Future Design: Traditional vs AI Design Processes

Today's issue is delivered by Agata R?czewska , Innovation Client Partner & UX Expert

Not everyone realizes that AI does more than ‘just’ support research or create images. AI, or specifically, its generative subset known as GenAI, is now transforming traditional design thinking and design processes, too.?

While it excels at tasks like sentiment and data analysis or user story generation, you can only see AI’s full potential and creativity when paired with human work and diverse datasets.?

What I believe to be most interesting is how GenAI affects the daily work of product development teams.?

Let us examine the differences between traditional design thinking and design thinking AI.

Understanding traditional design thinking

Design thinking is a strategic method for innovation. This flexible, iterative process helps teams understand user needs, challenge assumptions, identify problems, and create solutions to prototype and test. It’s handy for tackling complex or ill-defined problems. Typically, it involves five phases:

• Empathize: Research your users' needs to gain deep insights, without making any assumptions beforehand
• Define: Gather and analyze all your research to create clear problem statements and user personas
• Ideate: Run brainstorming sessions to come up with several potential solutions to the problems you’ve identified in the earlier stage
• Prototype: Build low-cost, experimental versions of products to explore potential solutions
• Test: Engage real users to evaluate prototypes, refine solutions, or revisit problems as necessary.

The stages mentioned above are not linear but iterative, ensuring a comprehensive understanding of user needs and solution development.?

Impact of technological advancements on the design process

Traditional design thinking has always been valued for its lasting effectiveness in solving problems. However, with the birth of GenAI, there’s been a significant shift towards integrating LLMs into these processes.

Employing AI design thinking offers many advantages to businesses. It enhances their comprehension of user needs, pinpoints issues, generates ideas, prototypes solutions, and conducts more efficient testing.

AI enriches the design thinking process with advanced data analysis, pattern recognition, and predictive capabilities. These abilities help teams navigate complex challenges more efficiently.?

I believe AI's capability to quickly analyze large datasets uncovers important patterns in user behavior, offering deeper and more accurate insights into what customers want. It also provides that ‘edge’ that lets brands stand apart from competitors.

The AI design thinking process

AI’s integration into design thinking can be visualized using our previous list, but with these modifications:

• Empathize: AI-powered user research and sentiment analysis
• Define: Data-driven problem definition and identification
• Ideate: AI algorithms for solution generation
• Prototype: Rapid prototyping powered by AI tools
• Test: Utilizing AI for feedback-collection and analysis.

Comparing traditional design thinking and AI design processes

Once the AI takes over concept development, the process is quick. The results are validated with both human and synthesized testing. Finally, you get a finished product with results similar to those achieved by lean start-ups using agile planning.

Paradoxically, in 2024, when you're delivering an AI-driven solution, the lean approach is seen as ‘hot’ again, because you need to deliver and test as soon as possible. It's interesting when we take a look back and recall that the lean startup methodology was flagged as ‘dead’ 3-4 years ago.?

The overlap of Lean and AI lies in continuous testing, where AI can collect real-time user feedback, run A/B tests, and create prototypes, while designers oversee its work, and ensure human empathy and creativity.

Next week, I’ll dive deeper into the key stages of the AI design process and top challenges in design thinking AI.

In the meantime, do let me know if your teams leverage AI in their design process!?

Best,

Agata