Good information design comes not from talent but from a process. Observing others, creating prototypes, and refining them through feedback——this repeated process is called "design thinking." As the conclusion of Unit 2, this lesson examines the design-thinking process and the nature of communicating information in the age of AI.
The Five Steps of Design Thinking
Design thinking is an approach in which problems are discovered from the user's perspective and solutions are developed through repeated prototyping and testing. It is generally explained in five steps. ①Empathize: observe and interview users to understand their difficulties and feelings deeply. ②Define: use observations to put into words the "problem that truly needs to be solved." ③Ideate: generate a wide range of solution ideas through brainstorming and similar methods. ④Prototype: quickly and inexpensively create a form, such as a paper sketch or simple model. ⑤Test: have actual users try it, obtain feedback, and improve it. The important point is not to finish steps ①–⑤ once, but to move back and forth among them repeatedly based on insights gained during testing.
Why Should Prototypes Be "Rough and Fast"?
If you show a prototype only after perfecting it, the cost of revision becomes high and it becomes difficult to accept feedback openly. Showing a prototype drawn on paper at an early stage makes it possible to change direction at low cost, and users can more easily give frank opinions. "Fail early and learn early" can also be called a faster version of the PDCA cycle learned in Unit 1.
Information Design in Collaboration with AI
In recent years, generative AI has become able to support each step of design thinking by serving as a sounding board for ideas and creating drafts of text and diagrams. Effective uses include having AI produce diverse ideas during ideation for humans to select, and having it quickly create a rough draft during prototyping. However, "empathy"——observing the person in front of you and understanding their feelings——remains a central task that only humans can perform. The communicator is also responsible for checking the accuracy of AI output and adjusting it to suit the audience rather than using it as is. Interestingly, the learning effect that "trying to explain something so that another person can understand it reveals gaps in your own understanding" is well known. Treating AI as someone you are teaching and trying to explain things to it is attracting attention as both practice in information design and a learning method.
The Communicator's Responsibility
As learned in Unit 1, communicated information has persistence, replicability, and transmissibility. Clear design has great influence, so clearly communicating incorrect information can cause greater harm. Verifying facts, identifying sources, respecting copyright and portrait rights, and avoiding exaggerated graphs——following these practices is the "responsibility of the communicator," integrated with the skills of information design.
- The five steps of design thinking: empathize → define → ideate → prototype → test. Repeat them rather than proceeding in one direction.
- The starting point is not "what the creator wants to communicate" but "the other person's difficulty."
- Make prototypes rough and fast. Learn from low-cost failures.
- AI is a powerful tool for ideation and prototyping. However, empathy and final responsibility belong to humans.
- "Explaining to another person" deepens one's own understanding. Teaching is learning.
- Clarity brings influence. That is why accuracy and respect for rights are the communicator's responsibility.
Practice Questions
- List the five steps of design thinking in order, and explain why the first step is "empathize."
- Give two reasons why prototypes should be made "rough and fast" rather than with a high degree of completion.
- When using generative AI to create information design, identify what may be entrusted to AI and what should be handled by humans.
Answers and Explanations
- Answer: The five steps are empathize → define → ideate → prototype → test. The first step is empathize because design thinking discovers problems from users' actual difficulties and feelings rather than from the creator's assumptions. If you create something without understanding the other person, you may produce a solution that misses the real problem.
Explanation: The point is not only memorizing the order but understanding the idea of starting with the user. - Answer: (Examples) ① Feedback can be obtained from users at an early stage, allowing mistakes in direction to be corrected at low cost. ② Something that has been heavily developed is harder to revise because of the effort and attachment involved, and the people viewing it may also hesitate to give frank opinions.
Explanation: The two axes are low revision cost and ease of obtaining frank feedback. The idea can also be summarized as "fail early and learn early." - Answer: Parts that may be entrusted to AI include generating candidate ideas, drafting text, and creating rough drafts of diagrams and layouts. Parts that should be handled by humans include observing and empathizing with users, defining the problem that truly needs to be solved, checking the accuracy of AI output, making final adjustments for the audience, and taking responsibility for communication.
Explanation: "AI handles mass production and drafts; humans handle empathy, judgment, and responsibility" is the appropriate division. It is important not to use AI output without verification.