Online Design Thinking Fundamentals

Over a 5-week period, you will meet with your fellow participants and coaches in 2-hour online classroom sessions. We strongly believe in learning-by-doing. A major part of this online course consists of hands-on work on a general case using the different Design Thinking tools. You will work in co-creation in small teams to learn from each other and incorporate the knowledge and skills of participants from diverse backgrounds and industries. Our expert facilitators will teach you how to use empathy when envisioning future scenarios of service for your end-users.

• On boarding

  We find it very important that you feel comfortable, secure and motivated to work together for the upcoming weeks in this online learning journey. Therefore we have incorporated a short on boarding moment at the start of the first session.

• Phase 1 : Discover

  We will kick off with an introduction to the Design Thinking principles, tools and best practices. Then we will dive into the challenge using tools such as Design Research, Stakeholder Map, Mind Map and Affinity Map. We will wrap up the Discovery Phase by creating strong Personas.

• Phase 2: Define

  This phase is dedicated to finding interesting opportunity areas: understanding frustrations to find problems that are worth solving. Using the Customer Journey Map we can identify impactful moments within the decision-making process. With that knowledge we can proceed to reframe the challenge into a Problem Statement.

• Phase 3: Develop

  Now that we have a good understanding of the problem area, it’s time to develop new solutions. Ideation! We will work with several ‘divergent thinking’ tools and cluster these ideas in an Idea Priority Map. The following step will be to prototype these ideas using Service Scenarios and Artefacts.

• Phase 4: Deliver

  The final week we will focus on testing the prototypes and improving the concept. This iterative process will be concluded by making a strong pitch. We conclude our classroom sessions with time to reflect and develop your personal implementation plan.

• Certificate

  After completing the 1-month program and assignments you can celebrate your achievement of becoming a true Design Thinker. All tools and materials will be available after the course for personal use. A certificate from DesignThinkers Academy is awarded to participants who successfully complete the course.

Q. Why Design Thinking?

A.

At the Design Thinkers Academy, we recognise the huge and immediate challenges that businesses currently face, especially right now due to Covid-19.  Now, more than ever, we need to face the world with a new mindset, realising that the traditional formulas that have served companies so steadily for generations, might not be the right answer for the new reality that faces us all. So, as many of you sit at home, we want to offer an opportunity for you to become proactive and to meet these challenges head on. This is about understanding the new user that the world faces and building the right solutions for them. Design Thinking offers the perfect opportunity to develop your skillset for the future and be in the best placed position to prepare your business to flourish going forward.  

Q. How will the online sessions be taught?

A.

Different to many other online courses, this is a live course, meaning you will be directly taught in real time by our coaches. It is not a self-paced, online tutorial course, but is a high intensity live course from leading coaches in the field and will be an individual experience for each delegate taking part. 

Q. How will I do the course online? What equipment do I need?

A.

Equipment: The only equipment you’ll need is a computer with a fast and reliable connection to the internet (recommended minimum speed 1 Mbps, you can check your network speed here https://www.speedtest.net/), microphone, webcam and speakers or headphones. 

Tools: Access is easy and universal, using industry standard web-based tools. Zoom is our primary tool for voice call, with exercises taking place within Miro. Note: both these tools are available and accessible through Chrome browser; we recommend using Chrome for the best experience. 

Q. How long will the course take?

A.

Time: 9:30 AM – 11:30 AM (CEST)

Dates:

Session 01: Tuesday August 18
Session 02: Thursday August 20
Session 03: Tuesday August 25
Session 04: Thursday August 27
Session 05: Tuesday September 01
Session 06: Wednesday September 02
Session 07: Wednesday September 09
Session 08: Thursday September 10

Q. English isn’t my first language. Does that matter?

A.

People from all over the world will be taking part and this cultural mix is one of the real strengths of our offer. However, it is important to have good basic spoken English to get the most out of the courses. 

Q. Do I need to pay VAT?

A.

• UK business
• UK non-business individual
• Individual from the EC (Europe)

• Businesses from the EC (reverse charge rule)
• Worldwide non EC businesses (out of the scope of UK VAT)
• Worldwide non EC individuals (out of the scope of UK VAT)