10 Amazing Online Tools for Design Thinking in 2023

Voyce

What it is:

Voyce is a design thinking-based tool that puts the problem front and center, helping you create razor sharp problem statements BEFORE jumping into solutions. As Steve Jobs (Apple Founder) once said, "If you define the problem correctly, you almost have the solution".  Voyce also has a neat wee feature to easily capture customer feedback on what's important to them.

Voyce allows you to:

1. Capture and centralize your customer insights, organize problems by severity and scope to help find those that should be fixed first.
2. Define, validate, and triage customer problems. Link and convert your insights into clearly defined problems, to find the 'why?', and identify those problems that are most critical to solve. 
3. Easily generate multiple solutions to the problems you've identified so you can discover opportunities and build the right things.

Design Thinking Application:

We may be a tad biased, but we reckon Voyce is fantastic for clearly defining the problems or opportunities that need to be addressed. It helps in the Empathize, Define, and Ideate parts of the design thinking process.

It uses a structured, easy to understand format for evaluating the value of problems and solutions, and an intuitive way to keep multiple idea iterations focused on the original problem.

Pros and Cons:

• Pros: Very intuitive and snappy to use. Unlike others, Voyce is purpose-built to foster design thinking with a 'guided problem solving' approach.
• Cons: Lacks the complex flexibility of other offerings. Perhaps too simple for large enterprise types of organizations.

Pricing:

Currently 100% free for early adopters.

Miro

What it is:

Miro is a collaborative online whiteboard platform designed to allow distributed teams to work together effectively. It aims to offer a digital workspace for ideation, planning, design, agile workflows, and more. Miro is equipped with various tools and integrations, allowing for real-time collaboration and sharing.

Design Thinking Application:

In the design thinking process, Miro can be an excellent tool for facilitating brainstorming sessions, mapping out user journeys, and visualizing ideas. Miro's infinite canvas can be used for ideation, prototyping, and user testing feedback, and because it's collaborative, it allows for instant, real-time updates from all team members.

Pros and Cons:

• Pros: Real-time collaboration, integration with other tools like Google Drive and Slack, customizable and flexible interface.
• Cons: Might have a steep learning curve for some users, and the interface can be overwhelming due to many features.

Pricing:

Miro has a free plan with limited features. Paid plans start from $8 per user/month.

UserZoom

What it is:

UserZoom is a UX research and testing tool which aims to help businesses understand user behavior and improve the user experience of their products or services. The platform enables businesses to conduct a variety of research methodologies, including usability testing, card sorting, tree testing, and more.

Design Thinking Application:

UserZoom can be instrumental in the design thinking process, especially in the testing phase. You can use it to collect user feedback on prototypes or existing products, identify areas of improvement, and test different design solutions. Moreover, it provides insights that can be used to empathize with users and refine problem definitions.

Pros and Cons:

• Pros: Wide range of testing methodologies, allows for both moderated and unmoderated testing, provides in-depth analysis tools.
• Cons: Can be expensive for small teams or individual users, interface may not be as intuitive as other tools.

Pricing:

UserZoom doesn't publicly share their pricing information on their website. You'll need to contact them directly for a quote.

Hotjar

What it is:

Hotjar is a behavior analytics and user feedback service that helps you understand the behavior of your website users and get their feedback through tools like heatmaps, session recordings, and surveys.

Design Thinking Application:

Hotjar's tools can be incredibly valuable during the empathy, ideation, and testing stages of the design thinking process. Heatmaps and session recordings allow you to understand how users are interacting with your product or prototype, which can help you identify areas of friction and generate ideas for improvement. Surveys can be used to gather direct user feedback and further refine your solutions.

Pros and Cons:

• Pros: Easy to use, offers a variety of tools for understanding user behavior, allows for direct user feedback.
• Cons: Limited customization options for some tools, lack of advanced analysis features.

Pricing:

Hotjar has a limited free plan. Paid plans start from $32 per month.

Figma

What it is:

Figma is a cloud-based design tool for teams that allows for collaborative designing and prototyping. It aims to bring together all parts of the design process, from initial idea to final design, in one place that's accessible to all stakeholders.

