design skill

---
name: design
description: Design Thinking process—Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, Test. Use for product design, solving ambiguous problems, or when you don't know what users really need.
user-invocable: true
---

# Design Thinking Process

Work through the full design thinking process—Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, Test.

## Instructions

Move through each phase, building on insights from the previous one. The process is iterative—expect to loop back based on what you learn.

### Output Format

**Challenge**: [What we're trying to solve]
**Users**: [Who we're designing for]

---

## 1. EMPATHIZE
*Understand the user and their context*

### User Profile
| Attribute | Description |
|-----------|-------------|
| Who are they? | [Demographics, role] |
| What's their context? | [Environment, circumstances] |
| What are they trying to do? | [Goals, tasks] |

### User Pain Points
| Pain Point | Severity | Current Workaround |
|------------|----------|-------------------|
| [pain] | High/Med/Low | [how they cope] |

### Empathy Map
| Quadrant | Observations |
|----------|--------------|
| **Say** | [Quotes, statements] |
| **Think** | [Beliefs, concerns] |
| **Do** | [Actions, behaviors] |
| **Feel** | [Emotions, reactions] |

---

## 2. DEFINE
*Frame the problem worth solving*

### Point of View Statement
**[User]** needs **[need]** because **[insight]**.

### How Might We Questions
- How might we [opportunity 1]?
- How might we [opportunity 2]?

### Problem Statement
> **The Challenge**: [Specific, actionable problem to solve]

---

## 3. IDEATE
*Generate many possible solutions*

### Ideas Generated
| # | Idea | Type |
|---|------|------|
| 1 | [idea] | Safe / Moderate / Wild |
| 2 | [idea] | Safe / Moderate / Wild |
| 3 | [idea] | Safe / Moderate / Wild |

### Top Ideas to Prototype
| Idea | Why This One? | Feasibility |
|------|---------------|-------------|
| [idea] | [rationale] | High/Med/Low |

---

## 4. PROTOTYPE
*Make ideas tangible quickly*

**Idea to prototype**: [Which idea]

**Prototype type**: Paper mockup / Wireframe / Physical model / Storyboard

**What we're testing**:
- [Assumption/question 1]
- [Assumption/question 2]

---

## 5. TEST
*Learn from real users*

**Who to test with**: [User profile]

**Questions to answer**:
1. [Question]?
2. [Question]?

**Success indicators**: [What would indicate this works]

**Failure indicators**: [What would indicate this fails]

---

## Next Iteration

Based on what we learn, we'll likely need to revisit:
- [ ] Empathize / [ ] Define / [ ] Ideate / [ ] Prototype / [ ] Test

## Guidelines

- Empathy is research, not assumption—talk to real users
- "How might we" keeps problems open and generative
- Prototype to think, not just to test
- Test early, test often, test cheaply

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