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Design Thinking: Creating Better Customer Experiences

All Start Dates

  • Time

    8:30 AM – 4:30 PM ET

  • Length

    3 consecutive days

  • Cost

    $4,100

  • Registration Deadline

    April 28, 2024

  • Time

    8:30 AM – 4:30 PM ET

  • Length

    3 consecutive days

  • Cost

    $4,100

  • Registration Deadline

    November 4, 2024

People engage in a brainstorming exercise with sticky-notes on a clear wall.

Learn how the principles of design thinking can help fuel the success of your organization.

Design Thinking Course Overview

Design thinking has changed the way companies approach problem-solving, and is a highly valuable skill for innovating and solving tomorrow’s user problems. In this design thinking training course, you’ll learn how to uncover innovative solutions that tap into deep, unmet needs of your customers, and identify product and customer experience solutions that fuel growth for your organization.

This design thinking course provides team leaders and management with practical tools for applying design thinking principles within their organizations. Participants will learn how to approach problems with an innovative and empathetic mindset, to identify hidden customer needs, and improve the customer experience through user research, journey mapping, and rapid prototyping.

We encourage you to bring your own projects and the business challenges. We will quickly roll up our sleeves and focus on tangible techniques and applications that you can immediately implement back at work.

Who Should Take Design Thinking

This program is tailored for managers and team leaders with some experience using Design Thinking and who are eager to integrate it more profoundly within their organizations, including implementing real-world, in-market experimentation.

Those looking to drive innovation and improve customer experiences in a diverse range of industries and careers such as strategists, design researchers, user experience designers, product designers, marketers, and brand experience designers will benefit from this program.

Benefits of Design Thinking Training

This program teaches you practical skills to overcome barriers and successfully bring Design Thinking into your organization. Upon completion, you will have a better understanding of how leaders can create the optimal environment and navigate team dynamics to guide innovation and collaboration.

Participants will learn how to:

  • Refine their Design Thinking toolkit by adding best practices around real-world implementation, prototyping, and demonstrating success
  • Solve complex challenges using proven design thinking frameworks
  • Navigate working with cross-functional teams that are new to design thinking, within the constraints of real companies

All participants receive a Certificate of Participation from the Harvard University Division of Continuing Education.

Curriculum

This program harmoniously blends theoretical knowledge with practical, real-world applications to nurture and refine your design thinking abilities.

Specifically, the program curriculum will focus on:

  • Discovering innovative techniques for generating and prioritizing new ideas that can ignite transformative change.
  • Bringing your ideas to life through prototyping, turning concepts into tangible artifacts.
  • Leveraging instructors’ extensive experiences and case studies to demonstrate how design thinking is practically applied in diverse organizations.
  • Exploring challenges that span beyond practical aspects, encompassing technical, logistical, and cultural dimensions.
  • Identifying and navigating organizational barriers to best support and accelerate Design Thinking.
  • Utilizing the right tools, techniques, and best practices to drive evidence-based decision making and secure corporate buy-in.

Costs

Design Thinking: Creating Better Customer Experiences is offered as a three-day on-campus program in our state-of-the-art classroom space in the heart of historic Harvard University. Program tuition for on campus is $4,100 plus the cost of travel.

May Schedule

Day 1

  • Design Thinking Process: Learn-Design-Test-Model
  • Understanding the Customer and Identifying Insights and Opportunities

Day 2

  • Ideation and Prioritizing Ideas
  • Designing Prototypes

Day 3

  • Innovation Capability and Making it Real
  • Barriers to Moving Ideas Through Companies

November Schedule

Day 1

  • Design Thinking Process: Learn-Design-Test-Model
  • Understanding the Customer and Identifying Insights and Opportunities

Day 2

  • Ideation and Prioritizing Ideas
  • Designing Prototypes

Day 3

  • Innovation Capability and Making it Real
  • Barriers to Moving Ideas Through Companies

Instructors

  • Jon Campbell

    Jon Campbell

    Jon has led client engagements with a breadth of organizations from startups to Fortune 50 companies, including UnitedHealthcare, Pepsico, Sun Life Financial, and the City of Boston. He leads experience and service design for Continuum, a global innovation design consultancy.
  • Sarah Callaway

    Sarah is an Associate Director of Innovation Consulting at EPAM Continuum. Blending analytical rigor with an appreciation for the human experience, she employs a design thinking approach to help companies discover new business opportunities, assess the value and impact of proposed ideas, and launch innovative products and services. She has taught Design Thinking at MIT, Babson College, and Harvard.

Instructors

  • Jon Campbell

    Jon Campbell

    Jon has led client engagements with a breadth of organizations from startups to Fortune 50 companies, including UnitedHealthcare, Pepsico, Sun Life Financial, and the City of Boston. He leads experience and service design for Continuum, a global innovation design consultancy.
  • Sarah Callaway

    Sarah is an Associate Director of Innovation Consulting at EPAM Continuum. Blending analytical rigor with an appreciation for the human experience, she employs a design thinking approach to help companies discover new business opportunities, assess the value and impact of proposed ideas, and launch innovative products and services. She has taught Design Thinking at MIT, Babson College, and Harvard.

FAQ

What is design thinking and why is it important?

Design thinking is the set of principles and procedures used in the process of designing, which includes identifying problems and taking both creative and practical approaches to solving them.

Ongoing innovation is critical to sustained growth and positively differentiated customer experiences. The methods and techniques of design thinking are user-centered and through journey mapping, designers can distill findings, prioritize needs, and create a holistic experience.

How will this design thinking training program help me advance in my career?

This hands-on workshop gives professionals practical tools for applying a versatile four-step design thinking process within their organizations. You will learn how to identify hidden customer needs and improve the customer experience through interviews, journey mapping, and prototyping. This design thinking course will also offer creative solutions to overcoming organizational barriers during the adoption of design thinking.

What skills or experience is needed before enrolling in this training?

Professionals interested in improving customer experiences and integrating design thinking into their companies and businesses will gain value from this design thinking course.