DESIGN THINKING

A QUICK COURSE IN

CREATIVE PROBLEM SOLVING

MARY WHARMBY | @marywharmby

Process and techniques

used to solve problems…

…almost any kind of problem.

HUMAN CENTERED

RESEARCH DRIVEN

PRACTICAL & STRATEGIC

TechnologyBusiness

& Organizations

People

COLLABORATIVE

VISUAL & HANDS-ON

VALIDATED & ITERATED

BASIC PROCESS

Understand people,

their goals and needs

Create a solution to

meet those needs

1

23

Repeat

Evaluate & improve

your solution

Understand people,

their goals and needs

Create a solution to

meet those needs

Repeat

Evaluate & improve

your solution

BASIC PROCESS

1

23

Understand people,

their goals and needs

Create a solution to

meet those needs

Repeat

Evaluate & improve

your solution

BASIC PROCESS

1

23

Step 1: UNDERSTAND

You must

UNDERSTAND

a problem

before you can solve it.

Who are we

designing for?

What do they need?

What do they hate?

What do they love?

When, where, how do

they engage?

Who are they with?

What is the scenario?

How can we help?

Where are the hand-offs?

What problems are

they facing?

HOW DO WE KNOW?

RESEARCH!

People watching.

Listening.

Having a meaningful conversation.

Understand EvaluatePrototype

Insights

Ideas

Opportunities

Effectiveness

Usability

Improvements

Empathy Usefulness

RESEARCH HAPPENS TWICE

Understand EvaluatePrototype

RESEARCH HAPPENS TWICE

Effectiveness

Usability

Improvements

Usefulness

Insights

Ideas

Opportunities

Empathy

Be open and put others at ease.

Observe.

Actively listen.

Ask questions and invite stories.

Request others think out loud.

Create hands-on activities like sketching or games.

Invite ideas, collaboration and co-design.

BUT NOW WHAT?

How do we

synthesize and analyze

findings and then

share with our teams?

DESIGN TOOLS

PERSONAS

JOURNEY MAPS

Overview

Platform Preference

Online Frequency

Tech Savvy

Experience

Low High

Goals & Needs:

Obstacles & Pain Points:

Desktop Mobile

Low High

Low High

Opportunities:

PERSONA TEMPLATE

Name:

Quote:

Overview

Platform Preference

Online Frequency

Tech Savvy

Experience

Name:

Low High

Quote:

Desktop Mobile

Low High

Low High

PERSONA TEMPLATE

Joe Smith

“Finding a job is frustrating! I'm working harder at this than I do at my

job. I'm good at what I do but am not sure how to leverage my skills.”

Goals & Needs:

Obstacles & Pain Points:

Opportunities:

Overview

Platform Preference

Online Frequency

Tech Savvy

Experience

Low High

Desktop Mobile

Low High

Low High

PERSONA TEMPLATE

Goals & Needs:

Obstacles & Pain Points:

Opportunities:

Name:

Quote:

Joe Smith

“Finding a job is frustrating! I'm working harder at this than I do at my

job. I'm good at what I do but am not sure how to leverage my skills.”

Overview

Platform Preference

Online Frequency

Tech Savvy

Experience

Low High

Desktop Mobile

Low High

Low High

PERSONA TEMPLATE

Goals & Needs:

Obstacles & Pain Points:

Opportunities:

Name:

Quote:

A way to make a killer

resume (quickly)

Time consuming and

difficult to create a

resume

Automated

resume builder

Joe Smith

“Finding a job is frustrating! I'm working harder at this than I do at my

job. I'm good at what I do but am not sure how to leverage my skills.”

Overview

Platform Preference

Online Frequency

Tech Savvy

Experience

Low High

Goals & Needs:

Obstacles & Pain Points:

A way to make a killer

resume (quickly)A way to get noticed

Time consuming and

difficult to create a

resume

Not sure how to

stand out in crowd.

What do

companies want?

Automated

resume builder

More insight into

what companies want

Desktop Mobile

Low High

Low High

Opportunities:

PERSONA TEMPLATE

Name:

Quote:

Joe Smith

“Finding a job is frustrating! I'm working harder at this than I do at my

job. I'm good at what I do but am not sure how to leverage my skills.”

Overview

Platform Preference

Online Frequency

Tech Savvy

Experience

Low High

Goals & Needs:

Obstacles & Pain Points:

A way to land the

“right” job

Can’t tell from the

outside if it’s

a good fit or not

More insight into

company cultures

Desktop Mobile

Low High

Low High

Opportunities:

PERSONA TEMPLATE

A way to make a killer

resume (quickly)A way to get noticed

Time consuming and

difficult to create a

resume

Not sure how to

stand out in crowd.

What do

companies want?

Automated

resume builder

More insight into

what companies want

Name:

Quote:

Joe Smith

“Finding a job is frustrating! I'm working harder at this than I do at my

job. I'm good at what I do but am not sure how to leverage my skills.”

Role/Situation:

Stage 1:

Name:

What is he/she

Doing:

Thinking:

Feeling:

Where:

w/ Whom:

Opportunities:

JOURNEY MAP TEMPLATE

Stage 2: Stage 3:

Role/Situation:

Stage 1: Apply

Name:

What is he/she

Doing:

Thinking:

Feeling:

Where:

w/ Whom:

Opportunities:

JOURNEY MAP TEMPLATE

Stage 2: Stage 3:

Joe SmithJob Finding Journey

At home

Alone

Searching simplyhiredEndlessly tweaking and

sending out resumes

I’m never going tofind a job!

