Have you ever thought about how companies actually create products that truly work for the user?

A system to create a product that truly works for the user is called Design Thinking. It is basically a step by step approach to designing with empathy, understanding the user first and the building something that solves their real needs.

The System works with four different steps that follow in a clear order.

1. Empathize: Finding the Target

"Before you can hit a target, you need to know where the target is."

That’s why the first step in Design Thinking is to empathize with the user. You have to really understand their struggles and what they want to achieve. Without this, you’re just guessing, and guessing rarely leads to a product that truly works.

Empathy helps you see the world through the user’s eyes and sets the foundation for everything that comes next.

You can empathize by talking directly to users, listening carefully to their experiences, observing how they interact with products, and asking open questions that encourage them to share their true thoughts and feelings.

2. Define: What does the User need ?

After you understand your users and their struggles, you need to clearly identify the exact problem you want to solve. Without a clear problem statement, you might waste time solving the wrong issue or creating something that doesn’t fit the problem the users face. By defining the problem, you set a clear direction for your ideas and solutions.

3. Idiate: Beeing Creative

After you know the user and have a clear problem statement, it's time to create ideas and the more ideas you have, the better. This step is where you get creative and think outside of the box. Here you could use brainstorming sessions, sketching, mind maps or collaborative workshops to get new ideas. The goal is to generate a wide range of options to choose later.

4. Prototyp and Testing

So know you know where the target is, you have the problem statement, and you have a lot of different ideas to solve the Problem. Its time to actually see what works and what doesn't. In this step, you start testing your ideas with a prototype. It does not have to be a perfect or final product, it can be simple sketches, clickable apps or mockups. The Goal is to actually gather some feedback.

After users test the product, you can conduct interviews to gather valuable feedback. These conversations help you understand what worked, what didn’t, and what changes will make the product even better.

Itterative: Keep Improving

After you have a solution for your product, it's time to do it all over again. Design Thinking is not just something you do one time and are finished with it. its an iterative process, which means you keep going back through the steps and make your product better and better.