FastTrack Online Design Thinking

You’ll be introduced to Design Thinking by directly experiencing a set of tools and methods under the guidance of our leading coaches, which you can then use to shape and improve the services you offer. 

You will gain a foundational understanding of the principles and mindsets that underpin Design Thinking, and you will gain practical experience with Design Thinking’s key tools and processes. Armed with this new understanding, you’ll return to work with an approach that reaches for more engaging, open-minded, expansive and human-centric solutions. 

All tools covered will be made available to you, so that you can take these and start applying them the very next day after the course on your personal or work life. 

• The course takes place in 4 sessions: 3 sessions delivered over 3 consecutive days, plus 1 follow-up session delivered 1 week later. 
• The first 3 sessions cover the theory content and practice on a live challenge. 
• The 4th session is a follow-up with case-studies sharing, focus on skills for implementation, Q&A and course wrap-up. 

• Introduction

  In our introductory session we will onboard you to the course. This is an opportunity to meet the other participants, outline your ‘Hopes & Fears’ for the session and sort out any technical difficulties. It will also give you your first introduction to Design Thinking.

• Session 1: Introduction and discovering behavioural insights

  You’ll get introduced to the Design Thinking process and mindsets, before you will start working right away on our live challenge. You will do user research and understand how to make sense from data to get to customer insight. 

  • Tools & methods covered in this session: Hypothesis Amnesty, User Research, Interviews, Data Clustering 

   

• Session 2: Framing the customer question.

  Based on the insights you’ve uncovered in the previous session, you’ll build a clear picture of what you know around the challenge, to then reframe this challenge to make sure that you’ll be focusing on solving a real problem or on exploring a promising opportunity. 

  • Tools & methods covered in this session: Stakeholder Map, Personas, Customer Journey Map, Opportunity Statements 

   

• Session 3: Develop & Deliver

  Keeping your reframed challenge from the previous session as your central focal point, you’ll explore different ways of answering it. You’ll experience various brainstorming techniques and get started with rapid prototyping and testing of early-stage concepts. 

  • Tools & methods covered in this session: Ideation methods, Idea prioritisation, Concept Proposition, Storyboarding, Prototyping 

   

• Session 4: Bridging learnings & practice

  This is a semi-structured open follow-up conversation session that will be partly shaped by the needs and interests of the participants. Coaches will share inspiring case studies relevant to the participants and you’ll have the opportunity to share any challenges that you’ve encountered or foresee in applying design thinking moving forward.

  We’ll also run an activity to help participants identify their peak strengths and areas to develop further, in the context of design thinking and innovation leadership.

   

   

Q. Why Design Thinking?

A.

At the Design Thinkers Academy London, 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. Online Design Thinking offers the perfect opportunity to develop your skill set 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. 

There will be an onboarding session, taking place on 7 May, to help you get aligned with the tools and sort out any technical problems. It’s also a chance to meet other delegates, go through ‘Hopes & Fears’ and ask any questions before the course begins.

Q. Is this course the same as the Design Thinking Fundamentals offered in person?

A.

Yes, mostly, with a few variations. First, in this online edition you’ll be working on a web-based environment which will allow you to experience how these key tools can be adapted to work in a virtual setting, experiencing first-hand its possibilities and constraints. Second, we cover most content and tools from the in-person training with a few exceptions or adaptations. Finally, leveraging the flexibility that the online setting allows, we’ve decided to add a follow-up module one week after you’ve concluded the course practice. We highly encourage participants to take this one week interregnum to reflect and experiment with the tools to make the most of the follow-up session to share with the coaches and address any challenges encountered, getting feedback and advice specific to their own personal case. 

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 Mural and Google Docs. 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.

Dates: the next cohort starts on 2 Oct, and is followed by sessions on 5, 6, 7 and 15th of October.

Time Commitment: 12.5 hours of live sessions with our coaches, over 5 bite-sized sessions of 2.5 hours, no additional self-directed work required. 

Q. I would like to speak to someone for more information. How can I contact you?

A.

If you have a question that isn’t answered here, please do get in touch. You can email shanna@designthinkersacademy.co.uk for more information or call Shanna on +44 7711 068 553 for an informal chat.

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 you offer concession prices for your sessions?

A.

We have special rates for NHS workers, unemployed, charities and students. Please get in touch to find out more. If you’re booking a lot of spaces, you may want to talk to us about tailoring a course especially for your business. Call us on +44 (0)20 8432 3222 or email shanna@designthinkersacademy.co.uk to find out how we can help you. 

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)