Double Diamond Design Process and Its Variations

Double diamond process

Double Diamond is a model of a design process proposed by the UK Design Council. It provides a structured approach for tackling complex challenges by breaking down the design process into four phases: Discover, Define, Develop, and Deliver.

Double Diamond by UK Design Council.Discover: Understanding the problem by gathering insights, exploring the context, and identifying user needs.Define: Narrowing down findings to a clear problem statement or brief, focusing on actionable insights.Develop: Generating, prototyping, and iterating on ideas that can solve the identified problem.Deliver: Test and refine solutions and prepare them for launch.

Despite all its advantages, double diamond has a very important limitation. First, it is built around the assumption that the project has a definable start and end with a clear problem to address. It may not be well-suited for projects with ambiguous goals or evolving problems, as its structure can make it challenging to adapt to new or shifting project scopes without starting over.

Second, the model ends with Deliver, assuming that the project is largely complete upon delivering the design solution. For large-scale or complex projects, this lack of focus on scaling, long-term support, and adaptability can make the Double Diamond less effective, as additional phases or post-launch considerations are often necessary.

As a result, there are attempts to build new models on top of the Double Diamond that will solve these downsides.

This model adds a third diamond focused on Implementation after the traditional Discover, Define, Develop, and Deliver phases. The Implementation phase involves further refining the solution, scaling it, and ensuring it’s fully integrated into the user’s ecosystem, often with a focus on scaling, support, and measurement.

Triple Diamond Design Process. Image by adam23gray

Some organizations adopt Double Diamond for their specific needs. For example, Zendesk puts a strong focus on UX content strategy, and the process it follows (Zendesk triple diamond) features UX Content Strategy activities at each stage of a way.

The framework shows UX Content Strategy and UX Research as continuous efforts across all phases, along with Information Architecture, Product Design, and Design Systems. It helps the team design a cohesive user experience.

Zendesk triple diamond. Image by Mike Chen.

Ted Goas offers a refined version of the triple diamond model with exit criteria for each step along the way. One notable improvement over Zendesk’s model is the Retro phase. During this phase, the team reflects on the entire process and gathers insights for future improvements (Insights on “What did we learn?”). It’s very handy to use this visualization as a reference when working on your project.

 

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