Experiencing Design: Deepening Your Design Thinking Practice

About this course

How do we unlock the transformational power of design thinking? To do this, we must understand that this power lies not in what it encourages us to do, but in who it encourages us to become. We become design thinkers by experiencing design. In this course, developed at the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia, we will guide you through six key phases of the design journey - Immersion, Sensemaking, Alignment, Emergence, Imagining, and Learning in Action. For each of these phases, you will explore how design thinking done well impacts innovators by inviting them to bring their authentic selves into the innovation conversation. You will examine key behaviors that bridge the gap from beginner to competency, and deepen the skills that will allow you to achieve design thinking's transformational promise. You will also hear from industry leaders from all over the world who will share valuable lessons and personal stories about how experiencing design has shaped their exciting careers.

Course objectives

• deepen understanding of design thinking as a practice
• cultivate personal authenticity in innovation
• identify key behaviors that bridge the gap from beginner to competency