September 2026 · 10 min read · 33 skills, free

33 Claude Skills for Design Thinking That Ships

Skills that carry a design project end to end, inside Claude: they frame the challenge, prepare the research, make sense of what real people said, define the problem, shape and stress-test the concepts, and land the recommendation. Claude prepares and synthesises; humans meet the users.

01What these skills are

A whole design practice, as installable Claude skills

The pack covers the whole arc of a design project: framing the challenge, preparing the research, making sense of what real people told you, defining the problem, shaping the ideas, testing them with real users, and landing the whole thing in front of the people who decide.

One rule runs through all of it: Claude prepares and synthesizes, humans meet the users.

No skill here replaces a single conversation with a real customer. Every persona, insight and finding in this pack is built from research with real people. What it takes off your plate is the paper trail.

Mechanically, each skill is one folder with a SKILL.md file. The 33 are grouped into seven phases, and each one gives full value on its own. They work from one Claude Project per challenge.

Download all 33 skills

One zip: ready-to-install skill zips, readable SKILL.md files, and the five blank templates. Free, no signup. The same 33 skills live in our open repo, if you would rather read them before you install them.

Download the zip Browse on GitHub

Install in Claude Code

Two lines, and every skill in the pack loads at once.

/plugin marketplace add polar-bear-org/claude-skills
/plugin install design-thinking-pack@polar-bear-skills

Using Claude on the web instead? Download the zip above and upload each skill from its install folder under Customize → Skills.

02The catalog

The 33 skills you get

The set follows the arc of a real project, in seven phases: frame, prepare, make sense, define, shape, test, land.

1 · Frame the challenge

Design Challenge Framer

Use when: A project is starting and the problem is still a feeling rather than a statement
Output: A one to two page challenge brief: context, the problem statement, scope in and out, constraints, success criteria, open questions. Nearly every other skill in the pack reads it first

Stakeholder Mapper

Use when: The project is starting and it is unclear who can kill it
Output: The grid as a table, an engagement note per key player, and the missing-voices list — who is affected but has nobody in the room. One page, two at most

Assumption Mapper

Use when: The team is confident and nobody can say where the confidence comes from
Output: The full know/believe sort, the top five risks ranked with a one-sentence kill scenario each, and the cheapest test per risk with rough effort. Under two pages

Desk Research Digest

Use when: A discovery is starting and old reports, analytics and support logs are sitting unread
Output: Established findings with sources, suggestive findings with their caveats, contradictions, and the questions only primary research can answer. Every claim traceable to a named source

2 · Prepare the research

Interview Guide Designer

Use when: Interviews are scheduled and the question list is a blank page
Output: Intro script with the consent line, warm-up, timed arcs with probes, close. One to two pages, printable, opening with the reminder that the guide serves the conversation and not the other way around

Participant Screener Builder

Use when: Recruitment is starting and “eight users” has to become eight specific kinds of person
Output: The screener ready to paste into any form tool, the answer key showing which responses qualify and why, quotas, and disqualifiers

Survey Designer

Use when: Someone wants numbers from many users and the draft questions all start with “don't you agree”
Output: Goal statement, the questions with types and answer options, the analysis plan per question, pilot instructions, and a stated length cap with an estimated completion time

Observation Plan Builder

Use when: The team suspects that what users say and what users do are two different stories
Output: Focus list, capture sheet, visit logistics, consent script, and the same-day debrief checklist. Two pages, field-printable

Diary Study Designer

Use when: The question involves habits, moods or moments nobody can recall accurately afterwards
Output: Research questions, trigger design, the prompts verbatim, the participant onboarding script, an honest burden calculation, duration and sample, the incentive note, and the follow-up interview plan

Research Kickoff Brief

Use when: Methods and guides exist but nobody has agreed on paper who is doing what by when
Output: One page: questions, methods with rationale, sample, timeline, roles, and a “decisions this research feeds” line at the top so nobody forgets why it is happening

3 · Make sense of it

Interview Debriefer

Use when: An interview just ended and the notes are a wall of raw text
Output: One page per session: participant descriptor with no real name, quotes by territory, observed behaviors, surprises, follow-ups, and the interpretation section marked as interpretation. These files are what the synthesizer reads

Transcript Synthesizer

Use when: A stack of sessions is done and the team needs themes instead of nine separate stories
Output: Each theme with its definition, count, supporting quotes with participant tags, counter-examples and a confidence note; then single-voice observations, tensions, and open questions

Survey Analyzer

Use when: Response data exists and someone is about to average their way to a wrong conclusion
Output: The evidence base first — n, response rate, fielding dates, known biases — then findings with distributions and segment cuts, then the section on what this data cannot tell you

Insight Writer

Use when: Themes exist and the team needs the sentences that make a room lean forward
Output: Five to nine insight statements, each with its evidence trail and a confidence note, ranked, with the mere confirmations listed separately at the end

Empathy Map Builder

Use when: Research exists and the team wants the says, thinks, does, feels view of a segment
Output: One page per map: the four quadrants plus pains and gains, every entry sourced or explicitly marked as inference, an evidence footer, and the gap list

