5 things to know about UK creative education

How can businesses understand their consumers and design for their needs in the digital age? In this Short Read, qualitative researcher Adelaide Vinay argues that design research must go beyond ‘what people say they want’ – revealing instead ‘what they really want’.

Richard Beaumont is the Head of Digital Design at Direct Line Group. He participated at the last Facilitation course and with this blog, explains the reasons why he decided to join the course. He reflects on what he learned on the course and how he can share this within its team.

Fill in the caption to make Rodin’s famous sculpture The Thinker into a Design Thinker. There is a great new book to be won, plus fame and glory. Submit your work before Sunday the 30th of April. The winner will be informed by email on Thursday the 4th of May. Good luck!

The London Design Festival is considered one of the most important annual design events in the world. It is made up of over 400 events, exhibitions and talks of interest to the worlds of design and business alike. Catarina Matos, our Design Researcher recommends some things to see and do.

Love festivals, but hate the toilets? Help is at hand. Jo Maude talks about her love of Loowatt, an innovative new product which has made a trip to the loo enjoyable. There’s nothing bog standard about these toilets.

Why is prototyping so important and how does it fit in to the design thinkers tool kit? In this short read David Kester looks at some recent projects he has observed and been involved in and shows how invaluable it is to get prototyping early and then keep iterating to build your minimum viable product (MVP). From a floating school to a sexual health service the prototype proves key to de-risking projects.

How can design help fight taboos around violence and abuse in society? In this short read, Bas van Lier documents a Design Thinkers Academy Workshop at the Dutch conference What Design Can Do. In this session the participants experienced how design thinking can be used to pose the right questions and find solutions to respond and tackle current issues in society.

The What Design Can Do Refugee Challenge is a global design competition in search of game-changing ideas to help refugees. David Kester, our founder and keen design evangelist, talks about why he is such a fan of this initiative and wants to spread the word.

Why do leaders need to be like designers? John Farrer, consultant at Professional and Organisational Development, argues that we should stop seeing thinking and doing as such separate activities and do what a designer does – prototype.