Congratulations on Completing a Design Sprint

Congratulations. Over the last 4 weeks you have learnt the absolute tip of the iceberg when it comes to Design Thinking. You have learnt the 5 stages of a Design Thinking process, Empathy, Define, Ideate, Prototype and Test and you have carried out a design sprint on a real and important challenge.

Design Thinking is a human centred process. It mixes creativity with analysis and allows groups of people with varying backgrounds to work together to solve challenging problems. Each stage of the process has a range of tools at its disposal, which can be adapted to suit any context and the process can create solutions that are resilient, adaptable and desirable to the user.

Over these 4 weeks, I hope that you have seen the power Design Thinking can have, and while you have carried out this process by yourself, I hope that you can imagine how much more powerful it can be with another person (or 5) helping out. Data can be multiplied, and synthesised with wide ranging conversations and perspectives all to create better solutions for our users.

To recap our learning outcomes:

• We have applied many design thinking tools to make decisions
• We have identified and solved a challenge associated with sustainable goals using Design Thinking
• We have created meaning from interview and secondary data
• And now that you know the Design Thinking process you will be able to identify which stage of a project you may be in

Design Thinking may seem easy, and it can be done simply. But there is so much to learn within each stage. As an example, removing your bias from the Empathy, Define, and User testing stage is incredibly hard but that is why it is best done in teams. To sense check and the ability to utilise different strengths so that everyone can add value.

I hope you enjoyed this brief window into Design Thinking and I do hope that our paths cross once again in our Design Thinking journeys.