Provide a better way

to create resumes

and search for jobs

Role/Situation:

Stage 1: Apply

Name:

What is he/she

Doing:

Thinking:

Feeling:

Where:

w/ Whom:

Opportunities:

JOURNEY MAP TEMPLATE

Stage 2: Interview Stage 3:

Joe SmithJob Finding Journey

At home

Alone

Searching simplyhiredEndlessly tweaking and

sending out resumes

I’m never going to find a job!

Potential employer’s office

Potential employer

Answering questions; trying to gauge if this

is a good fit

Do they like me? Do I like them?

Provide a better way

to create resumes

and search for jobs

Provide tips and tricks for

interviewing and presenting

Role/Situation:

Stage 1: Apply

Name:

What is he/she

Doing:

Thinking:

Feeling:

Where:

w/ Whom:

Opportunities:

JOURNEY MAP TEMPLATE

Stage 2: Interview Stage 3: Respond

At home

Alone

Searching simplyhiredEndlessly tweaking and

sending out resumes

I’m never going to find a job!

At home

With friends

Receiving offer letter; deliberating if he should take

the job

Is this the right move?

Provide a better way

to create resumes

and search for jobs

Provide tips and tricks for

interviewing and presenting

Provide insight into

companies, their culture

and work/life balance

Potential employer’s office

Potential employer

Answering questions; trying to gauge if this

is a good fit

Do they like me? Do I like them?

Joe SmithJob Finding Journey

PERSONA

JOURNEY MAP

Step 2: CREATE

Decide what problem

we are trying to solve.

TechnologyBusiness

& Organizations

People

Rapidly ideate solutions

and create

something to interact with

as quickly as possible.

SKETCH

ACT

BUILD

ACT

SKETCH

BUILD

Step 3: EVALUATE & IMPROVE

Understand EvaluatePrototype

Insights

Ideas

Opportunities

Effectiveness

Usability

Improvements

Empathy Usefulness

RESEARCH HAPPENS TWICE

EVALUATE

Demonstrate your solution as early as possible.

Enable as much interaction as possible.

Capture what users are thinking, feeling and doing.

Be open to feedback.

Observe and actively listen.

Invite new ideas, collaboration and co-design.

ITERATE

Improve your design.

Iterate as quickly as possible.

Evaluate with end-users.

Understand people,

their goals and needs

Create a solution to

meet those needs

Repeat

Evaluate & improve

your solution

PROCESS REVIEW

1

23

MOVING FORWARD

Design thinking is a method to solve problems.

Keep the user at the center of your thinking.

Build something as quickly as possible.

Use your artifacts to keep yourself and team on track.

Keep evaluating and iterating.

DESIGN THINKING:

TEMPLATES

TO GET STARTED

Overview

Platform Preference

Online Frequency

Tech Savvy

Brand Trust

Low High

Goals & Needs:

Obstacles & Pain Points:

Desktop Mobile

Low High

Low High

Opportunities:

PERSONA TEMPLATE

Name:

Quote:

Role/Situation:

Stage 1

Name:

What is he/she

Doing:

Thinking:

Feeling:

Where:

w/ Whom:

Opportunities:

JOURNEY MAP TEMPLATE

Stage 2 Stage 3

needs a way to

person

goal or need

insight or obstacle

[circle one]

PROBLEM STATEMENTPROBLEM STATEMENT TEMPLATE

Surprisingly // because // but…

1. What if we used ______________________ to solve ______________________?

2. What if we used ______________________ to solve ______________________?

3. What if we used ______________________ to solve ______________________?

4. What if we used ______________________ to solve ______________________?

5. What if we used ______________________ to solve ______________________?

6. What if we used ______________________ to solve ______________________?

7. What if we used ______________________ to solve ______________________?

8. What if we used ______________________ to solve ______________________?

9. What if we used ______________________ to solve ______________________?

10. What if we used ______________________ to solve ______________________?

“WHAT IF…” IDEATIONBRAINSTORM TEMPLATE

What worked

well?

EVALUATION TEMPLATE

What didn’t

work well?

Proposed

improvements

EVALUATION & ITERATION

THANK YOU!

150 SPEAR ST, STE. 1500 SF, CA 94105

415.339.1979 | www.springstudio.com | @SpringUX

MARY WHARMBY | @marywharmby

PHOTO CREDITS

1. Kids on Bike: https://flic.kr/p/7R58b8

2. Family: https://flic.kr/p/4u5EA

3. Evacuation Center: https://flic.kr/p/4Aomt

4. Lab: https://flic.kr/p/cW3F6C

5. Chess: https://flic.kr/p/e62U9Z

6. Team: https://flic.kr/p/df8x5K

7. Track: https://flic.kr/p/5iNBz

8. Men Talking: https://flic.kr/p/zkGwh

9. John: https://flic.kr/p/9FFiNp

10. Sketch: https://flic.kr/p/HPSqX

11. Model: https://flic.kr/p/dwJ2Hj

12. All Others: ©marywharmby