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Home » Design Thinking Tools » Brainstorming

The Affinity Diagram: A Practical Case Study

10/22/2023 by Dr Rafiq Elmansy

During the design process, several parameters bubble during the research and ideation sessions that you need to organise, analyse and prioritise, such as application features, project tasks or organise application menus to improve user experience. Having a large amount of data collected during the research phase makes it hard for a design team to build […]

How to Conduct Online Brainstorming

10/12/2023 by Dr Rafiq Elmansy

Online brainstorming

Brainstorming allows teams to explore ideas and analyse information creatively and collaboratively during the design thinking process. During the pandemic lockdown, online brainstorming solved the problem that teams had to work remotely and think creatively simultaneously. The traditional meetings are usually boring and don’t encourage team members to believe in creativity or explore new perspectives […]

Creative Thinking: Inspired Lessons from Leonardo Da Vinci's

09/10/2023 by Dr Rafiq Elmansy

da vinci creative thinking

Leonardo Da Vinci was not only a master of art and science but also a great creative thinker with an extraordinary ability to look at the world from a creative perspective. His creative thinking skills enabled him to achieve inventions and find new solutions in different fields, including art, architecture, music, mathematics, and engineering. What […]

Customer Journey Mapping: A Complete Guide for Designers

08/03/2023 by Dr Rafiq Elmansy

According to the Digital Trend 2015 Report, customer experience is crucial to stand out from competitors. Suppose there is a single type of data to identify the success of the design outcome. In that case, I will choose the customer experience, it is the crucial element behind the design of any product or service to […]

How to Use Decision Trees in the Decision-Making Process

05/28/2023 by Dr Rafiq Elmansy

decision trees

Every day, designers face decision-making challenges on different levels of their careers. In many situations, uncertainty dominates the choices, especially when evaluating new ideas or introducing a new innovating product such as the Double-Diamond Design Thinking and the Stage-Gate Process. Think of the time you needed to determine the importance of project resources, find alternative […]

How to Create the Systems Thinking Diagrams

02/12/2023 by Dr Rafiq Elmansy

systems thinking

Complex systems can’t be seen as individual parts. We need a broader perspective to see the whole pattern that causes the problem, as many factors as affecting both the current state and the desired state of the system. The systems thinking theory was first introduced by Jay Forrester and members of the Society for Organizational […]

Step-by-Step Guide to User Scenarios

01/17/2023 by Dr Rafiq Elmansy

User scenarios

During the UX research process, one of our big aims is to understand user behaviour when visiting a website or using a mobile application. Over the course of building this understanding, different tools such as user scenarios can be used to put us on the same page with the user goals and ensure that the suggested solutions […]

13 Online Design Thinking Tools for Mind Mapping

06/20/2022 by Designorate

Design thinking tools provide us with the opportunity to explore ideas through their different elements and components, which can lead to developing creative solutions for problems. Mind maps are one of these methods that follow our primary research. After researching the problem, we bring all the related elements and start to see the problem from […]

The Double Diamond Design Thinking Process and How to Use it

09/02/2021 by Dr Rafiq Elmansy

We explored the design thinking different frameworks in various articles, and one of these models is the Double Diamond design thinking process which the British Design Council developed. Like other design thinking processes, it uses critical thinking and reflective practice to apply design characteristics to reach creative solutions and innovative ideas.  Related articles: Design Thinking […]

How to Successfully Apply the Inspiration in Design Thinking

03/21/2017 by Dr Rafiq Elmansy

design thinking

In the last few decades, there were different models for the design thinking process that have been introduced such as the d.school design thinking, IDEO human-centered design, double diamond, IBM design thinking, Google design sprinting and others. Noticeably, these models share a similar flow of phases that starts with understanding the problem addressed, reflect it […]

Design Thinking Guide: What, Why and How

02/01/2017 by Dr Rafiq Elmansy

design thinking

For many companies, the design process is still locked inside a small creative room. Designers do not effectively contribute to building the business as the design is seen as a tool rather than a strategy. On the other hand, a quick look at the markets can tell us more about how the holistic approach of […]

No Good Service Design Without Good Storytelling

12/14/2016 by Dr Rafiq Elmansy

service design

The Human Being used stories since the dawn of civilization to as a method for communication, amusement, reflecting emotions, and telling their experience. Stories are a great tool to visualize information through words and human expressions and were always used as one of the education tools for children in different education levels. In service design, […]

Guide for Critical Thinking for Designers

10/18/2016 by Dr Rafiq Elmansy

critical thinking

In every single day in our life, we are faced with a number of choices to make, problems to solve, and ideas to evaluate or analyze. However, these activities are affected by both internal and external factors such as biases, incomplete information, distortion, and prejudices. All these factors affect the process of choosing the right […]

7 Steps to Create a Successful Journey Map

04/28/2016 by Yumna Matar

journey map

‘Putting yourself in someone else’s shoes’ is a commonly used idiom. For a designer, however, it is an essential step in concept creation, research, and design. In order to guide any design process, the following vital question should be answered by designers; “Who is the target user, and how will he/she use the product?” Whether […]

How to Conduct a Successful UX Research for Your Design Project

04/18/2016 by Dr Rafiq Elmansy

UX research

Lacking a clear understanding of the project target audience can prevent a design team from developing a product that fulfills the end user’s needs and expectations. Before starting a project, many questions come to mind including “What is the target market segment?”, “What are the user problems that we can address?” and “How we can […]

How Designers Can Use Rolestorming to Understand Consumers

10/15/2015 by Dr Rafiq Elmansy

rolestorming brainstorming

Brainstorming techniques are used to achieve different goals, including finding creative ideas, solving problems, and understanding the target consumer during the ideation phase of the design process. However, brainstorming team members are affected by their own voices and personalities, which may affect their ideas that should reflect the consumer characteristics and needs instead. This can […]

Vroom-Yetton-Jago: Deciding How to Decide

08/20/2015 by Dr Rafiq Elmansy

Vroom Yetton Jago

Design managers and art directors face critical times when they need to make strategic decisions that will not only affect the design process but also the entire production stage and subsequently the success of the product. While it is impossible to element the risk involved in decision-making, managers reduce this risk to a minimal level […]

Brainstorming Multiple Ideas Using Charette Procedure

08/17/2015 by Dr Rafiq Elmansy

Charette Procedure

Two main barriers arise when there are 15 people or more present in a brainstorming session when attempting to discuss multiple ideas or problems in the same time. Most brainstorming tools and methods focus on a small group of people discussing one single problem, focus the thinking process for all attendees in one particular direction. […]

How to Run a Successful Brainstorming Session

05/25/2015 by Dr Rafiq Elmansy

brain storming

Many companies and practitioners believe that brainstorming and creative thinking can help companies and teams to focus on their objective and find creative solutions for existing problems. However, many brainstorming sessions fail and do not provide any sufficient results. This failure leads to a waste of critical time at the early stage of the project […]

Designorate Mind Map Template

05/14/2015 by Designorate

mind map template

In a previous article, we covered mind mapping as one of the effective tools to organize and visualize ideas during brainstorming sessions. Mind mapping can be used in the educational, business and personal domains. While there are many digital tools that allow teams to visuals ideas through computer generated applications; the traditional paper and pen […]

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