The Design Thinking Arc
A human-centered answer, earned stage by stage.
Last updated 2026-08-13
Design thinking runs on alternating modes: go out and learn, come back and make sense, diverge, make, test. Your Leefy tree is the come back half — the place where what you learned outside becomes structure you can act on.
Two of these five moves happen away from the keyboard entirely. That is not a gap in the tool; it is the method. The tree's job is to make sure nothing you learned out there evaporates.
- 1
Empathize — outside Leefy
Outside LeefyTalk to the people you are designing for. Interviews, observation, shadowing — done in the world, not in the app. Bring back raw notes and paste them into the tree as you go.
You’re here when: The Empathize season is open and the tree holds assumptions rather than evidence.
- 2
Define the insight
HarvestSynthesize what you heard into a sharp point of view: who, needs what, because why. One banked artifact that the rest of the project answers to.
You’re here when: The Define season is open and research notes are waiting to become a stance.
- 3
Ideate against it
GrowGrow branches wide against the defined need — volume first, judgment later. Cross-pollinate distant ideas; prune only when the season closes.
You’re here when: The Ideate season is open and the point of view has few competing answers yet.
- 4
Prototype the best
ProducePick the strongest idea and produce the cheapest thing that makes it testable — a sketch, a script, a mock. Rough on purpose; it exists to be argued with.
You’re here when: The Prototype season is open and one idea has been chosen but nothing testable exists.
- 5
Test — with people
Outside LeefyPut the prototype in front of real users, outside the app. Bank what you learn on the tree — and let it send you back to whichever earlier stage it contradicts.
You’re here when: The Test season is open and a prototype is ready to meet reality.