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9 min read1 hour ago

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UX frameworks are structured, step-by-step methodologies that guide designers in creating user-centred digital products, ensuring consistency, reducing risk, and improving the efficiency of the design. Discussed below are 6 UX Frameworks.

1. Stanford d.school Design Thinking Framework

The Stanford d.school model is the grandparent of modern UX frameworks. It stands out as a transformative methodology for solving complex problems. Central to its global recognition is the Stanford d.school (short for “design school”), a pioneering research institute and educational hub at Stanford University. It is revered because it delivers affordable and impactful results, making it a go-to methodology for tackling even the most complex design challenges. It is a five-stage process:

Empathise → Define → Ideate → Prototype → Test.

What it is

**Empathise **— Learn from users through research and observation. This step involves immersing oneself in the user’s world to uncover their needs, desires, and pain points. Key activities in this stage include:

• Consulting experts to gain deeper insights into the problem area.
• Observing and engaging with users to understand their experiences and motivations.
• Stepping into the user’s environment to gain a first-hand perspective of their challenges

**Define **— Synthesise insights into clear problems. The next step is to synthesise this information into a clear and actionable problem statement. For instance, instead of framing the problem as a business requirement like: “Increase the Mortal Kombat product market share among teenage boys by 5%,” a human-centric reframing might be: “Teenage boys would love to have more access to Mortal Kombat to stay and have fun and have shared activity with friends.” This subtle shift ensures that the problem-solving process remains user-focused, paving the way for innovative solutions.

**Ideate **— Generate a wide range of creative solutions. With a clear problem statement, the team moves into the ideation phase — a space for unrestricted creativity. This stage is about exploring a wide range of ideas without judgment.

Key techniques include:

• Brainstorming
• Sketching and visualising.
• Exploring alternative perspectives

**Prototype **— Build inexpensive representations of ideas. Prototyping involves creating tangible representations of ideas. These scaled-down models allow teams to test concepts quickly and gather feedback early in the process.

Key aspects of this phase include:

• Developing low-cost, experimental prototypes to test feasibility.
• Sharing prototypes with team members or small user groups for feedback.
• Repeating the prototypes based on insights gained to improve them.

**Test **— Validate with real users and iterate. Testing is the final step, but often loops back to previous stages as insights emerge. This iterative process ensures the solution evolves to meet user needs effectively.

Key activities include:

• User testing of prototypes to gather useful feedback.
• Using insights to refine problem statements or explore alternative ideas.
• Continuously iterating until the solution aligns with user expectations and business goals.

Who Uses It

The d.school’s Design Thinking methodology is highly versatile, finding applications across industries:

• Healthcare: Designing patient-centred care solutions.
• Education: Developing innovative teaching methods and tools.
• Technology: Creating user-friendly digital products.
• Business: Enhancing customer experiences and solving operational challenges.
• More basic examples include bootcamps, startups, studios, etc.

How I’ll Use It

This framework trains me to slow down early. Instead of jumping to solutions, I intend to spend proportional time on empathy and defining problems — a practice that will help me avoid designing for assumptions rather than real user needs. allows you to solve complex, ill-defined problems by focusing on human-centred needs rather than just technology or business goals.

2. Human-Centred Design (HCD) Framework

Human-Centred Design is rooted in the same humanism as the d.school method, but places even greater emphasis on context and the dignity of users.

What it is

During the listening phase, participants focus on gathering stories and inspiration from the people they interview.

In the creation phase, participants will work together in a workshop format to understand what they heard from the end-user in the previous step. Then the researchers will use that information to turn it into frameworks, opportunities, solutions, and prototypes. Then back to work with tangible solutions.

In the handover phase, participants will begin to realise solutions through rapid revenue and cost modelling, capacity assessment, and implementation planning.

At its core:

Inspiration — Understand people and the context of the problem

The Inspiration phase focuses on deeply understanding the people you are designing for and the environment in which the problem exists. This stage goes beyond surface-level research to uncover emotional, social, and cultural drivers behind user behaviour.

