16 essential design thinking exercises to boost team creativity

Design thinking is a dynamic and iterative process that emphasizes creativity, empathy, and collaboration, using a variety of exercises to address complex challenges effectively. Key exercises include empathy-building techniques such as customer journey mapping and shadowing, which help teams understand user needs and pain points, while ideation exercises like Crazy 8s and alternate brainstorming sessions drive creative problem-solving. Prototyping and testing exercises, such as digital prototyping and usability testing, allow teams to refine ideas and gather valuable user feedback before significant resource investment. The process encourages a mindset of continuous exploration and experimentation, ensuring solutions resonate with the target audience. Tools like LogRocket can enhance this process by automating user feedback analysis, enabling teams to focus on optimizing design and user experience.