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Year 9 Design & Technologies · Creating Designed Solutions · 18m read

Design Thinking and the Design Process

Ever wondered how companies like Apple create products people actually love? Design thinking is a human-centred approach where you start by deeply understanding what people really need, then brainstorm creative solutions and test them out. You'll learn to think like a designer by empathising with users, defining real problems, and iterating (improving) your ideas—skills that matter whether you're tackling VCE design projects or solving everyday challenges at work or in your community.

Learning objective: Apply design thinking to identify needs and generate design solutions.

By the end of this lesson you can:

  • I can explain the design thinking process (Empathise, Define, Ideate, Prototype, Test).
  • I can write a clear design brief.
  • I can generate and evaluate multiple design ideas.

The design process is a loop, not a line. You research, design, make and test — then loop back to improve. Great products go round the loop many times.

The design thinking process

DESIGN THINKING — 5 STAGES (Stanford d.school):

  • EMPATHISE:
  • Understand the users — their needs, frustrations, motivations.
  • Methods: interviews, observation, surveys, user journeys.
  • Outcome: deep understanding of the real problem.
  • DEFINE:
  • Synthesise empathy findings into a problem statement.
  • "How might we...?" question format.
  • Example: "How might we help elderly people access fresh food without driving?"
  • IDEATE:
  • Generate many ideas without judging them.
  • Brainstorming, SCAMPER, mind mapping, "crazy 8s."
  • Quantity over quality at this stage — wild ideas spark practical ones.
  • PROTOTYPE:
  • Build quick, cheap representations to test ideas.
  • Could be: sketch, cardboard model, storyboard, digital mockup.
  • "Fail early, fail cheap" — learn by building.
  • TEST:
  • Share prototype with real users.
  • Observe how they interact — what works, what confuses.
  • Feed findings back to redefine or ideate further.
  • Process is ITERATIVE — go back and refine.

DESIGN BRIEF:
• Who is the client/user?
• What is the problem/need?
• What are the constraints (time, cost, materials)?
• What are the success criteria?

EVALUATION CRITERIA:
• Functional: does it solve the problem?
• Aesthetic: is it appealing?
• Safe: no hazards for users.
• Sustainable: minimal environmental impact.
• Economical: within budget.

AARI TIP: Ask Aari to help you develop a "How Might We" question for a design challenge you're working on.

Design thinking principles

  • Human-centred: Start with people's needs, not technology or products.
  • Iterate: Design is never done — prototype, test, refine repeatedly.
  • Bias toward action: Build something rough rather than plan indefinitely.

Quick reference

| Stage | Output |
|---|---|
| Investigate | Research, brief |
| Generate | Ideas, sketches |
| Plan | Production steps |
| Produce | Prototype/product |
| Evaluate | Against criteria |

Worked example (Medium)

Write a design brief for a solution to help Year 9 students manage homework deadlines.

  1. Client/User. Year 9 students aged 14-15; busy schedule with multiple subjects, sport, social commitments.
  2. Problem. Students frequently miss homework deadlines, causing stress and poor academic outcomes.
  3. Constraints. Time: 4 weeks. Budget: no cost to users (free solution). Access to tools: smartphones and school computers.
  4. Success criteria. (1) Students can see all upcoming deadlines in one place. (2) System sends reminders 48h and 24h before due date. (3) Students report reduced stress about deadlines after 2 weeks of use.

Answer: A good design brief defines the user, problem, constraints and measurable success criteria — it guides all subsequent design decisions.

Practice questions

  1. In design thinking, the "Ideate" phase is characterised by:

    1. Building the final product.
    2. Generating many ideas without judgement.
    3. Talking to users about their needs.
    4. Testing the prototype with users.

    (1 marks)

  2. Why is the design thinking process described as "iterative" rather than linear?

    (3 marks)

  3. The "How Might We" question in design thinking is used to:

    1. Identify the final solution
    2. Frame the problem as an open invitation for creative solutions
    3. List design constraints
    4. Evaluate prototypes against criteria

    (1 marks)

  4. Evaluate the role of prototyping in design thinking. Why is "failing fast" considered a positive strategy?

    (4 marks)

  5. Describe two empathy research methods used in design thinking and what each reveals.

    (2 marks)

Common mistakes

  • Jumping to solutions before understanding the problem Without a thorough empathy phase, solutions address assumed problems rather than real user needs Fix: Follow Empathise → Define rigorously before Ideating. Spend more time on the problem than the solution
  • Treating the first prototype as the final product A prototype is a learning tool, not a deliverable — the first version will have flaws by design Fix: Build multiple iterations. Each prototype reveals what works and what does not. Fail early and fail cheap
  • Writing vague success criteria like "users should be happy" Vague criteria cannot be tested and do not guide design decisions or evaluation Fix: Make success criteria SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound. E.g., "Task completion time reduced from 5 to under 2 minutes"

Worked example (Hard)

Apply the full design thinking process to redesign the Year 9 canteen ordering experience at an Australian secondary school. Show specific outputs for each phase.

  1. Empathise. Observations: students queue 8-12 minutes at peak; 40% leave without ordering. Interviews reveal: menu hard to read from queue; card-only payment introduced but some students carry cash; allergies not clearly marked; 12-minute lunch breaks barely enough.
  2. Define. "How might we enable Year 9 students to order canteen food in under 3 minutes while accommodating allergies and different payment methods?" Persona: Jayden, 14, nut allergy, card only, 12-minute post-PE lunch break.
  3. Ideate. Generated 30+ ideas: app pre-ordering, numbered tickets, digital menu boards, allergen colour-coding, reduced menu. Ranked by feasibility and user impact. Top 3 prototyped.
  4. Prototype 1 — App pre-ordering. Paper wireframe of app: select items → allergy filter → pay → collect. User test reveals: school phone policy prevents use. PIVOT required.
  5. Prototype 2 — Ticket system with allergen menu. Digital allergen menu (large font, colour-coded) + numbered order tickets. 4/5 students immediately understood allergen system. Simulated queue-to-food: 2.3 minutes ✓

Answer: Design thinking produces solutions grounded in real user research. The pivot from app to ticket system was only possible because prototypes were cheap to test quickly.

Deeper Understanding: Human-Centred Design in Practice

Design thinking emerged from Stanford's d.school and was popularised by IDEO, but is now adopted by organisations from Apple to the Australian Government's Digital Transformation Agency. The philosophy represents a shift from "what can we build?" to "what do people actually need?"

IDEO's work with Oral-B is a classic case study: they redesigned a toothbrush for children not by asking children what they wanted, but by OBSERVING children brush — discovering they grip with their whole fist, not fingers like adults. A thicker, grippable handle resulted from observation, not assumption.

In Australia, the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) used co-design involving people with disability — a departure from the traditional expert-designed welfare model. Australia Post's Digital iD used extensive research with elderly Australians who struggled with digital verification, resulting in accessible multi-channel design.

"Design justice" (Sasha Costanza-Chock) argues that whose voices are centred in the empathy phase determines whose needs are served. When design teams are demographically homogeneous, their research systematically underrepresents marginalised groups — producing solutions that serve some users well and others poorly. Inclusive design teams produce more equitable outcomes.

Summary

  • Design thinking: Empathise → Define → Ideate → Prototype → Test — iterative, not linear.
  • "How Might We" frames problems as open invitations for creative solutions.
  • Design brief: user, problem, constraints, measurable success criteria.
  • Prototype early and cheaply — prototypes are learning tools, not deliverables.
  • User testing with real users reveals what no internal discussion can.
  • Evaluation criteria: functional, aesthetic, safe, sustainable, economical.

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