The document outlines the process of writing a problem statement within the design thinking framework, emphasizing the use of empathy mapping to understand users' thoughts and feelings. It describes how to create a point of view (POV) that combines user insights, needs, and actionable problem statements to drive design work. An example is provided to illustrate how to articulate a POV effectively.

1. How to write a
PROBLEM STATEMENT
Excerpt from Rikke Dam and Teo Siang’s
“Stage 2 in the Design Thinking Process: Define the Problem and Interpret the Results”

2. Begin by Empathy Mapping…
 An empathy map consists of four quadrants:
Said, Did, Thought, and Felt.
 Determining what the users/stakeholders said and did are relatively easy
steps as they can be easily researched.
 Determining what the users/stakeholders thought and felt is based on
careful observation of how they behave and respond (locate videos
online and look for subtle cues such as body language displayed and the
tone of voice used).

3. Point Of View → Problem Statement
 A Point Of view (POV) is a meaningful and actionable problem
statement, which will allow you to ideate in a goal-oriented manner.
 A POV involves reframing a design challenge into an actionable problem
statement.
 Combine your knowledge about the users/stakeholders you are
designing for, their needs and the insights which you’ve come to know in
your research or Empathise mode.
 Your POV should be an actionable problem statement that will drive the
rest of your design work.

4. Point Of View → Problem Statement
 You articulate a POV by combining these three elements – user, need,
and insight.
 You can articulate your POV by inserting your information about your
user, the needs and your insights in the following sentence:
 [User . . . (descriptive)] needs [need . . . (verb)] because [insight. . .
(compelling)]

5. Example of a PROBLEM STATEMENT…
Adolescent girls in Australia with a poor self-
image need to learn strategies for
developing positive inner-dialogue because
negative inner-dialogue leads to depression
and anxiety.

6. Teaching Design Thinking? Go to:
https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/stage-2-in-the-design-thinking-process-define-the-problem-and-interpret-the-results