Key activities in this stage include:

• Conducting immersive user research such as interviews, shadowing, and field observations.
• Engaging with users in their real environments to see how context shapes behaviour.
• Listening for unmet needs, workarounds, and frustrations that users may not explicitly articulate.

The goal is not to confirm assumptions, but to discover insights that can reframe how the problem is understood.

Ideation — Make sense of insights and explore possibilities

Once insights have been gathered, the Ideation phase focuses on turning those insights into opportunities for design. Teams synthesise research findings, identify patterns, and begin generating solutions collaboratively.

Key activities in this stage include:

• Translating insights into “How Might We” questions.
• Brainstorming ideas with cross-functional teams and, in some cases, users themselves.
• Sketching concepts, storyboarding experiences, and exploring multiple directions without judgment.

This phase encourages divergent thinking, ensuring that teams explore a wide range of ideas before narrowing down.

Implementation — Bring solutions to life and learn through action

Implementation is where ideas move from concept to reality. However, in HCD, implementation is not about launching a perfect solution — it’s about learning through making and refining.

Key aspects of this phase include:

• Building prototypes that can be tested in real-world conditions.
• Piloting solutions with small user groups to assess usability, desirability, and feasibility.
• Iterating based on feedback to improve adoption and impact.

This phase ensures that solutions are not only desirable for users but also viable for organisations and feasible within constraints.

Who Uses It

IDEO’s Human-Centred Design framework is used across a wide range of sectors, particularly where human involvement is high:

• Technology: Companies like IBM and Microsoft adopt HCD principles to design inclusive and accessible products through humanised processes.
• Healthcare: Designing patient-centric services, hospital experiences, and health interventions.
• Social Impact & Development: NGOs and international organisations use HCD to design solutions for education, sanitation, and public health challenges.
• Business & Innovation: Organisations use HCD to rethink customer experiences, services, and organisational systems.

How I’ll Use It

HCD will help me create solutions that are not only functional and usable, but also meaningful, inclusive, and grounded in real human needs — particularly when solving complex, ill-defined problems that extend beyond pure business or technical goals. HCD reminds me that design is for people, not brands.

3. Lean UX

Lean UX is all about speed, collaboration, and measurable learning. It adapts well to environments where fast feedback loops are crucial.

What it is

Build Less — Focus on outcomes, not outputs

The “Build Less” stage challenges teams to resist the urge to over-design or over-document. Rather than producing polished wireframes, exhaustive personas, or lengthy design specs, teams focus on the smallest possible effort needed to test an idea.

This stage revolves around:

• Framing work as assumptions rather than final solutions.
• Creating minimum viable designs (MVDs) that communicate intent clearly.
• Prioritising outcomes (user behaviour change) over outputs (screens or features).

This mindset ensures design work is purposeful and measurable from the start.

Test Early — Validate ideas as soon as possible

Once a lightweight solution is built, it is immediately put in front of users. Lean UX strongly discourages waiting until designs are “perfect” before testing. Early feedback helps teams uncover flawed assumptions before they become expensive mistakes.

Key activities in this stage include:

• Rapid usability testing with low-fidelity prototypes.
• A/B testing concepts or flows with real users.
• Gathering qualitative and quantitative feedback as quickly as possible.

Testing early reduces risk and keeps the team grounded in reality rather than internal opinions. It also fosters a culture where failure is acceptable, as long as it leads to learning.

Learn Fast — Turn insights into action

The final stage focuses on learning from results and deciding what to do next. Insights from testing are used to either:

• Validate the hypothesis and move forward,
• Refine the idea and test again, or
• Abandon the idea entirely and explore alternatives.

Importantly, Lean UX treats learning as the primary deliverable. Success is not defined by how polished a design looks, but by how much the team learns about users and the problem space.

It follows ideas such as:

• Minimal documentation
• Rapid experiments
• Hypotheses instead of features

Who Uses It

Lean UX thrives in fast-moving environments and is widely adopted by:

• Startups, where resources are limited, and speed is essential.
• Agile product teams that release in short sprints.
• Technology companies focused on continuous delivery.

