The five stages of Design Thinking are not always sequential - they do not have to follow any specific order, and you will find they can often occur in parallel and you can repeat them iteratively. As such, the stages should be understood as different modes that contribute to a project, rather than sequential steps. However, most projects begin with an “Empathizing” phase. To gain empathy towards people, we as design thinkers often observe them in their natural environment passively or engage with them in interviews. Also, as design thinkers, we should try to imagine ourselves in these users’ environment, or stepping into their shoes as the saying goes, in order to gain a deeper understanding of their situations. In the following sections, we will outline some methods from d.school Bootcamp Bootleg that will allow you to gain empathy towards your users.Ĭopyright holder: the Author. The mode dial of a Canon EOS Digital SLR camera. How would a beginner photographer know what to choose? To help beginners, fully automatic modes are represented with icons on the dial, which makes it easy for a non-expert to guess what they mean (e.g., clockwise from top, video, night portrait, sports, closeups, etc.). Icons are also universal – i.e., independent of language. More advanced (expert) modes are shown with abbreviations – you really need to read the manual before you use any of these (e.g., “Tv” doesn’t mean “television”, but “time value” – i.e., shutter priority)! You could only imagine how much confusion this must cause to novice Canon users. Nikon use single letters instead for the advanced modes. If we are to empathize with users, we should always try to adopt the mindset of a beginner. What this means is that, as designers (or design thinkers), we should always do our best to leave our own assumptions and experiences behind when making observations. Our life experiences create assumptions within us, which we use to explain and make sense of the world around us. However, this very process affects our ability to empathize in a real way with the people we observe. Since completely letting go of our assumptions is impossible (regardless of how much of a checkered reputation the word “assumption” has!), we should constantly and consciously remind ourselves to assume a beginner’s mindset. It’s helpful if you always remind yourself never to judge what you observe, but to question everything-even if you think you know the answer-and to really listen to what others are saying.
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