Problems solving skills are something every business in every industry requires, especially when it comes to evolving and innovating enterprises constantly. Design thinking is one such problem-solving skill that every professional needs to have. It is focused on solving problems in a creative and user-centric way. So no matter what industry you are in, being skilled in Design Thinking will help you solve any problem that occurs in the most effective way possible.

Let’s see what Design Thinking is and whether it upskills you enough to help you reach new heights in your career.

What is design thinking?

Design thinking is a process of thinking that involves a lot of creative energy. It focuses on understanding the problem from a user’s perspective and finding solutions after empathizing with the users. Even though the process started with and was made popular by designers, it is today used by professionals in every industry. 

So no matter which industry you belong to, you can acquire a Design Thinking Certification and upskill yourself among your peers.

Design thinking is a 5 step process. Design thinkers may focus on one or two phases to fully explore its possibilities before moving on to another phase in order to get an idea of what doesn’t work before they find out what does work.

• Empathize: with your audience

Brands that understand their users and identify their struggles are always well-received by the audience. To understand your users, you must research your target audience thoroughly. Start a conversation with your audience and connect with them. Once you understand them, it’s easy to get to step 2.

• Define: their problems

This step will help you understand what your goals are so that you can start to map out a journey to get there. All the data you have gathered about them in the previous step will help you define the exact problem in this step. When you identify your target audience’s actual problem, you can then focus on solving it with your product or service in the most effective way.

• Ideate: for solutions

You understand the audience and their problem; now it’s time to put on your thinking caps. This step is where you would want to gather your entire team and have a brainstorming session. In the Ideating stage, you and your team can look at the user’s problems from different perspectives and come up with different ways you could tackle these problems. This step should help you filter out the bad ideas, or even the average ones, to find the best solutions you could give your user. Once you are satisfied with your ideated solutions, it’s time to implement them.

• Prototype: in creation

In this step, you must have the best solutions in front of you. You will start creating different prototypes and see the solution in its practical form. This will show you whether your solution is practical or not and whether the users will find it useful. It will also reveal your limitations. Prototypes will help you decide on your final solution. It’s time for the last step.

• Test: the solution

This is where all your hard work so far will feel worth it. You have the final product in front of you, and before you decide to send it out into the world, you need to test it. In the testing phase of the product, try to find all the possible ways a user can use your product and see if you are having difficulty with specific features. This step could lead you back to the ideate step if you find new problems to which you will need to find solutions.

Benefits of enrolling in a Design Thinking certification

A person with a design thinking certification will see those skills coming to use in their careers as there are many benefits of taking a design thinking course:

• It bridges the gap between brand and consumer experience.
• It makes designing the perfect product an easy task.
• When thoughtful planning is involved, it saves time and cost.
• Customer-focused products bring significant ROI.
• Makes the customers loyal to the brand.
• Encourages creativity and innovation among all team members.
• Anyone in the professional hierarchy can do the course and find it useful.

Skills you learn with Design Thinking

If you aspire to make your product or service user-centric, you should consider learning design thinking. Taking a design thinking course will train you will a lot of skills that will help you in your career:

• Design Thinking
• Usability Testing
• Business Strategy
• Product Innovation
• Service Redesign
• Innovation Strategy
• Collaborative Innovation
• Product Development
• Innovation Management

Is Design Thinking a rewarding career for you?

Design thinking can turn any career into a rewarding one. If you’re already in the design industry, a design thinking training program will upskill you and help you stand out from your peers. It would give you a better chance of climbing up that professional ladder and stepping into leadership roles for your company.

Other than that, all the skills you acquire from a design thinking course would open up career opportunities for you in these roles:

• Brand Strategist
• Design Researcher
• UI/UX Designer
• Head of Product
• Service Designer
• Business Designer
• Social Innovator

Even in a non-design role, this course will help you better understand the process of creating a product or service. And help you identify a problem in its early stages, saving you and your company extra rework.

Key takeaways

Design Thinking is an advantageous career option in today’s day and age. Customers today want brands to deliver exactly what they demand, and if they don’t get their money’s worth, they are willing to put in a complaint or let other potential customers know all the faults in your product. As a design thinking expert, you can use this easy communication opportunity to connect with your customers, listen to their woes, and work on solving them through your product.

Design Thinking certification course will teach you the entire design process. And as a professional, you will learn to use these steps linearly, or you will find yourself repeatedly circling back to certain points.