Several design thinking frameworks, such as user research, personas, journey mapping, and usability testing, can help designers identify business opportunities. User research can reveal user needs, preferences, and behaviors that can lead to new product ideas.
Personas can help designers understand user groups’ specific needs and pain points. Journey mapping can highlight gaps and opportunities in the user experience, and usability testing can identify frustrations and suggest improvements.
Here are some examples of how design has helped organizations identify business opportunities.
Airbnb used user research to understand the needs and preferences of travelers and hosts and created a new business model of peer-to-peer home rentals.
Slack used design to create a user-friendly and efficient collaboration tool that disrupted the market and created a new business category.
Apple used UX design to create a seamless and delightful user experience that differentiated its products from competitors and created a loyal customer base.
Design is about making products usable and delightful and creating business value for organizations. We use design thinking frameworks to identify business opportunities and help organizations stay competitive, innovate, and grow.