What is the Double-Diamond methodology in UI/UX?
Design methodologies are systems or models that provide structure during the design process to ensure that it is completed efficiently and effectively in UI/UX designs. A design methodology also keeps all the stakeholders on the same page, ensuring that everyone onboard the project understands its status and pipeline. One such design methodology is the Double-Diamond methodology.
However, before discussing the Double-Diamond methodology, we must understand divergent and convergent thinking. Let’s briefly discuss what convergent and divergent thinking are.
Divergent thinking
Divergent thinking is a creative mode of thinking that diverges from a central focus. This thinking is about openly exploring ideas, problems, and solutions. Divergent thinking encourages the exploration of many possible solutions regardless of their respective quality. As a result, this thinking produces many unique and novel ideas to parse through later.
Creating an open and comfortable environment is very important for nurturing divergent thinking. The environment should be such that people are comfortable sharing good or bad ideas—all of them should be welcome. Spontaneity and playfulness should also be encouraged to facilitate people's divergent thinking. Activities like brainstorming, free writing, and bubble mapping require divergent thinking.
Convergent thinking
Convergent thinking is a creative mode of thinking that narrows the focus to a point. This thinking is about analyzing, filtering, and interpreting the data that you have. This processing of the data allows us to narrow our focus and arrive at a conclusion. This kind of thinking allows us to arrive at a more defined and precise conclusion.
Maintaining focus on the goal is important to nurturing convergent thinking. In this case, the goal is to process the data and arrive at a conclusion. Due to the nature of this processing, analytical skills and pattern-seeking behaviors are to be encouraged. Activities like drawing affinity diagrams require convergent thinking to be executed.
Double-Diamond Methodology
Double-Diamond Methodology is a design methodology that utilizes both convergent and divergent thinking in the design process. It uses these two modes of thinking to create a system that is both creative and focused. Hence, it is a system that allows the exploration of ideas and ensures that conclusions are reached efficiently. It makes sure that decisions are made and that teams commit to a direction. The model achieves this by dividing the process into stages that use divergent and convergent thinking systematically to improve the design process. This methodology is particularly well-suited for complex problems where the solution is not immediately apparent and requires thorough exploration and refinement.
Let’s take a look at the visual representation of this model.
Let’s discuss each of these stages in more detail.
Stages of Double-Diamond Methodology
The Double-Diamond methodology has four stages: discover, define, develop, and deliver. Each stage combines divergent thinking with convergent thinking, creating a great cycle of introducing fresh and novel ideas and then narrowing the focus to the best ones.
Note: These stages need not be traversed linearly. You must start linearly but can repeat any stage if needed.
Discover
The first stage is the discover stage, which uses divergent thinking. This stage of the methodology aims to explore the problem landscape, taking note of all the problems that the user faces. This stage involves a significant amount of user research. UX researchers conduct user interviews, surveys, and other research to understand the problems that users face.
Define
This is the second stage of the methodology. The define stage uses the convergent thinking mode. At the end of the discover stage, we have a set of all the user’s problems. The define phase takes this dataset and analyzes it to arrive at the problem set or the problem that the company would aim to solve. Hence, the dataset is filtered for a more defined problem(s). This stage can consist of activities like affinity diagrams.
Develop
This is the third stage of the Double-Diamond methodology. The develop stage uses the divergent thinking mode. Since the problem(s) has been defined, we now develop the solution. Hence, this stage is one where we explore many possible solutions to the problem(s) from the previous stage. We use brainstorming sessions, workshops, or develop low-fidelity prototypes to explore these solutions.
Deliver
This is the last stage of the Double-Diamond methodology. The deliver stage uses the convergent thinking mode. After the last stage, we will have a set of possible solutions to the problems we have decided on in the define stage. We will now narrow down these possible solutions to the best ones. At this stage, we test the best candidate solutions and release them.
Quiz
Let’s test the concepts we learned in this Answer with a short quiz:
What is the primary goal of the discover stage in the Double-Diamond methodology?
To generate and explore possible solutions to a defined problem
To explore the problem landscape and identify user problems
To narrow down and define the most important problem(s)
To test and implement the best solution
Conclusion
Double-Diamond methodology is a design methodology used to streamline the design process. This particular methodology encourages both creativity and structure by alternating between convergent and divergent thinking. This method organically guides the designer from an ideating phase to a selection phase. The designer goes through the following four stages in said order: discover, define, develop, and deliver.
Double-Diamond methodology is one of many different methodologies used to streamline the design process. It offers unique advantages due to the model’s use of convergent and divergent thinking. Hence, using it in the design process could be highly beneficial in producing designs effectively and efficiently.
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