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The British Design Council developed the Double Diamond. It is a design process model that has become one of the leading principles of design thinking. Even though you will not find the Double Diamond concept explicitly in our innovation process, the “Double Diamond” forms the fundamental framework for illustrating the development steps’ content within our design process. The core concern of the Double Diamond process is to develop user-centered and target group-oriented approaches to solutions. It ranges from the actual recording of the design problem to mapping the prototype findings and their comprehensive testing
The Double Diamond takes its name from the graphic representation of the development process. The Double Diamond comprises four phases, the content of which can be described as Discover, Define, Develop and Deliver. The basic principle is that each diamond has a diverging and a converging phase.
Diverging means that in the design process, new approaches are being openly searched for. In the converging phase, the possible options are being evaluated. Thus, the total number of possible options is narrowed down again to those considered relevant for further development.
Stage 1
Discovering
So the first diamond is about asking questions, listening and sorting, whereas the second diamond is about creating solutions, designing and testing. And for this, the appropriate Design Thinking methods are then selected, which support the objectives in the best possible way. Even if the graphic illustration suggests that something here follows a completely straightforward predetermined orientation, it is deceptive. The design process’s essence is to proceed iteratively and quickly question results to have them confirmed by targeted tests or to return to the starting point and adapt a solution to the user’s requirements with new approaches.
The design process is triggered by the design task, whether it is to solve a problem or to pursue an idea. The goal is to gain a fundamental understanding, which is developed through appropriate user research and market research methods. This phase is all about the user. The first phase is divergent. Here it is a matter of opening up one’s own way of thinking and eliciting the problem from the most diverse angles. This is where as much information as possible is collected. The problematic side of this, however, is dealing with the large amounts of data generated. Knowing how to manage and organize this information is essential.
Stage 2
Defining
After collecting all this data in the Double Diamond model’s first stage, you get to the Define stage. In this step, the goal is to develop the first stages` results to form hypotheses about the options for solving our problem.
The requirement is to filter and develop all the information obtained in the definition stage. It is a matter of formulating the core requirement from it and after in the first phase, understanding the problem by collecting the data and facts was in focus. It is now vital to form from the won realizations now the hypotheses, which best describe our problem definition. Focusing on the essential issues is the order of the day.
The problem statement is the Define Phase’s result, in which the problem should be described clearly to aim a shared understanding of the task. Thus, the basis is created to enter the second diamond phase in the solving space.
Stage 3
Developing
With the phases of problem definition and problem prioritisation completed, we create the basis for working with an equally high level of creativity on concrete solutions. And this is the core focus of the following two phases. They form the second diamond of the description model for our design process. The design phase is the beginning of the actual design activity, i.e. the actual development of ideas to solve the problem defined in stages one and two.
In the development phase, we now work collaboratively to create as many ideas as possible to map the requirements as best as possible. At the end of the entire development phase, we have a prototype as a result, which contains the most important functionalities of our application and serves to achieve targeted feedback on the fulfilment of the intended functions. But before we get to that point, we will gradually approach the final result through various iterations and feedback loops.
Our approach aims to put the brainstorming process on a broad basis by bringing together as many different perspectives as possible. By looking at our solution idea from a wide variety of angles, we try integrating as many distinct facets as possible into the approach of our solution ideas from the outset. Of course, we support the process of idea generation with a variety of methods and tools to make the best possible use of our creative potential here. To this end, we again use the divergent view in the design phase, which, as in the first diamond, is designed to develop a variety of ideas for a concrete solution. We need to obtain timely feedback from our users at this stage. The feedback provides the basis for our decision in the next and final phase of the Double Diamond.
Stage 4
Designing
In our Deliver phase, we again develop a converging view. With the results of our rapid feedback from potential users in the Design Phase, we have a valuable pool of data for the various solution approaches. The first step is to process and condense these findings to use them as a basis for making the final decision as to which of our basically conceivable solutions will now be implemented in a prototype. The prototype already maps the functions of our solution without actually triggering the intended functions. An example to get a closer look at this would be the development of a banking app. For example, our prototype could simulate a business process’s execution – such as a bank transfer – and map all the necessary steps without actually creating a cash flow. The prototype is the instrument on which extensive user tests are now carried out. This procedure aims to see whether all the desired functions are also mapped to meet the user’s expectations. If this is not the case, we go back to one of the previous phases and rework our solution. Which of the earlier stages we jump back to depends on the nature of the identified problem. In the best case, we move back into the design process if there is an option to eliminate our problem by improving our idea. In the worst case, it is necessary to move around into the problem space and deal with fundamental issues of our concern again.