Design methodologies: higher-level thinking

For example, a wearable fitness device is naturally for a particular target group of athletes and needs to be tested in their actual sport in a variety of conditions and locations. The final product should resonate with any similar athlete to solve their specific problems while feeling familiar to use. These steps aren’t linear, and they’re often iterated on and repeated forward and backward with the goal of an “intentional design.”ĭesign thinking is easily applicable to any kind of product ideation, but it should have specific users and relevant application environments in mind. Prototyping brings these ideas to life quickly, and then testing the prototypes helps gather feedback. Teams then use human-centered feedback to develop and refine a product story until it resonates with the target audience. Image via IDEO.ĭesign thinking aims to capture good intent by focusing on human interaction with a product. It begins by framing a question that inspires a design team to look for related concepts and generate new ideas. Many have tried to distill the process of design into a digestible recipe, often motivated by the hope of reliably reproducing successful innovation. At a high level, all of these formulas focus on solving a real-world problem that’s also a realizable market opportunity. One of the most notable strategies as of late is the design thinking process introduced by IDEO. Refining and redefining the design process But to reach an intentional design requires a lot of behind-the-scenes work that the end customer doesn’t see the process of designing products and the methodology controlling that process. The former defines the various steps and phases of solving a real-world problem by innovating solutions, while the latter specifies the way in which a team undertakes that process. Most design teams aim to produce “intentional products” - products that solve a particular problem for a particular target market in an intentional way. When you start designing a product, what are your design process and design methodology? How do you know where to start? Image via ITERATE.

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