Concept development is a formal part of the Experience Design process. The purpose of this phase is to help the designer synthesize all the information gathered in previous phases of the project--through activities that are mostly formal and analytical--and define the design approach and solution that address the product objectives and needs in unique and engaging ways.

One way to think about concept development is as an advanced form of problem solving, as illustrated in the preceding figure:

• Define a problem statement: The early phases of the product design process are focused on discovery and research activities--Company X wants to create a unique experience for its product Y, which will focus on target audience Z, and others. What should this experience be like?
• Aspirational problem solving: To answer this question, the designer needs to switch to a different mode of thinking--from research and analysis to synthesis guided by design-thinking and experimentation. Concepts are, by nature, more concerned with capturing the essence of the experience at a high level, or "wide strokes", by defining a set of matching guiding principles that are used throughout the development process.
• Practical problem solving: Once a concept has been refined, tested, and approved, the project can shift its gear to the next phase of defining the design's nuts and bolts, that is, transforming a high-level concept into detailed design specifications, that will guide the actual engineering and build of the product. Throughout this phase, the designer extends and, often, diverges from the original concepts to address specific known and new business requirements, technical constraints, and production deadlines.

The word aspirational in the design context can be interpreted to mean a solution that is not burdened by budget, schedule, technical, or any other constraints--a "pie in the sky" exploration of the problem statement. For a limited window of time, the design team is given the freedom to aim at the best possible experience solution for the design problem statement.

The concept development process includes a defined set of activities that are meant to generate concrete design artifacts that can be tested for rejection or continued iteration. The opportunity to think "out-of-the-box" can pay off, if it leads to an approach that sheds current inefficiencies and complexities and improves the overall experience.

There are no set formulas, processes, or methods that are uniformly used for concept development across all product categories or by all design practitioners. That is just fine, because the context of people and problems is variable--some people may have formal training in design and familiarity with the tools, techniques, and methodologies, and yet not be able to come up with a creative solution to design problems. Others, with little knowledge of formal design, may come up with very creative solutions to the very same problems.

Moreover, teams of designers using identical processes and methods might come up with different solutions to the same problem, and in different contexts, the same designer might come up with completely distinct approaches to the same design challenge.

Finally, there are well-established concept development techniques, that have proven to be effective and productive under some circumstances. These include, but are certainly not limited to, the Double Diamond design approach and variations on design thinking methodologies by IDEO, Stanford University, IBM, and Google. Some work well for individuals and others are meant to be used in group settings. Their purpose is to introduce consistency and process to support effective idea generation, which will increase the quality and number of ideas that may be relevant to the project.

It is important to remember, however, that design thinking is an innate human trait, and people have been "design thinking" quite wonderfully throughout the evolution of our species.