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description: Use when solving user-centered problems through iterative prototyping and testing
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# Design Thinking (IDEO)

A human-centered innovation framework that cycles through empathy, problem definition, ideation, prototyping, and testing to arrive at solutions users actually need.

## Steps

1. **Empathize** — Observe and interview users to understand their experiences, behaviors, and motivations deeply.
2. **Define** — Synthesize findings into a clear problem statement that captures the core user need.
3. **Ideate** — Generate a wide range of possible solutions without judgment; quantity over quality.
4. **Prototype** — Build low-fidelity representations of the most promising ideas to make them tangible.
5. **Test** — Put prototypes in front of real users, gather feedback, and iterate back to any earlier step.

## Output Format

A structured report containing: user insights summary, problem statement, top 3-5 solution concepts with sketches or descriptions, prototype plan, and test findings with next-iteration recommendations.