Design Thinking Vocabulary

the creative process of generating and developing new ideas

“The team's ideation session produced dozens of potential solutions.”

the process of repeating and refining a design through multiple cycles

“Each iteration brought the product closer to user needs.”

an early model built to test a concept or process

“The paper prototype revealed fundamental usability issues.”

the ability to understand and share the feelings of users

“Empathy for the end user drove every design decision.”

combining diverse insights into a coherent design direction

“The synthesis of user research revealed three key themes.”

expanding possibilities by generating many different ideas

“Divergent thinking helped break free from conventional solutions.”

narrowing down options to select the best solution

“Convergent analysis reduced fifty ideas to three finalists.”

a limitation that shapes and focuses the design solution

“Working within constraints often sparks creativity.”

a fundamental change in direction based on new insights

“User feedback prompted a pivot from mobile to desktop.”

to confirm that a design solves the intended problem

“User testing validated the new navigation approach.”