DESIGN THINKING: THE BEGINNER’S GUIDE

COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course contains a series of practical exercises that build on one another to create a complete design thinking project. The exercises are optional, but you’ll get invaluable hands-on experience with the methods you encounter in this course if you complete them, because they will teach you to take your first steps as a design thinking practitioner. What’s equally important is you can use your work as a case study for your portfolio to showcase your abilities to future employers! A portfolio is
essential if you want to step into or move ahead in a career in the world of human-centered design.

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN

• How to apply design thinking to your problems in order to generate innovative and user-centric solutions
• How to make use of practical design thinking methods in every stage of your problem, with the help of method templates
• How to initiate a new working culture based on a user-centric approach, empathy, ideation, prototyping, and playful testing
• How to employ ethnographic and analysis methods, such as interviews, focus groups, and surveys
• How to prototype early and fast, as well as test your prototypes so as to reduce risks and accelerate organizational learning

TARGET AUDIENCE

• UX, UI, and graphic designers interested in gaining a new approach to solving design problems and generating solutions that work
• Project managers looking for a holistic process that integrates all stakeholders in order to create user-centric solutions
• Software engineers interested in playing a part in idea generation and the design process
• Entrepreneurs looking to empathize with users and build products that fit the market and users’ lives
• Marketers who want to gain a deep understanding of customers
• Stakeholders of a project/company who are keen to get involved in the process of building a product or service
• Anyone who is interested in an innovative problem-solving approach that can be applied to all types of problems in work and in life

COURSE OUTLINE

Lesson 0: Welcome and Introduction
• Welcome and Introduction
• Build Your Portfolio Project
• An introduction to courses from the Interaction Design Foundation
• Let our community help you
• How to earn your Course Certificate
• Meet your peers online in our discussion forums
• Meet and learn from design professionals in your area
• Gain Timeless Knowledge Through Courses From The Interaction Design Foundation
• Mandatory lessons vs. Optional lessons
• A mix between video-based and text-based lesson content

Lesson 1: What is Design Thinking?
• What is Design Thinking and Why Is It So Popular?
• Design Thinking: New Innovative Thinking for New Problems
• Obstacles to Problem Solving and Innovation in Design Thinking
• What is A Wicked Problem and How Can You Solve It?
• Essential Design Thinking Videos and Methods
• Share Your Thoughts

Lesson 2: The Design Thinking Process
• Stages in the Design Thinking Process
• Stage 1 in the Design Thinking Process: Empathise with Your Users
• Stage 2 in the Design Thinking Process: Define the Problem and Interpret the Results
• Stage 3 in the Design Thinking Process: Ideate
• Stage 4 in the Design Thinking Process: Prototype
• Stage 5 in the Design Thinking Process: Test
• Design Thinking Methods
• Design Thinking: Select the Right Team Members and Start Facilitating
• Design Thinking: Get a Quick Overview of the History
• Design Thinking: A Quick Overview
• The Design Thinking Stages

Lesson 3: Empathise with the People You Design For
• The Power of Empathy
• Design Thinking: Getting Started with Empathy
• How to Develop an Empathic Approach in Design Thinking
• Empathy – How to Improve Your Designs by Developing Empathy for Your Target Group
• Probes for Context Mapping – How to Design and Use Them
• 7 Simple Ways to Get Better Results from Ethnographic Research
• How to Conduct User Interviews
• Question Everything
• The Power of Stories in Building Empathy
• Choose your own Design Thinking Challenge
• Build Your Portfolio Project: Empathize

Lesson 4: Define the Design Challenge
• Stage 2 in the Design Thinking Process – Define the Problem by Synthesising Information
• Methods to Help You Define Synthesise and Make Sense in Your Research
• Affinity Diagrams – Learn How to Cluster and Bundle Ideas and Facts
• Empathy Map – Why and How to Use It
• Personas – A Simple Introduction
• Define and Frame Your Design Challenge by Creating Your Point Of View and Ask “How Might We”
• Map the Stakeholders
• Define Your Challenge
• Build Your Portfolio Project: Define

Lesson 5: Ideate
• What is Ideation – and How to Prepare for Ideation Sessions
• Understand the Elements and Thinking Modes that Create Fruitful Ideation Sessions
• Create Some Space – for Ideation Sessions and Design Thinking
• Create Some Space With d.school
• Introduction to the Essential Ideation Techniques which are the Heart of Design Thinking
• Learn How to Use the Best Ideation Methods: Brainstorming, Braindumping, Brainwriting, and Brainwalking
• Learn How to Use the Best Ideation Methods: SCAMPER
• Learn How to Use the Best Ideation Methods: Worst Possible Idea
• Learn How to Use the Best Ideation Methods: Challenge Assumptions
• Learn How to Use the Best Ideation Methods: Analogies
• Etch A Sketch: How to Use Sketching in User Experience Design
• How to Select the Best Idea by the end of an Ideation Session
• 14 Barriers to Ideation – and How to Overcome Them
• Exercise and Discussion: Share Your Reflections on Ideation
• Build Your Portfolio Project: Ideate

Please contact us for the full course outline, schedules and for booking a private class.

Inquire Now