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You may have seen design thinking represented as a series of phases:
Understand – Observe – Point of View (POV) – Ideate – Prototype – Test (HPI d-school Potsdam version), but there are several other design thinking models that could have been used. For this collection the d-school Afrika has adapted the HPI d-school, Potsdam version.
This process is your roadmap for navigating design challenges. It helps you understand people’s needs, frame meaningful problems, generate ideas, build quick prototypes, learn through testing. Importantly, the process is not a rigid recipe. Designers move back and forth between stages—revisiting earlier steps, skipping ahead, or looping multiple times—based on what they are learning. As you gain experience, you become better at deciding when to linger, when to move on, and when to pivot.
Design Thinking phases adapted by d-school Afrika from HPI d-school, Potsdam
Image: © d-school Afrika CC-BYLearning about Design Thinking using the Learning Ladder
The Learning Ladder helps explain how designers grow over time by developing tools, practices, and mindsets, and how these work together within the design thinking process.
You typically start by learning tools, which help you engage in practices, which over time develop your mindsets. But here's the interesting part: once you've developed design thinking mindsets, they can change how you use tools and practices. You become more creative, adaptive, and intentional. It's a continuous learning cycle where each level strengthens the others.
Design Thinking Learning Ladder
Image: ©Rael Futerman CC-BYTools: Your Design Thinking Starter Kit
Tools are the hands-on techniques you use to do design thinking. They are the practical “how-to’s” that make the process concrete and approachable—especially when you’re just starting out.
Examples of tools across the design thinking stages include, but are not limited to:
Understand: stakeholder maps, challenge statements, interview guides
Observe: empathy maps, conversation guides, observation frameworks
Point of View: interview templates, user journey maps, POV statements
Ideate: brainstorming structures, “How Might We…” questions
Prototype: paper prototypes, storyboards, lo-fi materials (e.g., Lego)
Test: feedback capture grids, testing protocols, prototypes
Tools are also used across the various stages. For example, the tool of using an interview guide or interview template can be used to understand the stakeholders and capture their point of view as well as test a prototype.
When you’re new to design thinking, tools give you something tangible to work with so you’re not overwhelmed by the bigger picture.
Practices: Putting Tools and Process Together
Practices are about knowing how and when to use tools together. It’s the difference between knowing how to use individual tools and knowing how to design effectively.
Practices include things like:
Running meaningful user research
Moving thoughtfully between empathy and ideation
Iterating through prototype–test cycles
Collaborating productively with teammates
Knowing when insights from testing require you to redefine the problem
In this sense, the design thinking process itself is a practice—an integrated sequence of activities that organises your work. As you move through the process repeatedly on different challenges, you develop and refine your intuition. You start to recognise patterns and make more informed choices about how to proceed.
Mindsets: Thinking Like a Designer
Mindsets are the beliefs, values, and ways of thinking that shape how you approach problems. These include curiosity, empathy, comfort with uncertainty, creative confidence, and a bias toward action.
Mindsets show up differently across the various phases:
Understand: You question the problem itself and explore who defined it—and why
Observe: You are genuinely curious about people’s experiences, not just checking boxes
Point of View: You tolerate ambiguity and accept that clarity takes time
Ideate: You feel confident sharing bold or unconventional ideas
Prototype: You prioritize learning through action, not perfection
Test: You treat feedback as a gift rather than criticism
When you develop design thinking mindsets, you don’t just follow steps—you make thoughtful, intentional choices about how to navigate challenges in ways that feel authentic to you.
For this collection of stories, we have used Mindset Cards developed by the d-school Afrika to help you identify some of the mindsets inherent in the stories.
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