These days a lot of people talk about design thinking. They highlight that it is the most efficient way to generate new ideas and develop new strategies for companies. Do you want to benefit your business by implementing this practice? Keep on reading the post and discover what design thinking is and how it can help you develop projects.
What is Design Thinking?
Design thinking is a human-oriented approach in developing products and bringing innovations to the market. These days, companies use design thinking to make their products and services useful to clients. This type of thinking is focused on the usefulness of a particular technology.
For instance, for the last several years, a lot of smartphone companies present foldable phones. Unfortunately, consumers don’t need them. They don’t understand how to use them and why they need their phones to fold. Also, they are not ready to pay a high price for such a smartphone. Due to this case, they are not popular, even though manufacturers upgrade their phones regularly.
A proper design thinking approach could inform manufacturers that people don’t want to buy foldable smartphones as they don’t seem useful for them and fill their needs. It could save a lot of money spent on developing and manufacturing foldable smartphones.
How To Apply It?
Do you want to start using design thinking in your business but don’t know how to apply it? Well, there is nothing complicated. The entire process is divided into five stages that you will find below. Follow the instructions and use the benefits of design thinking, bringing innovations.
Research Clients’ Needs
You need to know your customers. Therefore, you have to conduct thorough research to discover what your clients want to get or what technology will simplify their lives. It’s the main stage of design thinking as you cannot know what others feel or want. You need to surf the Internet, check surveys, and interview people to discover what product or service will fill your target consumers’ needs.
Define Problem
At this stage, you have to focus on problem statements. In short, you have to narrow your search and define the top problem that should be resolved. The solution should have a high value to consumers and help them simplify a lot of processes. Defining the problem, you need to stick to the following concepts:
desirability;
viability;
feasibility.
The solution that you’re about to bring to your customers has to be demanded. Otherwise, you won’t be able to sell it and get profits. Also, the technology has to be easy-to-develop to make your prototype working well.
An example of a not-feasible technology is Apple’s AirPower. It is a wireless charging pad that was presented on the stage. The technology was great and desirable by a lot of users. However, it appeared to be unfeasible, so that the project was canceled soon.
Generate Ideas
After defining the main problem that has to be resolved, you need to generate ideas. There are a lot of different ways of coming up with a solution. Nevertheless, brainstorming is the most effective one. By gathering a team and pitching dozens or hundreds of ideas, you will be able to assemble a great one.
In case you can hardly come up with an idea, you need to learn to think out-of-the-box and never reject even the craziest ideas that appear in your mind. If you need to develop a business plan but don’t know how to do it, get professional academic help on the Internet.
Create a Solution
When the idea is developed, it’s about time to build a prototype for your innovative technology. This experimental phase is essential. Worth noting, there is no guarantee that your prototype will be successful. Vice versa, you will likely develop a creepy solution that will need a lot of improvements. If you don’t want to waste all your budget, you need to pay a lot of attention to paper prototyping. Also, develop cheap versions of your product and test it.
Test It
It is the final stage that will indicate if your technology is successful or needs to be upgraded. If your solution does not satisfy customers’ needs or can be hardly developed, you have to be ready to return to the previous design thinking phases or even start from scratch.
Also, don’t forget to collect user’s feedback to build a technology that consumers want to buy. One of the top ways of testing a product is by using a focus group. You need to gather a small group of your target audience, present your product, and survey the participants to discover if they are fascinated by a product or want it to have extra features.
Final Words
Design thinking is a highly effective way of developing new technologies that bring a lot of benefits. The client-oriented approach helps to build a successful business model that is based on satisfying consumers’ needs. Moreover, it helps spend money more efficiently by eliminating non-desirable or non-feasible projects.
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