# Define: Problem Framing & “How Might We”

**Track:** Design Thinking & Process — Design & Human-Centered Design — proposed (25)
**Framework / surface:** design
**Level:** Intermediate
**Prerequisites:** Empathize: Design Research & Interviews

**In one line:** Synthesis into a sharp, actionable point of view and reframed opportunity.

## Theory, aesthetics & inspiration

Research yields data; framing turns data into a point of view. Donald Schön argued in "The Reflective Practitioner" (1983) that designers do not solve given problems but set them — naming and framing what deserves attention. Synthesis distills field observations into insight, which a point-of-view statement crystallizes in the Stanford d.school's form: a user, a need, and a surprising insight. From that stance comes the "How Might We" question — a phrasing Min Basadur introduced at Procter & Gamble in the early 1970s and IDEO later canonized in its widely used Design Kit. Kees Dorst's "Frame Innovation" (2015) names the deeper move: reframing the problem itself is where opportunity lives.

## References

- [Donald Schön — Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Sch%C3%B6n)
- [Using “How Might We” Questions to Ideate on the Right Problems — Nielsen Norman Group](https://www.nngroup.com/articles/how-might-we-questions/)
- [Min Basadur — Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Min_Basadur)