is to conduct interviews
that give you an idea about
what people really care about.
We need to empathize with their situation.
For example, if you want to help old people,
you might find that they want to keep
the ability to walk around.
In your conversations, they might share with you different ways they can do that.
Later into the interview you'll want to dig a little deeper,
look for personal stories
or situations where things became difficult.
Ideally, you redo the process with many people
with the same problem.
Step 2: Define the Problem
Looking at the interviews, you can now understand
the actual needs that people are trying to fulfill with certain activities.
One way to do that is to underline the verbs
or activities that the people mentioned
when talking about their problems:
like going for a walk, meeting old friends for tea,
or simply going grocery shopping around the corner store.
You might realize it's not so much about going out,
but more about staying in touch.
After your analysis, formulate a problem statement:
“Some elderly are afraid to be lonely.
The want to stay connected.”
Step 3: Ideate
Now focus only on the problem statement
and come up with ideas that solve the problem.
The point is not to get a perfect idea,
but rather to come up with as many ideas:
like unique virtual reality experiences,
senior friendly hover boards or a modified pushcart.
Whatever it is, sketch up your best ideas
and show them to the people you are trying to help,
so you get their feedback.
Step 4: Prototype
Now take a moment to reflect on what you have learned
from your conversations about the different ideas.
Ask yourself, how does your idea
fit in the context of people's actual lives.
Your solution could be a combination of a new idea
and what is already being used.
Then connect the dots, sketch up your final solution
and go build a real prototype
that's just good enough to be tested.
Step 5: Test
Now test your prototype with actual users.
Don't defend your idea in case people don't like it,
the point is to learn what works and what didn't,
so any feedback is great.
Then go back to ideation or prototyping
and apply your learning.
Repeat the process until you have a prototype
that works and solves the real problem.
Now you are ready to change the world or open shop.
To experience design thinking first hand,
do the free virtual design thinking crash course
from Stanford’s D-School right now.
You will learn to design a new gift giving experience.
Find the link and a guide for facilitators in the description below.
After you are done, share your experience
and gift idea in the comment
To learn more about creative and critical thinking,
check out our other sprouts videos.
And if you want to support our channel,
visit patreon.com/sprouts.