There are five stages in the design thinking process which is used to solve complex problems. The first stage is empathising which is a crucial stage because you want to be able to understand the problem and really look at the human needs that are involved. The second stage is to define the problem using all of the information that you have determined from the empathise stage. When you define the problem, you want to make sure that you define it in a way that is human centered. This means that the it should be in the human’s best interest rather than the companies.
The define stage will then lead you to the next stage which is ideate. This is all about getting creative and generating new ideas. In this stage there will be a lot of brainstorming and coming up with new solutions. After you have found that solution the next stage will be the prototype. This stage is all about experimenting to make sure that you are in fact finding a solution to your problem. The issues should be established in this stage and there should be a clear vision of how the consumer will act while using the product.
This takes us to the last stage which is to test. This stage is important because you are testing the actual product. Even though it is the final stage there could still be changes made in this stage. The idea is to make sure the product is perfect so that it is solving the problem that was defined. The design thinking process is great to use because you are bringing ideas to life. When you base this on how real people think, feel and behave it will have a stronger impact. One important note about this process is that these stages do not have to follow this exact order. Just like in life nothing is planned out perfectly, but everything ends up coming together in the end.