So this process is something that designers use. It's called the double diamond. Literally two diamonds side by side. One side we have the problem, the other side we have the solution.
What I'm going to do is walk you through the significance of the shape itself. I'll dissect each diamond into different phases. And then I'll talk about the goal for each of those phases. So why the diamond? Why not a circle or a rectangle or a squiggly line?
The shape is created specifically by the kind of thinking that's required during each phase. So both the problem space and the solution space always start out in the divergent thinking where we. expand, we go wide in order to collect or explore as much useful data as possible.
And then we start to converge and focus in and refine based on key insights realized in the previous phase. So we'll start with the problem space. Every project or design task begins in this problem space.
Specifically in that initial problem statement section, oftentimes this is the business problem that our clients come to us with. So to move from problem to solution, we have two phases that we have to go through. So phase one, discover the problem. Phase two, define the problem.
And once we've defined or reframed the problem, we can identify a focused problem to solve. So in that first phase, the discover phase, our goal is to discover the problem. We want to uncover user needs, pain points, and challenges.
What we do is take the initial problem statement and reframe it into a user need. There we can come up with initial hypotheses to explore. and also conduct various levels of research or review past research. So some key activities and key players in this phase, external and internal planning. Like we all have to come together and decide on like a game plan and an approach.
And also important during this phase is cross-team collaboration. You'll see that said, I'm going to be... broken record from now on with the collaboration because it's a huge huge part of creating a meaningful design. So the second phase we've researched, we've brainstormed as a team, we've planned. Now we can start to focus in and start to define the problem that we're trying to solve.
That's our goal. And we do this by narrowing in on key findings that we learned from phase one. We organize and prioritize the research, identify customer wants versus needs, and then we can identify opportunity areas for design focus.
So now we have our focus problem statement, the problem that we're trying to solve. Um, during that phase, um, so again, we have similar to the, the first, um, The first phase, external and internal involvement, but it also involves review. So internal review, external review, and then we start to refine from there and again cross-team collaboration.
So the solution space, we move into the solution space once we have that focus problem defined. Just like the problem space, we break this one up into two different phases. So we've got We have to develop the solution and then deliver the solution with our final step landing on that focused solution for our client.
So the first phase in the solution space, this is the divergent phase. Our goal is to develop as many concepts as possible. We want to take any and all of the key insights we've uncovered In the problem space, to help inform potential solutions through cross-team brainstorming, whiteboarding, sketching, we really want to come up with as many ideas as possible in this phase.
And the key activities are collaboration and exploration with the client, with each other, just come up with as many ideas as possible, and then we can start whittling things down in the next phase. So that final phase, phase four, is where we work on delivering the solution. So we narrow in and we validate or invalidate solutions by prototyping, testing, and then repeating.
We refine, refine, refine the design. Prepare design assets for dev handoff. This is where we add documentation to the Figma files, export any assets, and at this point we freeze the design.
This last phase involves a couple different users or a couple different team members as well as activities. So we've got user testing that would happen during this phase. We have QA, but not just dev QA, design QA to want the designers to have a look at what's been created to also pass or reject what's been created. And then of course we have external stakeholder review and sign off.
So all that said, to sum up, the Double Diamond process is basically problem solution. And what I love so much about this is that it's not just specific to design or product design. It can be used whenever there's a problem that needs a solution. So by focusing on the user and identifying their needs, along with regular internal and external collaboration, we can create something that's meaningful, useful, and then valuable.