How to master design thinking?

Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works, said Steve Jobs, the man who used design thinking to make Apple products what they are today. Often people confuse design thinking with the appearance of a product. But instead design thinking a process which seeks to understand the user, the challenges they face and redefine problems and come up with a solution. In simple words, design thinking is putting yourself into the shoes of the consumers and finding a solution to their problem. 

If you are interested in pursuing interaction design courses, here are a few things you should know about mastering design thinking:

1. Framing the right questions: To gain an empathetic understanding of the problem you’re trying to solve, you need to ask the right questions. This will help you reveal the behaviour of users, providing you with crucial touchpoints. These touchpoints will enable you to design the problems and develop a strategy to approach them optimally.


2. Consider the what-ifs: This is a very important step towards arriving at the right solution. It is the stage when you brainstorm, consider new possibilities, trends and uncertainties. The way you develop this part is ultimately going to decide what your final solution will look like. Ideate, share your ideas and prioritise them. Shortlist the worthy ones and revisit them.


3. Think of a wow idea: After having generated a pool of ideas during the stage two, it’s time to find the wow potential. It is the wow factor that is the key differentiator and will help your product stand out in the market. Will a person be excited to purchase the product? Is the product desirable and appealing? These are some of the key questions that you should be answering in this stage to come with a great design.


4. Make sure it works: The final solution must meet three key criteria: execution, economics and customer. Experiment with prototypes to gain valuable insights and measure their success. Launching a product into the market without prototyping it will rob you of key insights. These insights can help you better your design and avoid lapses found during this stage. Following this step and the ones mentioned above will help you get into the shoes of the users and come with the right solution.

Learn how to design great user experiences at School of Industrial Design

Learn design thinking from the industry experts at Unitedworld Institute of Design (UID). Our four-year B.Design Interaction Design will help you learn how to design products that will bring value to people, companies and society. The programme balances creativity, technology, cultural concerns, and environmental needs. You will gain a deeper understanding of production techniques as well as emerging technologies like Human Computer Interaction and Artificial Intelligence. You will be exposed to real-world applications through study tours and industry internships, culminating in a project.