Design Thinking Process: Stages, Tips, And Examples 2026

However, in the context of transnational adaptation of an already existing mental health mobile app, starting from scratch is often impossible due to timing or monetary constraints. It is, nevertheless, still important to involve users in the adaptation process to ensure that the solution actually adheres to the intended users’ needs and context. In the following sections, we therefore describe examples of how we operationalized the design thinking steps in a manner that was feasible for mental health care organizations. All study documents and qualitative data can be retrieved on the Open Science Framework 31. These organizations were either contacts or partners (ie, the Region of Southern Denmark) or were found through the initial desk research.

Consider Transportation Services

Design Thinking has transformed industries by helping companies deeply understand their users and create innovative solutions. Understanding how Design Thinking interacts with Agile and Lean Startup helps teams apply the right methodology at the right time or combine them for maximum impact. 1️⃣ Inspiration – Research and observe real user behavior to uncover deep insights.2️⃣ Ideation – Explore creative possibilities, challenge assumptions, and prototype.3️⃣ Implementation – Refine the solution and scale it for real-world use. This approach helps teams avoid analysis paralysis and move quickly from idea to execution.

As a bonus, embracing it builds muscles that can help them rise to the leadership challenges they are facing, hybrid work-related and otherwise. As leaders practice design thinking, “creative confidence” – the courage to try out novel ideas – emerges, and a mindset for iteration grows. vi These will be critical leadership traits in the post-pandemic world.

By focusing on empathy, structured problem definition, and continuous testing, teams can reduce guesswork and make better product decisions. The first design thinking process step is about understanding the people you’re designing for. Before jumping into solutions, teams focus on learning what users actually experience, what frustrates them, and what they’re trying to achieve.

The first step is to empathize, that is, getting to know the users by understanding their experiences, challenges, and needs. The second step is to define the challenges and needs that a digital solution should address, based on the insights gathered in the prior phase. The third phase, ideate, focuses on brainstorming and generating creative solutions to your defined challenges and needs. This is followed by a prototype, meaning that one or more simple versions of the solution are created and shared with potential users for feedback.

These activities help to determine the actual need for the solution and to challenge underlying assumptions about the matter. This helps to ensure that the solution is aligned with the intended users’ needs and also allows us to identify the necessities toward integration in existing services. One interesting method is the use of personas, which are fictional, summarizing descriptions of an individual based on real data. They are general enough to represent a stakeholder group but specific enough to allow the design team to focus on specific users’ goals and needs 32.

One of the main challenges, especially when apps are being implemented outside of routine care settings Trivenor Digital OÜ and without clinician support, relates to low adherence and high dropout. Retention of self-guided mental health app usage by the general population, for example, turns out to be low, with a median 15-day retention of 3.9% and 30-day retention of 3.3% 6. Also in clinical populations, similar trends have been reported for mental health app usage without clinician support 7, with high dropout rates from the very onset of using an app. The five stages of design thinking are Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, and Test.

Some tools support immersive authoring, which enables prototyping of XR experiences directly inside VR or AR. We will also learn about usability evaluation techniques and how to design and conduct a user study. Our final lecture will be on creating your XR portfolio as a way of effectively communicating and showcasing your design work. In the honors track, we will finalize our XR project with a digital prototype and submit our work for peer review. The peer review will not only provide important feedback on your work but also allow you to review and critique your peers’ work in a constructive way. I consider formulating good feedback and acting on critical feedback two vital skills for any designer but especially for those working in a space as rapidly evolving as XR.

The final step in the Design Thinking process is testing the prototype with real users to gather feedback and refine the solution. Testing isn’t about proving that a design “works”—it’s about identifying what doesn’t work and improving it. Testing is where you gather feedback from real users to see if the prototype meets their needs. During the Test phase, users interact with the prototype, and teams observe to identify areas for improvement. This stage often leads to revisiting previous steps to refine the solution.

• We’ve outlined a direct and linear design thinking process here, in which one stage seemingly leads to the next with a logical conclusion at user testing.
• We had translated parts of the app’s content in 2 versions to use during the interviews.
• Explore the role of a UX designer, including key skills, responsibilities, estimated salary, and how you can begin.
• This tutorial provides developers, academics, and clinical workers aiming to transnationally scale their digital mental health solution with guidance and concrete examples of why and how design thinking can be used to do so.
• It requires many different viewpoints from designers, future customers, and other stakeholders.

Change it based on feedback, then prototype it again in quick and dirty code. At this phase, bring your team members together and sketch out many different ideas. Then, have them share ideas with one another, mixing and remixing, building on others’ ideas.

Teams use tools like wireframes and templates to move from ideas to tested outcomes. The framework improves clarity, reduces assumptions, and helps teams build solutions that work in real use cases. This is an experimental phase, and the aim is to identify the best possible solution for each of the problems identified during the first three stages. The solutions are implemented within the prototypes, and, one by one, they are investigated and then accepted, improved or rejected based on the users’ experiences. Depending on time constraints, you will gather a substantial amount of information to use during the next stage. The main aim of the Empathize stage is to develop the best possible understanding of your users, their needs and the problems that underlie the development of the product or service you want to create.

To complete the main track of the course, it is recommended but not required. However, to complete the honors track, you will need access to AR/VR devices. It would be sufficient to use a Google Cardboard compatible display wrapper that turns your smartphone into VR goggles. Students who do not receive a seat at any school to which they apply are placed on a non-numeric waitlist called an applicant pool. If they applied to more than one school, you may be assigned to one of your other choices and remain in the applicant pool for choices ranked higher than the school you were selected for.

People with their values and needs serve as a source of inspiration in the Design Thinking process. In this article, we explain what exactly design thinking is, what the design thinking process looks like, and what successful examples already exist. Your team can continue refining the product to better solve your audience’s evolving needs.

Let’s Stop Talking About The Design Process

Some dismiss it as a buzzword, while others believe it’s only useful for designers. Stay open to change, learning from users rather than defending the original idea. No design is perfect on the first attempt, and even a well-received solution can usually be improved.

We help the world’s most interesting brands identify opportunity, create change, and accelerate growth. And somewhere across town, your newly acquired VP of Operations just updated her LinkedIn profile to “open to work.” It happens in nearly every acquisition. It happens because the integration plan treated people as an assumption rather than a strategy. Bowie State University, a historically black college, was concerned with the decrease in numbers of newly enrolling freshmen.

They do not have to follow a specific order, and they can often occur in parallel or be repeated iteratively. The stages should be understood as different modes which contribute to the entire design project, rather than sequential steps. With the power of AI and smart visual tools like Creately, you can bring these stages to life faster, better, and more collaboratively. From generating empathy maps to prototyping UI mockups, AI takes the manual work out of the equation so your team can focus on creativity and problem-solving.

HCD is a broader philosophy, while design thinking provides a structured methodology to apply it. This order ensures that teams are solving the right problems, not just building solutions that fit business goals or technical capabilities. After empathizing with users, they discovered that poor-quality listing photos were turning potential guests away, leading them to offer professional photography services to hosts.

Step 4 – Synthesize Insights And Define Needs

We’ll then explore the five stages of the Design Thinking process in detail. The specific term “design thinking” was coined in the 1990’s by David Kelley and Tim Brown of IDEO, with Roger Martin, and encapsulated methods and ideas that have been brewing for years into a single unified concept. Brainstorm a range of crazy, creative ideas that address the unmet user needs identified in the define phase.