2.1 The Exten(DT)² Digital Design Thinking Model

There are several models available that describe the process and stages of design thinking. Amongst the most popular are the:

  • Stanford Design School Design Thinking Process
  • Double Diamond model
  • IDEO model.

These models help guide users through design thinking activity and facilitate design thinking projects. Video 1 is an overview of the five stages of design thinking.

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Transcript: Video 1  The design thinking process

Design thinking is a five-step process to come up with meaningful ideas that solve real problems for a particular group of people. The process is taught in top design and business schools around the world. It has brought many businesses lots of happy customers and helped entrepreneurs from all around the world to solve problems with innovative new solutions.

Step 1: Empathize

The purpose of step one is to conduct interviews that give you an idea about what people really care about. We need to empathize with their situation.

For example, if you want to help old people, you might find that they want to keep the ability to walk around. In your conversations, they might share with you different ways they can do that. Later into the interview you'll want to dig a little deeper, look for personal stories or situations where things became difficult. Ideally, you redo the process with many people with the same problem.

Step 2: Define the Problem

Looking at the interviews, you can now understand the actual needs that people are trying to fulfill with certain activities. One way to do that is to underline the verbs or activities that the people mentioned when talking about their problems: like going for a walk, meeting old friends for tea, or simply going grocery shopping around the corner store. You might realize it's not so much about going out, but more about staying in touch. After your analysis, formulate a problem statement: “Some elderly are afraid to be lonely. The want to stay connected.”

Step 3: Ideate

Now focus only on the problem statement and come up with ideas that solve the problem. The point is not to get a perfect idea, but rather to come up with as many ideas: like unique virtual reality experiences, senior friendly hover boards or a modified pushcart. Whatever it is, sketch up your best ideas and show them to the people you are trying to help, so you get their feedback.

Step 4: Prototype

Now take a moment to reflect on what you have learned from your conversations about the different ideas. Ask yourself, how does your idea fit in the context of people's actual lives. Your solution could be a combination of a new idea and what is already being used. Then connect the dots, sketch up your final solution and go build a real prototype that's just good enough to be tested.

Step 5: Test

Now test your prototype with actual users. Don't defend your idea in case people don't like it, the point is to learn what works and what didn't, so any feedback is great. Then go back to ideation or prototyping and apply your learning. Repeat the process until you have a prototype that works and solves the real problem. Now you are ready to change the world or open shop.

To experience design thinking first hand, do the free virtual design thinking crash course from Stanford’s D-School right now. You will learn to design a new gift giving experience. Find the link and a guide for facilitators in the description below. After you are done, share your experience and gift idea in the comment To learn more about creative and critical thinking, check out our other sprouts videos. And if you want to support our channel, visit patreon.com/sprouts.

End transcript: Video 1  The design thinking process
Video 1  The design thinking process
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In this course you will learn about the Exten(DT)² Digital Design Thinking Model (Figure 1a and 1b) which has been developed to support teachers when applying design thinking in practice. It draws from existing models like the ones mentioned above, but it has been developed to use simple language and a set of prompting questions that are easy for students and teachers to understand and follow.

The Exten(DT)² Digital Design Thinking Model’s unique selling point is that it recommends digital applications that can be used at each stage of design thinking, enabling online implementation of design thinking activity. This is a sustainable approach to design thinking as students and teachers can work through different design thinking stages at any time and place, providing they have access to the internet. It can be particularly useful in situations when students are homeschooled or need to attend school remotely.

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Figure 1a  The Exten(DT)² Digital Design Thinking Model
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Challenge: Key concepts. What we already know.

Empathise and understand: What is it we do not know about the problem? What information do we need to gather? What do people say, do, think, feel about this problem? Tech: nQuire for students, ChoiCo, SorBET.

Define and ideate: How can we define the problem based on what people said? What are some prototypes we can create to help other people understand the problem? Tech: ChoiCo, SorBET, MaLT2, GearsBot.

Rapid prototyping and iteration: What is the prototype we will create? How can we iterate and improve it? Tech: ChoiCo, SorBET, MaLT2, GearsBot.

Sharing and feedback: What do other people think about our prototype? Can we make it work better? Tech: nQuire for students.

Respond and deliver: What changes shall we make to the prototype following feedback? Are we ready to ‘deliver’ it to the teacher? Tech: ChoiCo, SorBET, MaLT2, GearsBot.

Outcome: Artefact. New knowledge. Change in behaviour.

Figure 1a  The Exten(DT)² Digital Design Thinking Model

All the applications listed below that are mentioned in the Exten(DT)² Digital Design Thinking Model (Figure 1a and 1b) will be covered in Section 3 of the course.

  • nQuire for students
  • ChoiCo
  • SorBET
  • MaLT2
  • GearsBot

Now view the interactive version of the model below (Figure 1b), which elaborates on each of the design thinking stages.

Click through the design learning stages in the model below to see more detailed descriptions of each stage displayed in the text box underneath.

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Figure 1b  The Exten(DT)² Digital Design Thinking Model (interactive detailed version)
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Note: The proposed tools are suitable for, but not limited to, being used in the specific stages of the Exten(DT)² Digital Design Thinking Model.

2 Using technology for design thinking

2.2 Project example using the Exten(DT)² Digital Design Thinking Model