Test

And finally, your design team will ask for feedback on your prototypes, so you can rapidly iterate and improve your solutions until you gain the confidence that your solution is desirable, feasible and sustainable.

Testing ideas early helps ensure that the solutions we are creating for those we are serving will meet their needs and actually solve the problems that matter the most to them.

What steps can we take to ensure we engage with those stakeholders and co-create solutions to the problems they face and the needs they have during our design challenge?

Test

Use the tools and resources in this guidebook to accomplish the goals below. Once your design team has achieved these objectives, you will be in a strong position to advance to the next phase in your design process. Use the reflection tools in the Design Work Journal to evaluate whether your design team is ready to move to the next phase.

As a team, review the best practices for testing prototypes

Create an experience to test your prototype with stakeholders

Get ready to engage your stakeholders in the test

Gather feedback from your tester to gain a deeper understanding about ways to improve the idea

As a team, discuss what you learned from testing your prototypes

Determine whether this idea is ready to implement or needs further testing

Improve or change your idea based on the feedback you received and your teams’ reflections

As a team, determine your best next steps in the design process based on what you learned about your idea

Overview of Test phase

Mindsets of Test phase

Stay optimistic that you can solve the problem
Prototype early and often in order to learn about your idea
Start small to make big change
Show don’t tell
Many cycles of prototyping & testing are necessary to develop an idea
Feedback is a gift to improve your ideas

Overview of Test phase

The tools in the Test Phase are designed to help you use your tangible prototypes to create experiences for stakeholders in order to test your solutions.

These tests are intended to elicit feedback, answer specific questions about a concept and test assumptions embedded in the ideas

Objectives of Test phase

The goal of this phase is to test your low-resolution prototype with stakeholders to get authentic feedback.

At the end of this phase, you should be clear about whether the solution you brainstormed has the potential to meet the needs you identified in your POV statement. You should also have a clear sense of how you want to iterate your next prototype.