Design Thinking Methods Catalogue

# Ideate

# NABC

Purpose
Quickly grasp the essence of ideas
Time required
20 to 40 minutes
Participants
Design Thinking team
Level of experience
Beginner

# What is it about?

Using the four basic questions Need, Approach, Benefit and Competition, ideas can be clearly structured in a 2x2 matrix, called the NABC cross. NABC can be used for different application scenarios, but is particularly useful for business ideas.

# The goal

The goal is to quickly grasp the core of the idea. This can be achieved by looking at the idea from the following four different perspectives:

  • Need: Who are the typical customers or users of the idea? What is the problem that needs to be solved? What is the need behind it?
  • Approach: How should the problem be solved? What is the solution? What is the performance promise?
  • Benefit: What is the benefit for the user? What is the benefit for the company?
  • Competition: What alternative solutions are there? Who are the competitors? What other hurdles are there?

# How to do it?

  1. Draw a 2x2 matrix (NABC cross).
  2. Start with the problem/need:
    • Customer's problem
    • Typical customer or typical situation in which the problem occurs
  3. Continue with the approach to the solution:
    • Problem solution, product/service/process, the underlying business model
  4. Continue with the benefit:
    • Benefit for the customer, the company, ...
  5. Finally, the last quadrant (Competition):
    • Alternatives and competitors (current and future)
    • Unique selling points of the solution

# When do you need it?

This tool is primarily used to illustrate the essential aspects of an idea and is therefore suitable for a pitch, for example. The initial focus on the problem/need also means that concrete solutions emerge at the end of this method. NABC is therefore also suitable for generating ideas for a known customer problem.

# Resources

# Advantages

The biggest advantage of this method is that it can be used for a wide variety of application scenarios. The clear categorization helps to identify the essential aspects and communicate them in an understandable way.

# Disadvantages

The disadvantage is the limited space, as the NABC cross is usually only shown on one side to ensure clarity.

# Keep in mind

This tool is primarily a customer-oriented method that focuses on the customer and their problem or need. Also note that the NABC cross should generally fit on one page to ensure clarity.

# See also

Previous methods Alternative methods Following methods

# Sources

← TRIZ →