Explore

Before developing new ideas, we first need to broaden our thinking and deepen our understanding of the issue.

At this stage, conducting design research to gather different kinds of knowledge is essential, i.e. hearing from experts or those with lived experience, learning from nature or spending some time mapping out a user journey. Those who are new to design might want to put these fundamental skills to the test by taking IDEO’s Introduction to HumanCentred Design course.

Once we have a better understanding of the system we are exploring, it is then helpful to interrogate it by thinking more systemically about what sits beneath the surface to determine the root cause of the issue.

This section of the toolkit will help you to:

Dig into the existing system and uncover the underlying structures and mental models that enable it to persist (Root Cause Analysis, tool 5).