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The Intersection of Design Thinking and User Experience
Think of it as the front end of the front end, this fusion
of methods for solvingproblems for real people and creating a
better experience for them.
By fusing Design Thinking and User Experience you learn the
socio-psychological ants and desires of your user base and
understand theirorld, as ell unpacking attitudes, reactions, and
emotions about a speci!c
tested ob"ect.
#hen practiced together e begin to see ho human-centered a
technologyinnovation can be. The intersection of the to methods
gives an in-depth,general understanding of the audience for hom you
are creating and alsodetailed, speci!c user feedback about a
particular product, platform, orservice.
$llo a brief explanatory, topical detour, a gentle reminder%
Design Thinking is a method for creating innovative products and
services.
Design Thinking doesn&t start ith a business problem per se,
but rather aconsumer or customer problem.
User Experience 'U() gauges a person&s responses,
perceptions, andemotions about a particular #eb or mobile
experience, but can also be usedfor *hard+ or actual -D products.
$ccording to the / de!nition, userexperience includes all the
users0 emotions, beliefs, preferences,perceptions, physical and
psychological responses, behaviors andaccomplishments that occur
before, during, and after use, but is focused onuse.
$t the most theoretical levels both Design Thinking and User
Experience helppeople !nd hat they need.
1ey di2erences, hoever, include the intention—and the solution
itself . Typically ith Design Thinking the intention is
to !nd the gaps in the person&sexperience in the orld that
could be augmented ith innovative products orservices3 hereas in U(
the general context of testing is make incrementalimprovements in
something that is already under development but not yet
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launched. The U( designer is looking for ho to meet preferences
for asolution under development 'the De!ne phase is already
complete, so tospeak), but in Design Thinking the solution arises
out of a deeper discoveryinto the usage category ithout any preset
notions about solutions.
Both Design Thinking and U( are valuable disciplines, but both
ould bemore valuable to themselves and their users if they
cross-pollinated, startingith users earlier in the discovery and
invention process.
Therefore, by creating a ne hybrid of DT( 'design thinking
experience) yougo deeper into user empathy, ensure you are solving
the right problem inyour prototypes, and delve even further into
hat makes desirable andvaluable experiences, and then take a richer
level of insight into the actualexperience of a technology,
product, or service.
Daily and Memphis News ArticleMichael Graber is the managing
partner of the Southern Growth Studio, an innovation andstrategic
growth firm based in Memphis, TN. isit
www.southerngrowthstudio.com to
learn more.
http://www.southerngrowthstudio.com/http://www.southerngrowthstudio.com/
