Your insights are valuable. Use them to develop Point of View statements in the Define stage of the Design Thinking process. Observing and listening to your users is an invaluable resource to your product’s success—before, during, and after a product launch. And even more important is the ability to synthesize and translate their experiences into […]
Problem-statements in design thinking are a good thing. They invite focus and clarity into your work. I moved to Sydney from the U.S. in 2008. The first generation of the iPhone was released, but of course, as a recent college grad, I didn’t own one of those yet. Instead, I familiarized myself with my new […]
Understanding the value of personas in UX design, and how to build your own. Quite popular in UX Design, personas are an exercise in empathy in which we use storytelling to understand data. For every user group, a persona can be created to communicate those facts in the form of a person. By transforming abstract […]
Uncovering empathy in the hit reality tv show Undercover Boss This week I watched my first ever episode of Undercover Boss—a reality tv show (usually not my thing) that follows the head of a company as they go undercover to discover what’s really going on with their business, employees, and customers. In other words, Undercover […]
Learning how and when to use both in the empathy mapping process Grocery shopping can often become a battle between my emotions and my budget. As I weave through the aisles, checking items off my list, I frequently find myself debating between purchasing the fair trade item for double the price or grabbing the “regular” […]
How a simple design thinking exercise eliminated my need for so many project-management tools I am an extremely organized person. I love taking notes, making goals, planning trips, and tracking budgets. But right now, I feel like I am using way too many apps to help me manage my (not so complicated) life. All-day, every […]
How understanding emotions can elevate design. Recently I’ve become fanatical about the AppleTV show Ted Lasso. About an American football coach who moves to England to coach fútbol, this show has pulled on my every heartstring and transformed me into a cheering fan for the made-up AFC Richmond team. I’ve chanted with the crowd, picked […]
These past two weeks were super hectic as we wrapped up the last of our time in the U.S. and planned for our return to Shanghai. We first left Shanghai over a year ago for a two-week hiking trip to New Zealand and Australia but ended up returning to the U.S. instead of China due […]
This week I partnered up with a fellow student to work through Stanford d.school’s Design Thinking Crash Course. I hopped on zoom from a hotel room in San Francisco and joined my partner Maggie to kick-off the virtual workshop. We both made friendly introductions and shared our feelings of intimidation and uncertainty over what to expect […]
Both a process and a mindset, Design Thinking clearly defines problems and leads to innovative solutions—all while emphasizing the needs of the people being designed for. As Ideo puts it, “When you sit down to create a solution for a business need, the first question should always be what’s the human need behind it?”[1] The […]
Writings by Michelle Ovalle