# Tools
The tools in this toolbox are organized within a framework of three main phases, each with several areas of focus. Click through to a tool to find info on ...
- how to use it
- its level of time commitment and difficulty
- the materials you'll need
- where it might be of best use
# 🔎 Problem seeking
# Landscape
Research the current state of solutions (or lack thereof) from the user's perspective
- Content audit
- Heuristic evaluation
- Primary research (aka user research)
- Secondary research (aka contextual/competitive/tech research)
- Sitemap
# Empathize
Discover users' primary use cases, typical journeys, pain points, and ideal end states
- Empathy interview
- Empathy map
- I like, I wish, what if
- Journey map
- Mind map
- Resource flow
- Use cases (and user stories, "hills", etc)
# Synthesize
Group users according to the most appropriate axes for the problem and use those groups for guidance going forward
# 🎨 Problem shaping
# Diverge
Brainstorm, think outside the box, come up with ideas, pain points, opportunities and potential directions
# Converge
Find patterns, synthesize, find insights toward solutions or opportunities for change
- Business model canvas
- Co-creation session (aka design studio)
- Collating, clustering and voting
- Crazy eights
- Insight statements
- Principle definition
- Problem framing and reframing
- Storyboard
# Align
Decide on one (or several) directions for prototyping and testing and define success for each of them
# 🛠️ Problem solving
# Prototype
Create a "minimum believable product" that enables you to test in ways that measure a solution's success
# Test
Evaluate your prototype with real humans (or anything else you’ve created earlier in the process) and measure its performance against your definition of success