The Design Thinking process is a user-centred approach to solving real user needs based on user data (Gibbons, 2016). The process comprises of 6 phases more or less similar to those of the design sprints: empathise, define, ideate, test and implement.

- Empathise: talk to and observe actual users, try to understand their motivations and frustrations, gather enough data to empathise with their perspectives.
- Define: organise data from the empathise phase and identify common pain points across all users, hence identify user needs.
- Ideate: brainstorm and sketch ideas that address the identified user needs with total freedom.
- Prototype: take some of those ideas and build quick, tactile representations for feedback to find out what works and what does not, while also begin to consider the impact vs. feasibility of the ideas.
- Test: take the prototype to real users to check if the users’ pain point has been addressed and the users’ perspective improved.
- Implement: execute the vision and ensure that it is impactful towards the lives of the end users.

Design Thinking is a flexible process. It is encouraged to take the process as a framework and adapt as needed to serve your goal. For instance, it might be useful to return  to the empathise and define phases after initial prototyping to gain further understanding of real users, or repeat certain phases more than once before arriving at a desired outcome (Gibbons, 2016).