Phase 5 of Design Thinking: Testing

Now that we have empathized with our users to understand their needs defined the problem, ideated solutions, and built a testable prototype, it is time to perform user testing with our prototype. Feedback on the designer’s ideas helps create an actionable list of what works and what might need improvement. According to Cameron Chapman in Breaking Down the Design Thinking Process, “user feedback is what allows products to solve the problems they were designed to solve.” At this point, designers have well-thought-out procedures. In this phase, assumptions will be challenged and reexamined. Expose flaws and weaknesses through the use of well-planned user testing.

In this phase, actionable feedback is one of the most critical pieces needed to gain additional insight and empathy for the people you are designing. Although at this point in the process, designers are working with a more clearly defined problem statement. Ideally, you can test within a real context of the user’s life. Careful planning and organizing of user testing are vital for a successful outcome.

Here are several guidelines to help with test planning:

1. Let your users compare alternatives
2. The show, don’t tell: let your users experience the prototype
3. Ask users to talk through their experience
4. Observe
5. Ask follow up questions

Creating a prototype could involve something as simple as paper and pencil to a complex high-fidelity model that looks very much like the final product. Low-fidelity prototypes are cheaply, quickly, and easily made. But such examples can be unrealistic, and the results from testing can lack validity due to not much real world relevance. High Fidelity prototypes tend to more expensive and time-consuming but have more real-world relevance and, therefore, are considered more applicable.

As a result, low-fidelity prototypes are more common in the early stages of the design process due to many factors, including making quick changes. High fidelity prototyping is much more useful in the later stages of the design process when usability questions are more precise and defined. But the way we think about prototyping and ever-evolving with new technologies. With advances in 3D printing technology, producing prototypes is now often a more instant and low-cost process. As a result, this has allowed designers to provide stakeholders with accurate and testable/useable replica models before settling upon a particular design.

The last two phases of the design process involve a good deal of iteration. Creating prototypes involves a good deal of planning. Then there is the creation of a viable test model. Feedback is necessary to make certain assumptions are correct and expose any weakness in the design. Iteration is fundamental to good design. As designers cycle several times through the design process, the scope narrows from a broad perspective to a more detailed one. It is important to rotate through steps one to five numerous times to build the right solution for your clients and help them achieve their goals. One final way to know if you have accomplished this is by asking has your solution satisfies the three tests of desirability, feasibility, and viability.