During the Define stage, you put together the information you have created and gathered during the Empathise stage. This is where you will analyse your observations and synthesise them in order to define the core problems that you and your team have identified up to this point. You should seek to define the problem as a problem statement in a human-centred manner.

1. Define

2. Contents
• What is the Define Stage
Exactly?
• Analysis & Synthesis
• Empathy Map
• Personas
• Story Board
• Design Brief
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3. 1.
What is the Define stage?
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4. Define
Provides a point of view
▷ Provides focus and frames the problem in an actionable way
▷ Inspires your team
▷ Provides a reference for evaluating competing ideas
▷ Empowers your team to make decisions independently in
parallel
▷ Gives you a chance to revisit and reformulate as you learn by
doing
▷ Guides your innovation efforts
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5. ▷ An integral part of the Design Thinking process is the definition of a
meaningful and actionable problem statement, which the design
thinker will focus on solving. This is perhaps the most challenging part
of the Design Thinking process, as the definition of a problem (also
called a design challenge) will require you to synthesise your
observations about your users from the first stage in the Design
Thinking process, which is called the Empathise stage.
▷ A great definition of your problem statement will guide you and
your team’s work and kick start the ideation process in the right
direction.
▷ The five stages of design are not always sequential — they do not have
to follow any specific order and they can often occur in parallel and be
repeated iteratively. As such, the stages should be understood as
different modes that contribute to a project, rather than sequential
steps.
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6. 2.
Analysis and Synthesis
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7. Analysis and Synthesis
Analysis is about breaking down complex concepts and problems into
smaller, easier-to-understand constituents. We do that, for instance,
during the first stage of the Design Thinking process, the Empathise
stage, when we observe and document details that relate to our
users. Synthesis, on the other hand, involves creatively piecing the
puzzle together to form whole ideas. This happens during the Define
stage when we organise, interpret, and make sense of the data we have
gathered to create a problem statement.
Although analysis takes place during the Empathise stage and synthesis
takes place during the Define stage, they do not only happen in the
distinct stages of Design Thinking.
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8. 3.
Empathy Map
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9. Empathy Map
An empathy map is a collaborative tool teams can use to gain a deeper insight into their customers.
Much like a user persona, an empathy map can represent a group of users, such as a customer
segment.
A sample empathy mapping session may be as follows: Assemble your team and have them bring
any personas, data, or insights about the target of your empathy map. Print out or sketch the
empathy map template on a large piece of paper or whiteboard. Hand each team member sticky
notes and a marker. Each person should write down their thoughts on stickies. Ideally everyone
would add at least one sticky to every section. You might ask questions, such as:
▷ What would the user be thinking & feeling? What are some of their worries and aspirations?
▷ What would their friends, colleagues, and boss be likely to say while the user is using our
product? What would the user hear in these scenarios?
▷ What would the user see while using our product in their environment?
▷ What might the user be saying and/or doing while using our product? How would that change
in a public or private setting?
▷ What are some of the user’s pain points or fears when using our product?
▷ What gains might the user experience when using our product?
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11. 4.
Personas
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12. 12
In the Design Thinking process, designers will often start creating personas during the second phase,
the Define phase. In the Define phase, Design Thinkers synthesise their research and findings from the
very first phase, the Empathise phase. Using personas is just one method, among others, that can help
designers move on to the third phase, the Ideation phase. The personas will be used as a guide for
ideation sessions such as Brainstorm, Worst Possible Idea and SCAMPER.

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14. 14

15. 5.
Story Board
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16. Story Board
▷ A storyboard communicates a story through images displayed in a sequence of panels that
chronologically maps the story’s main events.
▷ It links Personas to the problem statement.
▷ A story captures attention, provides clarity, and inspires teams and stakeholders to take
action. There are many ways to visually communicate stories to our teams and stakeholders
— storyboards, journey maps, and empathy maps being a few examples. In this article we
focus on storyboards.
▷ A Story board must contain
▷ 1. Scenario
▷ 2. Visuals
▷ 3. Captions
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18. 6.
Design Brief
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