Well-known organisations such as Spotify, Dropbox, Airbnb, and Atlassian have embraced Lean UX principles to keep teams aligned, reduce waste, and ensure design decisions are backed by evidence rather than assumptions.

How I’ll Use It

I plan to adopt Lean UX in early concept phases — especially when hypotheses are untested. It encourages me to let go of perfectionism and focus instead on progress and learning. By building less and testing earlier, I can avoid investing time in solutions that don’t actually solve user problems.

4. Google Design Sprint

Developed at Google Ventures, the Design Sprint compresses months of work into five intense days.

What it is

Understand & Map **— **The sprint begins with building a shared understanding of the challenge. Teams map out the problem space, define long-term goals, and identify critical questions that must be answered for the project to succeed.

Sketch Solutions **— **Rather than group brainstorming, the Design Sprint encourages individual ideation. Each participant sketches solutions independently, allowing diverse ideas to surface without groupthink or hierarchy influencing creativity.

**Decide on the Best — **Choose the strongest solution. In this phase, the team evaluates the sketches and decides which idea (or combination of ideas) to prototype. Decisions are made collaboratively but guided by structured critique and clear reasoning.

**Prototype — **The goal of prototyping in a Design Sprint is speed, not perfection. Teams create a realistic facade of the solution that is convincing enough for users to interact with and provide honest feedback.

**Test — **The final day is dedicated to user testing. Real users interact with the prototype while the team observes, listens, and documents insights.

Who Uses It

Large and small teams alike use sprints — from startups incubated by GV to internal Google teams working on products like Gmail and Google Meet. Enterprises such as Slack, Airbnb, and Lego also make use of this framework.

How I’ll Use It

I will run sprints whenever a project needs team alignment early on. The structure helps remove ambiguity and quickly makes it easier to find out whether or not an idea is worth pursuing.

5. Agile UX

Agile UX brings UX thinking into Agile development cycles. Instead of design and development acting in silos, the two operate in tandem.

What it is

• UX tasks embedded in sprints • Continuous refinement of design • Close collaboration with developers

Who Uses It

Organisations like Salesforce and Atlassian embed UX designers within Agile squads to ensure that design evolves with engineering rather than in parallel. Also, startups and SaaS companies rely heavily on Agile UX to iterate quickly and stay competitive.

How I’ll Use It

My goal is to be a bridge between design and engineering — advocating for regular design reviews during sprint processes to minimise rework and improve user outcomes together.

6. Double Diamond

Created by the UK’s Design Council, the Double Diamond visualises design as two phases of divergence and convergence:

Discover → Define → Develop → Deliver

What it is

**Discover — **Broaden understanding. This first phase is all about research and exploration. Designers gather insights by engaging deeply with users, markets, and trends to uncover hidden opportunities or problems.

**Define — **Focus on insights. Once a wealth of information is gathered, the next step is to analyse and focus. Here, teams interpret data, identify patterns, and frame the core challenge in a human-centred way.

**Develop — **Create multiple solutions. With a clearly defined problem, the focus shifts to ideation and prototyping. Teams brainstorm a variety of ideas, explore alternatives, and build early models or prototypes to test feasibility.

**Deliver — **Choose and implement. The last stage concentrates on refinement and launch. Teams take validated concepts through final design, development, and deployment while ensuring quality and usability.

Who Uses It

Companies like Microsoft and McKinsey Digital use this model to formalise iterative design processes across teams. Government and public sector agencies — Applying it to service design and policy-making for citizen-centred solutions, and design consultancies and agencies worldwide — Employing it to communicate design progress clearly to stakeholders

How I’ll Use It

The Double Diamond helps me structure thinking — when to expand research vs. when to narrow focus. I plan to use it as a visible roadmap with teams. The Double Diamond gives me a clear roadmap for structuring projects — helping me know when to explore widely and when to focus sharply. In my future design process, I plan to use it as a shared language with cross-functional teams, making the iterative nature of design visible and understandable.