Design Thinking and Mobile App Development

What is design thinking?

Design thinking is a method used by designers in ideation as well as mobile app development. It is used to solve complex problems and find desirable solutions for clients. It also helps in tackling problems which are unknown or ill-defined. Apart from Information Technology, it is used in various other fields viz., Engineering, medicine, business, architecture, sports, research, mobile app development etc.

Design thinking is a solution based approach which is vital for user experience and also to understand the needs of the users. It is the potential to capitalize on opposing ideas to create new solutions. In terms of design, it means balancing desirability, technical feasibility and economic viability of a product or a design. It also gives us a new way of tackling the problems.It is a human-centred and iterative design process which normally consists of 5 steps – Defining the problem, Researching, Ideation, Prototype and Testing. But these 5 stages are not always sequential, they can occur simultaneously as well as repetitively.

• Research – research the needs of your target audience and empathize with your users to understand them. Businesses need to empathize with their users to understand their needs and to find the solution for these needs.
• Define – the problems using the research data and define your insights for these problems
• Ideation – includes challenging the assumptions and brainstorming for ideas and solutions. (If these ideas aren’t viable, there can be an evaluation of the ideas or solutions before the prototyping starts)
• Prototype – to start developing a prototype of the solutions.
• Testing – the prototype to know the outcome, feasibility and viability of your ideas and solutions
• Delivery and launch, implementation, iterating and scaling happens once the testing of a prototype is successfully completed

Why is design thinking important in mobile app development?

Design thinking is important for innovation. Solving an unmet need of customers with innovation and creativity is important for a business. For a business to survive and be successful, it needs to constantly innovate and create new, well-thought products. This is where design thinking plays a vital role. All the successful IT companies know that UI & UX are at the core of any mobile app development. So they need to develop apps which provide a unique user experience.

Consumers today have quick access to global marketplaces easily due to which they don’t differentiate anymore between physical and digital experiences. Thus, it becomes more difficult for the companies to make their products or services stand out from others. But, companies can stand out from their competitors by developing the mobile app which creates a unique user experience for the end-users. It thus becomes important for IT companies to bridge the gap between businesses and end-users.

As per the statistics, 80% of the millennials have their smartphones with them, day and night. It’s impossible for them to live without their mobile phones. Due to widespread reach of internet, it is now easier to use mobile applications. Having a mobile app is the need of the hour. So, all the businesses who want to be successful and are catering to millennials and other users should develop mobile apps. Mobile apps have revolutionized the way business is done and has changed the facet of tech companies. Many marketers believe that, mobile apps are the easiest way to connect with their customers and expand their business. It is also easy to receive direct feedback from end-users.

Design thinking also reduces the risk associated with launching new ideas. It aids rapid learning, generates experimental, incremental and innovative ideas and solutions. It also captures the minds of your target audience and helps in generating business, when applied correctly.

• As Design Thinking has a human-centred approach, it focuses on the end-users and how to make the user experience better and more fulfilling.
• Since it involves multidisciplinary teams, the collective advantage of wisdom, expertise and experience is available while creating solutions.
• It also involves finding solutions in an unconventional way. So, while solving real problems this creates & delivers value to the end-users.
• Going to the market with a MVP (minimum viable product) is totally perfect for design driven firms. In such cases, they learn from the feedback of users, incorporate the same in their build and release an upgraded version of the product. Eg., Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp and the likes.
• It helps create successful brands and generate ROI from these brands.

There are various benefits of mobile app developed with unique design thinking:

1. Increase in sales – mobile applications are easy to use, so it is easy to reach more number of users as compared to other platforms. If the UX for end-user is seamless, the end-user will repeatedly use your application. This repeated use suggests brand loyalty which can further result in increase in sales.
2. Current and future marketing trend – Mobile app is the need of the hour and is also the future of various applications and businesses. Hence, it becomes vital for businesses to develop mobile applications.
3. Marketing on the go – with introduction of social media and mobile applications, marketers can now focus on promoting their business via web and mobile platforms. Due to availability of the internet, the mobile apps can be accessed from anywhere around the world. Regular usage of app by the customer also depicts customer loyalty and brand reinforcement.
4. Ease of connecting to customers – a huge benefit of mobile apps is that it provides the ease of connecting directly to your customers. Customers can provide feedback effortlessly and so companies can learn and improve on their setbacks directly from the customers’ feedback.