Synthesize

You collected a large amount of information in the Research phase and you have learned a lot about your users. Now it is time to analyze your findings and to structure all the information. The goal of this phase is to identify what is most important and to deduce insights — that means capturing the user perspective(s) you want to focus on. While you opened up to collect a large amount of information during the Research phase (divergence), you carve out the essential insights in the Synthesize phase (convergence). Guiding questions can help you consolidate the information that you have collected. Here are a few examples: What needs are our users trying to fulfill? What motivates them? What are the specific problems we want to solve for them? Where do you find potential contradictions? What surprising insights did you gain? Where do you see areas of tension?