4 · Define the problem

Persona Designer

Use when: Research data exists and the team needs people-shaped summaries of who they are designing for
Output: Three to five personas, each under a page, each with its evidence footer and at least two verbatim quotes from real participants, plus a summary table: persona, core goal, sample size behind it

JTBD Writer

Use when: The team keeps describing features and needs to describe the progress people are trying to make
Output: Job statements with their functional, emotional and social layers and evidence tags, the outcome ranking (or the honest note that ranking needs more data), and the opportunity flags

Journey Builder

Use when: The team needs to see the whole experience end to end instead of their own touchpoint
Output: The structured map — stages as columns; actions, touchpoints with owners, thoughts, feelings, pains, moments of truth and opportunities as rows — plus a narrative a stakeholder reads in three minutes. Unresearched stages are marked, not smoothed over

Five Whys Runner

Use when: A pain point is well documented and the team is about to solve its symptom
Output: The causal chain with evidence at each step, branches shown, unverified rungs marked with their follow-up research questions, and the recommended solving level with reasoning

Problem Statement Writer

Use when: The research is synthesized and the team must choose which problem gets solved
Output: Three to five candidate POVs, each with its evidence trail, traits check and the trade-off that framing implies; a comparison table; and a recommendation with reasoning

HMW Generator

Use when: A problem statement exists and an ideation session needs its launching questions
Output: Eight to fifteen clustered How Might We questions, each traceable to its POV or insight, with the rejected-and-rewritten examples shown so the team learns the policing move. One page, printable for the room

5 · Shape the ideas

Idea Expander

Use when: Everyone keeps suggesting the same three obvious solutions
Output: Twenty or more directions grouped by distance, each tagged with the lens that produced it and the insight or HMW it serves. Labeled as desk divergence: raw input for the team's judgment, not a ranked list

Concept Card Writer

Use when: Ideation produced winners and they need a fair, comparable write-up before prioritization
Output: One page per concept in an identical format, plus an index table: concept, who it serves, core bet, first test. These cards are exactly what the matrix and the DFV check read

Value Impact Matrix

Use when: A set of concepts exists and the team must choose where the effort goes
Output: The 2x2 as a table with per-concept reasoning, the calibration example and axis definitions, the now/next/later read with owners where known, and the parked list with revival conditions

DFV Checker

Use when: Concepts are about to get investment and nobody has asked the three hard questions on paper
Output: Per concept: desirability, feasibility and viability with evidence, verdict and confidence; the weakest leg named; the strengthening prescription. No traffic-light greens without cited evidence behind them

Role Play Designer

Use when: A service idea exists only as boxes on a slide and nobody has lived it yet
Output: Scenario, one role card per player, the beat script, props list, observer sheet and debrief questions. Ready to run in 60 to 90 minutes with four to eight people

Storyboard Writer

Use when: A concept needs to be felt as an experience before anyone commits to building it
Output: Six to eight numbered frames, each with scene description, caption and emotional beat, plus a two-line story summary. Ready to hand an illustrator or sketch from — stick figures are fully sufficient

6 · Test with real people

Riskiest Assumption Finder

Use when: A concept is heading toward a build and nobody has named the bet underneath it
Output: Per concept: the assumption stack ranked with reasoning, the first-test assumption flagged, and its cheapest honest test with rough effort and the evidence it would produce

Prototype Planner

Use when: An assumption needs testing and the team's instinct is to build the product to find out
Output: The question, the chosen method with rationale, build scope with a day cap, the evidence bar committed to before the sessions, the session plan with real-user recruitment, and the cannot-answer list. One page

Test Script Designer

Use when: Sessions are booked and the moderator needs words that produce behavior instead of compliments
Output: Intro and consent script, tasks with success criteria, think-aloud prompts, the question bank in order, an observer sheet, and timing for the slot. Ready to moderate from

Test Debrief Synthesizer

Use when: The sessions are done and the team is about to remember them more fondly than they went
Output: The evidence base, behavior-versus-opinion findings with counts and quotes, per-assumption verdicts held against the bar set before the data, the recommendation with reasoning, and open questions

7 · Land it

Insight Playback Builder

Use when: The work is done and the people who were not in the room need to believe what the team now knows
Output: The narrative playback, answer-first, with the evidence base stated up front and the what-we-did-not-find section in the main body, optionally generated out as a deck. Every claim traces to a project artifact

Recommendation Writer

Use when: One page has to carry the decision to someone who was never in a session
Output: One page: the recommendation, what it rests on, what is still assumed, the first two weeks, and the walk-away condition. Jargon-free, no appendix required to parse it

03How to use it

Pick the workflow that matches your week

One pinned chat per challenge carries the whole arc. Design Challenge Framer writes the brief nearly every other skill reads first.

Frame the challenge

The client wants an app and nobody has said what it should change.

Design Challenge Framer
Stakeholder Mapper
Assumption Mapper
Desk Research Digest

Prepare the research

Interviews next week, the question list is a blank page.

