How to Think Like A Designer: A step-by-step guide for aspirants

Design is a discipline that offers solutions to the problems that plague our digital and real world. Cultivating a design mindset means manifesting your creativity, empathy, and critical thinking. There are specialised courses that can help you bring out the innovative side of yourself. These courses lead aspiring designers down the road of their creation. However, if you wish to fast-track your career and think like an actual designer, here are the practical strategies and tools to help shift your mindset: 

Cultivate Curiosity and Observation

The design mindset is all about being curious. Real designers are those who never stop  learning, questioning, observing, and getting inspiration from whatever they come across. .

• Be someone who observes: Start observing the details of ordinary life and things around you. How do people engage with objects, space, and systems? What works, and what may need some improvements?
• Just ask, "Why?": Don’t just simply accept things as they are; try to know the purpose, function, and underlying assumptions for everything that comes across your path. Be like a toddler who always asks “why.”
• Explore alternatives: you need to see things with different perspectives if you want to make something that is justifying the actual message. Speak to the people and mentors that can offer different contexts and experiences.
  
  Emotional Connection Building

Design is human-centred and it must be something that emotionally connects. Designers try and understand the need, wants, and difficulties in the people's lives they design for. 

• Practice active listening: Try and understand what the person is saying physically, emotionally, and psychologically.
• Do the research: Observing, interviewing,  and surveying your target audience to gain insights on their pain points and unmet needs help the designers design according to the requirements. 
• Be in their shoes: Empathy mapping is very helpful to visualize the user's thoughts, feelings, and experiences.
  
  Clearly define the problem

What are the problems that need to be solved? Before jumping to solutions, designers spend time defining those problems clearly. Think about the problem and define your goal. 

• Frame it differently: Seek to reframe the problem from different angles, seeking new insights and opportunities. 
• Break it down: Dissect the problem into smaller and more manageable parts. 
• Constraints: Be aware of issues and expected limitations that will pose a hindrance to the design process. Budget, time, technology, etc.
  
  Practise Brainstorming

Brainstorming is a very strong technique to generate the broadest spectrum of creative solutions.

• Let ideas flow without judgement or criticism.
• Use "yes, and..." to build on existing ideas and generate totally new ones.
• Put down your ideas in sketches, diagrams, and mind maps.
  
  Prototype and Test

Design involves iterative processes of trial and error. Prototypes are physical representations of your ideas that allow you to subject them to feasibility and effectiveness tests.

• Start with Something Simple. Make low-fidelity prototypes out of paper, cardboard, or simple digital tools.
• Treat failures as a learning opportunity and iterate and improve your designs with that.
  
  Visual Thinking

Visual thinking is the act of bringing in images, diagrams, or any other form of visual communication as tools for communicating ideas and solving problems.

• Sketch: The better you are with sketching, the faster you can capture and communicate ideas.
• Mind Map: Mind map to brainstorm, organize information, and find connections between ideas.
• Storyboard: Use storyboards to map out the user's experience through the product and see where problems can potentially arise.
  
  Learn to Collaborate

Designing is usually a collaborative journey. Look for collaboration and let yourself seek insights, knowledge and guidance. 

• Respect Perspectives: Understand what unique contributions each member brings to the team. 
• Communicate Effectively: Convey ideas coherently and listen to others. 
• Be Prepared to Compromise: Work together to develop solutions that satisfy everybody's needs.
  
  Get Inspired From All Over

Design inspiration can come from anywhere; acknowledge and let it come to you:

• Nature: Watch nature for its patterns, forms, and processes.
• Arts and Cultures: Study different arts, cultures, and historical epochs.
• Technology: Keep abreast of evolving technologies and sometimes their applications.
  
  Have a Growth Mindset

A growth mindset means believing that one can develop his/her abilities and intelligence through diligence and hard work.

• See challenges as a platform for growth and learning.
• Welcome constructive criticism and use it to build your skills.
• Don't give up in a hurry when confronted with challenges because that’s not something a designer would do.

These are the practices and techniques you can develop in yourself to create a designer's mindset and become creative. Remember, design is a world, not a destination; accept the process, be open to ideas, and never stop learning. If you are someone who isn’t from a creative field or design field, try opting for a diploma course in design… because why not? Take AIDAT 2025 and enrol for it today.