What Is Design Thinking? Let’s Cook It Out
My first attempt at cooking for a group was a total disaster. It was a New Year’s party I hosted for friends during my college years. Desperate to impress, I chose to cook peppersoup, a dish I had never cooked before. My hands were sweaty as I slaved over a stove, preparing what I thought would be a showstopper.
But my naive self didn’t think to first make a small batch of the dish before making a large batch for my guests. Classic schoolgirl error!
After several hours of sweating it out in the kitchen, I served my “masterpiece”… And then… *crickets*. Uhm… I guess we can say not much eating took place that day. My guests were gracious enough not to badmouth my cooking (at least not to my hearing). But their untouched plates did all the talking.
A whole lot has changed since that event. These days, I am a wiz in the kitchen and can easily cook for 1,000 guests without any errors.
However, in retrospect, it is easy to see what went wrong — I didn’t cook with my guests in mind. Yes, I wanted to impress them. I cooked what “I thought” they’d like. But all of these were based on my own assumptions, not their actual needs.
Similarly, poorly designed apps and websites are most often a result of not designing with the end-user in mind.
To avoid such problems and create products that people will actually want and need, UX designers use a methodology known as Design Thinking.
But what exactly is Design Thinking?
According to the Interaction Design Foundation, Design Thinking is an iterative process in which you seek to understand your users, challenge assumptions, redefine problems, and create innovative solutions which you can test.
As a professional cook turned designer, I find the design thinking process quite similar to cooking for guests.
At their core, both processes involve using tools and ingredients to craft a product that creates a delightful experience for the end-user. So, whether you’re whipping up some spicy chicken wings or creating an app that helps users navigate a new city, you have to start with the end-user in mind. The goal is to satisfy their need (or hunger) in the most enjoyable way possible.
If I could time travel back to that New Year’s day in college, here is how I would use design thinking to successfully engineer that party:
Step 1: Understand the guests (Empathize)
I would start by getting to know the people I’ll be cooking for. And this means finding answers to questions like:
- Who are we cooking for? Are they adults, kids, vegetarians, etc?
- What are their preferences? Any special requirements or dietary needs?
- When and where are they having the meal? Is it a picnic outdoors or a lunch at home? Day or Night?
- Why are they having the meal? Is it a birthday dinner, wedding party, or just a simple family lunch?
In UX design, this is known as the empathize phase. It is the foundation of the whole design thinking process. By starting your design process with empathy, you set aside your own assumptions and learn more about users — their motivations, goals, and pain points. Tools used here include observation, user interviews, surveys, and focus groups.
At the end of this phase, you should have a clear understanding of how the users act, feel, and think.
Step 2: Define their needs (Define)
Next, I will use the information I’ve gathered about my guests to create a statement that will guide my cooking process. For example, I might say:
“I’m having a New Year’s lunch for a bunch of young, physically active students. Due to their active lifestyle, they need a nutritious and well-balanced meal.”
In UX design, this is known as the define phase. It involves converting the findings from the empathize phase into a problem statement that can guide the design process.
A good problem statement is actionable, human-centered, and user-focused.
Step 3: Create a menu (Ideate)
With the guests’ needs clearly defined, I can start coming up with menu ideas. This involves listing out all the possible dishes I can create that’ll appeal to the guests based on the problem statement identified earlier.
In UX design, this is known as the ideation phase and is where all the creativity happens. The goal here is not to come up with the “perfect” idea, but to churn out as many ideas as possible. Collaborate with other designers, go crazy, and think outside the box. There are no bad ideas here.
Some ideation techniques used in this phase include brain dump, mind mapping, and brainstorming.
Step 4: Cook (Prototype)
At this point, I’ll step into the kitchen and start whipping up a tasty meal. I’ll start by making a small batch for tasting before making a large batch for the guests.
In UX design, this is known as the prototype phase and is where all the ideas are brought to life. Here, designers convert insights into a tangible design solution that can be tested with real users.
Step 5: Taste test (Test)
After preparing the food, I’ll have to get a second opinion on how it tastes before serving it to my guest. In this case, I would probably ask my family or flatmates to try the food and provide feedback.
They might say things like:
“It’s too spicy”
“I think you could use a bit more salt”
“The meat is tough. You need to cook it a bit longer”
Then it’s back to the kitchen to make adjustments based on their recommendations until I have something that’s a crowd-pleaser.
This is known as the test phase in UX design. In this phase, users test prototypes of the design and provide feedback for improvement.
And with that, I would have successfully cooked my way through the design thinking process and created a meal that my guests would actually enjoy.
Final Thoughts
Although the cooking process illustrated here is linear, it is important to note that design thinking is not a linear process. Some of the steps shown here may happen several times, and you may even go back and forth between them. For example, while testing with users, you might uncover insights that redefine the problem. In this case, you must go back to the define phase and proceed from there.
It sounds like a lot of work, I know. So why bother trying this approach to problem-solving? Here are a few of the benefits:
- Creates products that people want: Putting the users front and center of the design process ensures that you create products that people actually want and need.
- Produces innovative solutions: Pooling a diverse variety of perspectives and ideas helps to create innovative solutions to problems.
- Foresees new problems: By constantly testing with real users, you identify potential solutions to issues that may not be obvious to even the user.
To see an application of design thinking in product design, check out this case study.