"D" Thinking & Process

What is my "Design Thinking"?

For me, "Design Thinking" is a mindset of "Product Design thinking". It's not just about purely designing a set of features, it's more about thinking things as a whole - designing user-centered experience (product) aligned with business vision and strategy.

Product Design encompasses the entire range of research, concept, and execution and testing of a product. For instance, how to *define* the problem, what's the insights behind, and how to find the appropriate solution that meets the target audience's needs. There are 3 things I feel the most important while doing product design:

  • Empathy
  • Problem Solving
  • Systematic & Detail-Oriented thinking

Product Design mindset has been influencing me all the time when I'm doing various design projects, either for consumer products or for enterprise's.

What process do I usually go through?

In my mind design process does vary depending on what kind of project you are working on. Due to my personal working experience, the design process I usually go through are in 2 aspects:

1. For consumer product:

Research


  • need finding
  • observation
  • interview
  • market research
  • opportunity & insight

  to empathize users and "define" the problem

Ideation


  • brainstorming/ bodystorming
  • personas & scenarios
  • storyboard
  • IA
  • wireframes

  to discover the insights and find the creative solution

Prototype


  • paper/ rapid prototype
  • high-fidelity prototype

  to specify the solution and build a good communicating way

Test


  • usability testing
  • usability heuristics
  • usability assessment Methods

  to obtain feedback from users

Iteration

go deep and specific, overall, improve the product.

* iteration includes the former 4 as a circle.

Iteration, interation, iteration...



2. For enterprise product:

Enterprise product usually -

  • has a lot of users,
  • focus on system design,
  • whose users care about performance/speed/consistency.

So the Process is not linear. Things are mash-ups, sometimes in a circle):

project research

  • requirements translation (kickoff meeting)
  • testing current or related product
  • needing finding: users' habits, working space, user's profession
  • design with stakeholders or clients. getting more people (inner and outside) involved and get input as much as possible - collaborative meetings
  • Involving UX researchers

  understand user's goal and business goal

Solution ideation

  • sketch (work collaboratively)
  • use cases
  • IA
  • workflow

  to seek the most efficient way to assist users to accomplish the task

wireframing

  • systematic thinking
  • visualize users's needs and business goal
  • take possibilities of technology into account.

  to visualize the solution for user's needs and business goal

Test

  • Heuristic evaluation
  • Usability testing
  • feasibility testing
  • market research

  to get feedback for iteration as to better deliver the product

Iteration

keep updating the design solution regarding the feedback from PD and UX researches.

* Iteration mostly happens at solution ideation and wireframing stages.

Iteration, interation, iteration...