Interview Guide Designer
Participant Screener Builder
Research Kickoff Brief

Make sense of interviews

Nine transcripts, no themes yet.

Interview Debriefer
Transcript Synthesizer
Insight Writer

Define the problem

A documented pain, and the team is about to solve its symptom.

Five Whys Runner
Problem Statement Writer
HMW Generator

Shape the ideas

Five ideas picked, none written up the same way.

Idea Expander
Concept Card Writer
Value Impact Matrix
DFV Checker

Test with real people

We're pretty confident, we just want to move.

Riskiest Assumption Finder
Prototype Planner
Test Script Designer
Test Debrief Synthesizer

Land it

The steering committee meets next week.

Insight Playback Builder
Recommendation Writer

04Setup guide

Install it in five minutes

In Claude Code · two lines

/plugin marketplace add polar-bear-org/claude-skills
/plugin install design-thinking-pack@polar-bear-skills

In Claude.ai or Claude Desktop · seven clicks

Download the pack, then open Settings
Unzip the pack: its skills folder holds all 33 skills. In Claude, click your name at the bottom left, then Settings.
Download the zip
Open Skills and click Add
Under Customize, choose Skills. Click Add, then Upload a skill.
Drop in a skill file
Drag the skill's file into the box, or click to browse. You can add several at once.
Pick the skill from the pack
In the pack folder, open skills, then the skill you want, and select its SKILL.md — design-challenge-framer is a good first one.
Check the preview and upload
Claude shows the skill's name and what it does. Click Upload.
Make sure it is switched on
The skill opens on its own page. Its toggle should be on.
Try it in a new chat
Type / and the skill's name, then say what you need.

Then try one

Run design-challenge-framer on this client brief: [paste it here]

Run transcript-synthesizer on these interview transcripts: [paste them here]

Run hmw-generator on this problem statement: [paste it here]

Lantern for design thinking facilitators

Turn your workshop notes into posts clients remember

Lantern drafts a week of posts from your notes and call transcripts, in your voice. You review them and publish the ones you like.

100 free credits, about ten posts. No card needed.

Try for free

05Quick reference

Where to start

Your situation	Skill to run
The client wants an app and nobody has said what it should change	Design Challenge Framer
Interviews next week, the question list is a blank page	Interview Guide Designer
Nine transcripts, no themes yet	Transcript Synthesizer
Twelve customers talked to, now what	Persona Designer
A documented pain, and the team is about to solve its symptom	Five Whys Runner
Ideation on Thursday and nothing to ideate on	HMW Generator
Five ideas picked, none written up the same way	Concept Card Writer
We're pretty confident, we just want to move	Riskiest Assumption Finder
The steering committee meets next week	Insight Playback Builder

06Standards

The quality bar

Every skill in the pack holds the same standard, the one we hold when we run discovery ourselves:

Claude prepares and synthesizes, humans meet the users: no skill runs an interview, and none invents one
AI-invented users presented as research is the one thing this pack never does: no persona, insight or journey without real research under it
Evidence means real data from real people or real systems: team conviction, a sponsor's certainty and a competitor's feature list move nothing out of the believe column
Raw words stay raw: quotes are never sharpened, merged, or blended into a composite voice
Silence is labeled silence: unresearched journey stages, thin themes and small samples say so instead of being smoothed over
No solution smuggled into the question, not in the problem statement and not in the How Might We, however much the sponsor likes that solution
The people affected go on the stakeholder map even when nobody in the room represents them
The recommendation never outruns the evidence: a well-evidenced “not this” is a project that succeeded at its actual job

07FAQ

Questions people ask

What is in the Design Thinking pack?

33 Claude skills for the whole arc of a design project, in seven phases: frame the challenge, prepare the research, make sense of it, define the problem, shape the ideas, test with real people, and land it.

How do I install these Claude skills?

In Claude Code, two lines install all 33 at once. In Claude.ai or Claude Desktop, download the zip, open Settings, Skills, Add, and upload the skills you want. Either way it takes about five minutes.

Do I need Claude Code to use them?

No. The skills work in Claude.ai, Claude Desktop and Claude Code. In the app you upload them yourself; in Claude Code one command installs the whole pack.

Do the skills work with ChatGPT or other assistants?

They are built as Claude Skills, and installing them is a Claude feature. Each one is a plain Markdown file, so you can read it and reuse the method elsewhere, but it will not load and trigger by itself outside Claude.

Will Claude invent users or run the interviews?

No. Claude prepares and synthesizes, and humans meet the users. No skill runs an interview, and none invents one. No persona, insight or journey is written without real research under it.

Is the pack free?

Yes. It is free to use inside your company and in client work, and not for resale. There is no signup: the download and the install command are on this page.

08Who made this

Lantern, by Polar Bear

These skills were written by Polar Bear, a people ops consultancy that runs its own company on Claude. The pack is free, and the same skills are open on GitHub.

Lantern is Polar Bear's content workspace. It turns your notes, documents and call transcripts into drafts for LinkedIn and other networks. You review them and publish the ones you like.