Design Thinking: Test
The final step in the Design Thinking process is to test your product. This is an extremely crucial part in the development of a design because it gives the creator the feedback they need in order to finalize their project and have it become a success, or go back and revisit new solutions to make it the best it can be.
Letting someone else evaluate your design opens up new perspectives that could have been overlooked by the designer, thus making the design more and more refined to eventually become the finished model. When I partook in our testing workshop, we were still focusing on the creation of our wacky app. We were instructed to have a partner that did not hear about our design ideas throughout the entire process of making our app. We would have 10 mins to give them a little description of what our app is and then let them try and use it. We were advised to take notes and make observations about what they do, their facial expressions, confused mannerisms, how they navigate it, and especially if they think it is funny. My user was able to give me valuable feedback for my design that I didn’t take into consideration before or forgot to incorporate to make the app as realistic as possible.
Although I was able to gain beneficial feedback, in certain situations it can be difficult to receive the feedback that a designer needs to refine their product to make it the best it can be. According to How to Get More Honest Feedback in User Testing, there can be many factors that can hinder the usefulness of feedback that is given to the designer after conducting a testing session. A training course was directed in which the users gave positive feedback even though the designer knew the content of the session was not good. This prompted some advice for what reasons this may happen. For instance, the users may know the designer and not want to hurt their feelings when giving the end evaluation of the product. In return, the advice given was to tell your users a little fib and say you are testing the model for a third party whom you do not know. Another reason for “good” feedback is because often users think they are actually being tested. You should assure them that they are the ones testing your product, not the ones being tested. This will eliminate any stress for giving positive feedback even if they may not agree with what they are saying. Ultimately, by utilizing this advice and partaking in this way of user testing, one will gain valuable feedback that will be beneficial for the completion of the final product.
Conducting various types of user research is an essential aspect of the testing phase of the design thinking process. According to User Research: What It Is and Why You Should Do It, it is what helps place people in the center of the design process as well as the designer’s products. This allows the designer to attain invaluable data to further their understanding of their own design and be able to make the necessary solutions and adjustments before releasing it to the world. There are three main reasons why user research is used in the testing design process. It aids designers in the process of creating products that are relevant to users, are easy and pleasurable to use as well as aid them in their understanding of the return on investment of your UX design.
Overall, the testing step in the Design Thinking process is the most crucial phase because it is where the designer receives very important information about their product that either signifies that they have created a great product or are still in need of improvements in order to make it gain the potential of being the best user-friendly design created.