Which of the following is a core stage of design thinking?

Empathize is indeed a core stage of design thinking, as it serves as the foundational step in understanding the users and their needs. In this stage, designers actively engage with and observe users to gather insights into their experiences, challenges, and motivations. This user-centered approach fosters a deeper understanding of the problem space, allowing designers to develop solutions that are more aligned with users’ real-world needs and desires.

In the design thinking process, empathizing helps to build empathy with users, ensuring that the solutions generated are not simply based on assumptions but grounded in actual user experiences. This stage is crucial as it informs subsequent stages, such as defining the problem, ideation, prototyping, and testing, by ensuring that all efforts are centered around the user’s perspective.

The other options—such as planning, quantifying, and optimizing—though important in various design processes, do not capture the essence of the empathetic approach that is central to design thinking. They do not reflect the values of human-centered design and the commitment to understanding users deeply before moving on to solution development.