Design Thinking Application:

Figma can be used throughout the design thinking process but is particularly useful in the prototyping and design-testing stages. Designers can quickly create and iterate on prototypes, share them with stakeholders and users for feedback, and make real-time adjustments. The collaborative nature of Figma also facilitates ideation and team alignment.

Pros and Cons:

• Pros: Real-time collaboration, robust prototyping tools, cloud-based and accessible from any device.
• Cons: Limited offline capabilities, steep learning curve for beginners, high-resolution designs can cause lag.

Pricing:

Figma has a free plan with limited features. Paid plans start at $12 per editor/month.

Mural

What it is:

Mural is a digital workspace for visual collaboration. It allows teams to collaboratively brainstorm, plan, and visualize ideas on a shared online whiteboard, regardless of their physical location. Mural offers tools for sticky notes, flowcharts, diagramming, and more.

Design Thinking Application:

In the design thinking process, Mural can facilitate ideation, collaboration, and visualization. Teams can use it to map user journeys, create empathy maps, brainstorm solutions, and prototype ideas. As it is real-time and collaborative, it can help remote teams work together effectively.

Pros and Cons:

• Pros: Real-time collaboration, rich set of visual tools, and easy to use interface.
• Cons: Limited offline functionality, might be less useful for teams that don't rely heavily on visual collaboration.

Pricing:

Pricing for Mural starts at $9 per member per month, but they also offer a free plan with limited features.

Trello

What it is:

Trello is a web-based, Kanban-style list-making application. It's designed to facilitate task and project management with a flexible and visual approach. Each board represents a project, with lists for different stages and cards for individual tasks. We're big fans of Trello!

Design Thinking Application:

Trello can be used to manage the design thinking process, keeping track of progress, and facilitating collaboration. Teams can use Trello boards to organize ideas, assign tasks, and visualize the status of different components of a project. It is particularly useful for managing the iterative cycles of prototyping and testing in design thinking.

Pros and Cons:

• Pros: User-friendly interface, flexible and customizable, good for visual task management.
• Cons: Can get cluttered with large projects, lacks some advanced project management features.

Pricing:

Trello offers a free version with limited features. Paid plans start at $5 per user/month.

Google Optimize

What it is:

Google Optimize is a website optimization tool that allows businesses to conduct A/B testing, multivariate testing, and personalized website experiments. The aim is to improve website performance based on user behavior data.

Design Thinking Application:

In the design thinking process, Google Optimize can be used primarily in the testing phase to assess different design solutions. You can set up experiments to test different versions of a webpage or feature and use the results to make data-informed design decisions.

Pros and Cons:

• Pros: Integration with Google Analytics, free to use, relatively easy to set up experiments.
• Cons: Limited compared to some dedicated testing tools, setting up more complex tests can be difficult. Being discontinued by Google in September 2023.

Pricing:

Google Optimize offers a free version. Google Optimize 360, the premium version, is available as part of Google Marketing Platform and the pricing is custom based on the needs of the business.

UserTesting

What it is:

UserTesting is a platform that provides real-time feedback from targeted users across the globe. It helps companies to understand how their audience interacts with their products or services.

Design Thinking Application:

UserTesting can be used throughout the design thinking process to gain insights about users and test prototypes or final products. The platform's ability to provide rapid feedback can be particularly useful for the iterative, user-centered approach of design thinking.

Pros and Cons:

• Pros: Rapid user feedback, diverse pool of users, video recording of user sessions.
• Cons: Can be expensive for small teams, sample size for a specific target group may be small.

Pricing:

UserTesting pricing is custom and you'd have to contact them directly for a quote - but it's expensive!

Canva

What it is:

Canva is a graphic design platform that allows users to create social media graphics, presentations, posters, and other visual content. It is available on the web and mobile and offers an array of templates for users of all design levels.

Design Thinking Application:

Canva can be used in the design thinking process to quickly create visual representations of ideas, design prototypes, and communicate concepts. It can be particularly useful in the ideation and prototyping phases.

Pros and Cons:

• Pros: Easy to use, wide variety of templates and assets, suitable for non-designers.
• Cons: Limited customization compared to professional design tools, paid assets mixed with free ones can cause confusion.

Pricing:

Canva Pro is available at $14.99 per user/month, and Canva Enterprise at $30 per user/month.