The design thinking process is a highly acceptable methodology that involves a human-centric approach by industries to evolve already existing products and find new ideas in order to serve customers in a better way by getting curious about the needs of actual consumers, ideating perfect solutions, and then testing them with the real consumers.
This process works by first understanding the real users’ needs, then understanding what is technically possible, and finally seeing whether it is economically viable. Good news for you! The best management consulting firms in London also offer consulting services such as design thinking processes.
Let’s explore the steps in the design thinking process by first defining design thinking.
What Is The Design Thinking Process?
Design thinking is a human-centered method for creative problem-solving that assists teams in moving past the first good ideas and finding creative solutions.
In the design thinking process, one solution is not applied to all the problems; instead, a holistic view is encouraged where ambiguity and uncertainty are welcomed and accepted to consider all sides of the problems.
A design mindset is not limited to a few situations; instead, it can be applied to almost all life situations, and it supports designing creative ideas by considering the bigger picture and letting it shape our decisions as we progress. On the basis of this design mindset, top management consulting firms in the world solve the companies’ problems.
Stepwise Guide To Design Thinking Process
The presence of the design thinking process is a permanent fixture. If you want to integrate it into your company, the first important factor is to become familiar with all the steps of the design thinking process. The best management consultant firms understand all these steps thoroughly and know how to integrate them into a company.
Below are the design thinking process steps explained in detail.
1. Empathize
The initial phase of design thinking is to understand the target customers/audience/consumers and their unique views to find and address the issue.
For this purpose, design thinkers keep aside assumptions about the problem and users. This lets them keenly consider all the possibilities about the consumers and all their needs.
3 Main Actions
Analysis: You will observe what your consumers care about and go for what the users do.
Open-ended interviews: You will conduct one-on-one interviews with a few of your consumers to understand their behavior on topics you are exploring. Asking any user to tell what the issue they faced last time can give you a rich explanation that points out the issues you might have not considered otherwise.
Diving: Step into the consumer’s shoes to experience and feel their day-to-day.
2. Define
The second step is to put together all the information you gathered from the consumers in the first step.
In this step, you have to define the problem statement clearly. In design thinking processes, the best statement is focused on something other than the business’s goals; instead, it is gathered from human-centered requirements. All top management consulting firms uk give special attention to putting together all the information because it forms the base for solving problems.
For example, instead of aiming to boost the signups by 10%, a human-centered approach would be to assist pet owners in providing balanced and healthy food for their pets.
2 Main Actions
Grouping And Themes: For defining having a sticky notes wall is the best idea, fill it with ideas, observations, and quotes you heard from the users in research. Keep grouping the ideas until you get the prominent themes.
Problem Statement: Get the answers to the questions, like What is the problem? Who is suffering from those problems? Where does the problem lie? And Why does it matter to you?
Global management consulting firms focus on the main problem to get outstanding outcomes; therefore, remember, in this step, you can only solve some problems, so focus on the main issues and work on them to get the best results.
3. Ideate
In this step, you have to invent ways to address all the unmet needs of the consumers because the problems you want to solve are crystal clear.
In this step, the international management consultancy gathers multiple ideas so the team can investigate and examine them.
2 Main Actions
Brainstorming: In the ideation phase, brainstorming is the basic part as it is the perfect way to generate and collect many ideas for solving problems. In brainstorming, the team put forward their experience, perspective, and insights to get out-of-the-box solutions.
Worst Possible Idea: In the ideation stage, the team members are allowed to think creatively and communicate their worst ideas with the team without the fear of criticism. This method fosters an environment where the point of providing perfect and unique ideas is completely set aside, allowing creativity and freedom to shine.
The ideation stage in the design thinking process is a very freeing and creative phase for the whole team.
4. Prototype
The fourth step is an experiment in which the team finds all the possible solutions that can perfectly solve the identified issues through trial and error.
2 Main Actions
Make A Vision Board: Most global consulting companies make a vision board to clearly understand what action they will take to solve the issue. Representing the inspirations, ideas, and intended outcomes visually will allow the team members to anticipate the final product.
Fast Prototyping: The experimental model aims to make scaled-down and low-cost versions of the specific features or products for basic testing.
5. Test
The final step of the design thinking methodology is testing. It is important to note that the testing stage is part of the interactive cycle, so you can still ask and hear from the consumers again.
Customer testing is an important step followed by all international management consultant firms because it is the way to understand how the users will react to the solution and ideas in your fourth step, which is the prototype, and also helpful to see the level of desirability of that particular experience. That’s why Business Efficiency Consultancy London gives extra attention to the testing step of the design thinking process.
2 Main Actions
Preliminary Version Testing: In observational testing, the consumers interact with the final prototype while the design team observes their responses and behavior. Best management consulting firms in London can provide valuables and unexpected insights into users’ experiences and behavior.
Iterative Testing: Here, the basic testing results are used to make improvements and then experiment and test again. This activity aims to enhance and refine the solution based on consumer feedback continuously.
Best Management Consulting Firm In London
The top management consulting firm in London offers top business management consulting services, including design and thinking processes is recognized as among the top 50 consulting firms. This leading management consulting firm in London 2023 successfully creates value for the organization as well as the consumers by developing and delivering top-class services, products, and outstanding experiences.
Wrap Up
The five stages of the design thinking process are empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and test. Each has a critical role in discovering and solving the problems faced by the users. Top global consulting firms like top leading management consulting firms in London 2023 let the organizations benefit from their experiences, creativity, and products as these firms ensure the organization and the users get the unique best solutions to all problems related to products.
