Design Thinking: Applying creative problem solving to visual design. How can we use it?

Getting Started

If you’re a visual designer or interested in designing, you should learn about the design thinking process.

Design thinking is a human-centered approach to problem-solving that is used by designers to create innovative and effective solutions.

It is a process that involves empathy, ideation, prototyping, and testing.

This approach is for anyone who wants to create meaningful designs that solve real-world problems.

How To

1. Empathize: Understand the needs of your users and their pain points. Observe and interview them to gain insights.
2. Ideate: Brainstorm and come up with solutions to the problem. Use techniques like mind mapping, sketching, and brainstorming.
3. Prototype: Create a low-fidelity prototype to test your solution. This can be a sketch, a wireframe, or a mockup.
4. Test: Get feedback from your users on your prototype. Use this feedback to refine your solution.

Best Practices

• Collaborate with your team and stakeholders throughout the process.
• Focus on the user’s needs and pain points.
• Iterate and refine your solution based on feedback.
• Stay open to new ideas and be willing to pivot if necessary.

Examples

Let’s say you’re a visual designer working for a company that sells shoes online.

Your team has noticed that customers are having trouble finding the right size and style of shoe.

You decide to use the design thinking process to come up with a solution.

First, you empathize with the users by conducting interviews and observing their behavior.

You find that customers are overwhelmed by the number of options and are not sure about their shoe size.

Next, you ideate with your team and come up with a solution to simplify the search process and provide sizing recommendations.

You create a low-fidelity prototype of a new search interface that includes a size calculator and filters for style and color.

You test the prototype with a group of users and get feedback on the design.

Based on the feedback, you make some changes to the interface and test it again.

After a few iterations, you have a solution that solves the user’s problem and is easy to use.