This how-to article aims at providing designers, creative thinkers or even project managers with a tool to set up, frame, organise, structure, run or manage design challenges, and projects: The Double Diamond revamped.

The Double Diamond revamped

In order to do so, I have come up with an own and a revamped version of the Double Diamond process. In case, you are familiar with the British Design Council’s Double Diamond, IDEO’s human centred design ideology or @d.school’s Design Thinking process you might be familiar with the majority of approaches, steps and tools in the following paragraphs of this article.

Design Council’s Double Diamond, img source: http://static1.squarespace.com/static/55fa0341e4b06660c65bd4f0/t/5642c682e4b0b633d4fcc1fd/1447216776499/

IDEO HCD process, img source: https://cdn.evbuc.com/eventlogos/160332149/designthinkingphases.png

Stanford d.school Design Thinking process, img source: http://dschool.stanford.edu/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/steps-730x345.png

Understanding people

According to Don Norman, the human centred design process starts with a good understanding of people and the needs that the design is intended to meet. Various companies, organisations and educational institutions have taken on this challenge and have therefore come up with models in order to provide structure to the process of human centred design or design thinking.

Chilli Con Carne and the Double Diamond

When you cook a chilli con carne for the first time, you might start off with a recipe that appeals to you. Once you have burned your tongue a couple of times, you either go easy on the spices, or you even spice it up as you can’t get enough of the burning. Generally speaking, you tweak the original recipe to your own needs and taste.

…tweak the original recipe to your own needs and taste…

That’s what I have done to the design process during my previous months trying to master Digital Experience Design at Hyper Island.

As a starting point for my dish, I am using the Double Diamond process, originally released by the British Design Council. I like this framework for its structure, clarity and dynamic.

Point of departure and basics

The core question in almost any creative or design project is how to get from point A – “Don’t know” or “Could be” – to point B – “Do know” or “Should be”. This process might seem finite and straightforward at first sight.

In reality, it is a never ending process, as creativity is the habit of continually doing things in new ways to make a positive difference to our life (Hyper Island, 2016).

…creativity is the habit of continually doing things in new ways to make a positive difference to our life (Hyper Island, 2016).

The Double Diamond is a structured design approach to tackle challenges in four phases:

Discover /Research— insight into the problem (diverging) Define/Synthesis — the area to focus upon (converging) Develop/ Ideation— potential solutions (diverging) Deliver /Implementation— solutions that work (converging)

Phases of this process are either diverging or converging. During a diverging phase, you try to open up as much as possible without limiting yourself, whereas a converging phase focuses on condensing and narrowing your findings or ideas.

If you google the Double Diamond you are bound to find various interpretations and also varying wordings. I am going to stick to the version above as its wording allows flexibility and agility in its application in my opinion. Or in other words, it is the most appealing recipe to me.

The four phases of the Double Diamond may be simplified and merged into two main stages of the process.