Design Thinking for Beginners
The term "Design Thinking" can often seem daunting to people who are new to the idea, we can introduce the subject by making it fun and digestible.
In this workshop, we will learn and understand the five stages of the Design Thinking process by relating each stage to an everyday project.
In this case, we’ll go through the process of designing a cake for our friend. By tackling a small task together, we can familiarise ourselves with Design Thinking, and use these stages to tackle bigger projects in future.
Objectives
- Introduce beginners to design thinking by making it a fun and digestible process.
- Learn and understand the five stages of the design thinking process by relating each stage to an everyday project.
- By tackling a small task together, we will familiarize ourselves with design thinking, and use these stages to tackle bigger projects in future.
Materials
Attachments
- Cake scale.png
- Define.pdf
- Design Thinking is a Piece of Cake.pdf
- Design-Thinking-Workbook-Presentation.pdf
- Empathize.pdf
- Final Cake Design.pdf
- Icebreaker.pdf
- Ideas Vault.pdf
- Ideate.pdf
- Prototype.pdf
- Q&A.pdf
- T-shaped Profile.pdf
- T-shaped Profile.png
- Test.pdf
Instructions
This workshop is designed as an introduction to design thinking, providing the participants with steps to take to develop a different mindset and approach to problem solving. The workshop can instill new ways of thinking in teams, and freshen up their approach, working as a starting point before tackling larger projects using similar techniques.
Learning to reframe problems and looking at the scale of the challenge before empathizing with users can help teams deliver well needed solutions. We focus on how to create personas and build a rapid prototype to test before settling on a specific solution.
This workshop is effective in both live and remote formats, and can work as a hybrid lesson as well. We can work with online whiteboard tools to work throughout our learning process, whilst facilitating discussions and presentations alongside, to deliver a successful workshop in a virtual setting.
Most facilitators could guide this course using the instructions and exercises provided. It would be helpful to have knowledge and experience in design thinking, in order to reference any specific cases and personal examples of the design thinking journey which could ensure the success of the workshop’s objectives being met.
We have also created an easy-to-use workshop template for facilitators and have designed a Design Thinking For Beginners Workbook & Presentation for you to guide the participants through the process.
Author
James Smart is Head of Content at SessionLab. He’s facilitated workshops and designed elearning experiences for places including the University of East Anglia and the National Centre for Writing.
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