UX and Design Thinking Go Hand in Hand: A-to-Z Guide for Beginners!

Are you a website designer and developer, then I am going to tell you about UX and Design Thinking Go Hand in Hand. So if you want to know about it, then keep reading this article completely.Because I am going to give you complete information about it, so let’s start.

As you all know that every website designer and other designer does not take much time to design any content, element, graphics and software. But before designing the design, the thought that has to be done to design it, it takes time.

That’s why I thought why not tell you the tips on how to create a design without thinking hand-in-hand.

UX and Design Thinking

So, without wasting any time, we get complete information about UX and Design Thinking Go Hand in Hand, so let’s start.

UX and Design Thinking Go Hand in Hand!

Design thinking is about solving problems in creative and new ways. It is a way of making things more convenient to use and pleasing to the eye for people who use your digital product. In fact, it can be applied to any kind of product in any industry or niche. 

It is absolutely worth it to invest time and effort into design thinking because users are willing to pay money if their problems get fixed quickly and effectively. A tool with a good UX can help make people’s lives better while guaranteeing a stress-free process. 

Now, the design thinking process is not an easy one by all means. It is a methodology that often includes dealing with challenging problems. First off, you need to know what is the actual problem you want to solve in people’s lives. 

Finding such problems can be difficult nowadays, as we have a solution for almost all of our problems in our everyday lives.  

The Non-Linear Process of Design Thinking

In the design process of a digital product, running into unexpected problems is often inevitable. These problems can be complicated enough to require a complete framework from UX designers, which we call design thinking. It is a framework with the main goal to create solutions. 

This all happens with users in mind, as they are the ones who need to be satisfied with the final product. Investigating problems from the user’s standpoint leads to innovative solutions and practical design. What can be done to solve the problem? This is the question that needs to be answered and the one that leads to exciting ideas. 

In the rest of the article, we are going to break down the classical Design Thinking process into 4 importatnt stages. 

1. Understand the Needs of Your Users

All of the ideas about the features your product will have need to revolve about the needs of your future users. This is how empathy enters the design thinking process. You might want to look at what the market currently has to offer and start building features based on the information.

However, doing it right away means that you still know nothing about the needs of your target audience. Learn more about the problems your users want to solve. A good digital product is enjoyable to use and aims to improve the quality of people’s lives. 

At this point, you might suspect that there is some psychology in the equation. You are absolutely right about that. This is the reason why many big players in the game hire behavioral psychologists to help them out. Trying your best to see things from the user’s point of view is more important than ever. 

A great way to find out more about your target audience is to communicate with them. Hold interviews instead of forming assumptions out of the blue. Although your assumptions might be good, there is simply too much risk involved. 

Collecting information from users directly can set you to the right path of creating a product that actually solves their problems. On the other hand, you could create a decent product that users might be tempted to buy, yet it will miss the point either partially or completely. 

2. Defining the Problem

Once you have collected data from users, you have a better idea about the problem that needs to be solved. While thinking about the solution, don’t forget to factor the user in at every step. It is easy to fall into the trap of switching the spotlight to your company. 

The design thinking process rather requires a user-centric view. This second step is one you might need to get back to a couple times. Once you put your ideas into action and do some testing, additional problems can emerge that were initially hidden. 

As you collect more information, the problem might change, uncovering more detail about what is missing in the digital product. Design thinking and UX are similar to art in this regard: You should never assume that your product is perfect. 

If you would do that, it will be a disaster to find out that there are actually multiple flaws to deal with after its release. Aim towards building core functionalities while collecting feedback from users and then gradually transition to the smaller details. 

3. Perfecting the Product

Once all the important problems are laid out and solved from the user standpoint, it is time to think about possible solution. This part is about forming opinions without judgment, identifying bad options and brainstorming. 

Now you not only understand your product but also know what your users want from it and how they can benefit from it. Based on that, you can start generating ideas and write them down, even the bad ones. Letting ideas flow in a room is a great way to come up with something big. 

Once the brainstorming is done, you can start separating those ideas that make the most sense. Then comes the evaluation about how innovative those potential ideas are. Innovation always comes with a risk, and you need to carefully discuss those risks with your team before taking them. 

The end result is a list of ideas that can bring immense value to your business. They can be turned into prototypes and if they perform well, you will end up with final products or features. 

4. Prototyping as Part of the Design Thinking Process

As we mentioned above, winning ideas eventually turn into prototypes. The thing about UX design is that the more time and effort you invest into developing a product, the higher its price is going to be at the end. Considering this, you need to add another step to the design thinking process.

You will not only need prototypes but low-fidelity prototypes as well. A low-fidelity prototype is the potential precursor of a winning prototype. As you add more detail for them, it will become obvious which are the ones you should not invest on. 

After all, one of them will be the winning prototype while the others will be discarded. Communicating your design ideas using prototypes is a highly effective method. This is especially true if you want to present them to people who are not specialized in UX design. 

Prototyping allows you to take a look at the main characteristics of the product. This part of the design thinking process sometimes requires prototyping tools. These tools allow you to add or remove functionalities to the functional replica of your product, which is your prototype. 

Of course, your prototypes can be quite similar, sharing the same core. Adding new variables to each of them is a great way to see and evaluate the impact of each valuable on your product. The main reason why you should work with prototypes is because it is a way to avoid failure. 

You rather want to see your prototypes fail than your actual product, right? This way, you can catch errors and flaws in time and correct them in a cost-effective way. The point of UX and design thinking is to introduce in-between steps that allow you to correct flaws and identify errors in judgement before the final product is ready. 

Testing as Part of the Prototyping Stage

The UX design and design thinking process is not always the same but rather depends on the type of business you are running. It is often required to perform some testing as well in the prototyping process. Now, it is not easy to introduce testing to the whole process because it won’t work without thorough planning.

Prototyping is an approach where you add features and experiment while presupposing that you are right the whole time. Testing, on the other hand, requires an approach where you presuppose that you are wrong. There are smart ways to get reliable feedback from users and asking yes or no questions is not one of them. 

First off, you need to lay down the reasoning behind your design. Then, you need to add users to the equation who need to validate that reasoning. If your users find your solution useful, then it means that you have articulated the right problem. 

Also, there is no need to explain how your product works. Instead, you need to leave users in the dark and figure it out themselves. This way, you can get the most natural and honest reactions and end up with valuable feedback. 

Don’t be afraid to change the way you look at the product in question. In UX design and design thinking process, you sometimes need to demote products from prototypes to design ideas. 

Final Thoughts!

Design thinking requires careful planning throughout each step towards creating the perfect product. You need to carry out specific tasks by following the step-by-step process, as we explained it above. It is a linear process where creativity plays a huge role.

In design thinking and UX design, you sometimes need to take a step back and re-evaluate. Meanwhile, you can collect valuable information from real users and brainstorm with your team, which will lead you to innovative ideas. 

If we would really want to simplify it, design thinking is actually a two-step process. There is the creative part of it where you come up with great ideas and features. The other part is about putting your product out there and watching carefully how it performs in action while collecting valuable information from users.

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