Design Thinking

What is Design Thinking?

Design Thinking is a human-centered approach to problem-solving that is widely used in product design, especially in UX/UI Design. Instead of solely relying on assumptions or subjective opinions, Design Thinking allows designers to frame the problem through the user's perspective, quickly test ideas, and continuously improve based on real feedback.

Unlike traditional linear processes, Design Thinking is an iterative process consisting of 5 main steps:

Empathize – Understand the user

Spend time observing, interviewing, and empathizing with users to deeply understand their needs, emotions, behaviors, and barriers.

Define – Define the problem:

Turn observations into insights, then rewrite them into a clear and focused problem statement.

Ideate – Generate ideas

Brainstorm multiple creative solutions, withholding judgment on ideas during this phase to expand the range of thinking.

Prototype – Create prototypes:

Turn ideas into simple prototypes (low-fi or mid-fi) for quick testing.

Test – Testing

Experiment with real users to gather feedback, learn, and improve the solution. This stage often leads to revisiting the previous step for adjustments.

For example

Suppose you are redesigning the account registration page for a banking application. Instead of jumping right into the design of the interface, you would start by interviewing users (Empathize), discovering that they often feel anxious about security (Define), thinking of UX solutions to help them feel more secure (Ideate), creating a prototype of the interface with prominent security features (Prototype), and then testing with real users to adjust (Test).

Why is a Design System important?

Design Thinking helps designers avoid getting “lost” in subjective thinking or becoming overly solution-focused. It emphasizes the importance of deeply understanding users, being agile in experimentation, and most importantly: creating truly valuable products.