Design Thinking: Solve Problems Creatively & Put People 1st

Name: Design Thinking: Solve Problems Creatively & Put People 1st
Rating: 4.3 (119 reviews)

Master the complete Design Thinking process and learn how to generate user-centered solutions and drive real impact!

Role Play

Created bySteve Ballinger, MBA

Last updated 2/2026

English

English [Auto],

What you'll learn

Apply the five-stage Design Thinking process (Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, Test) to solve real-world problems in a user-centered way.
Conduct effective user research through interviews, observation, and empathy mapping to uncover meaningful insights.
Translate user insights into actionable needs and well-framed problem statements that drive creative thinking.
Facilitate Design Thinking workshops both in-person and virtually, including planning, role assignment, and material preparation.
Integrate Design Thinking principles into team culture and workflows to promote ongoing innovation and collaboration across departments.

Course content

1 section • 15 lectures • 1h 6m total length

Welcome To The Design Thinking Course!1:07
Join a practical, flexible design thinking course that teaches empathy, problem statements, bold ideation, prototyping, and testing, with a guided progression and options to skip ahead and practice immediately.
Embracing Design Thinking3:31
Embrace design thinking as a human-centered mindset that unites empathy, collaboration, iteration, and rapid prototyping to create inclusive, user-driven solutions.
The 5-Stage Design Thinking Process Overview3:30
Explore design thinking's five stages: empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and test, to create human-centered solutions, using POV statements and personas, with non-linear iteration and prototyping for innovation.
Mastering User Insights. The Importance of Empathy in Design Thinking3:57
From Insights To Actionable Needs.3:39
Turn unstructured user research into actionable needs through synthesis, affinity mapping, and persona-building, focusing on human-centered goals rooted in insight and deeper motivations beyond features, to drive innovative design solutions.
Crafting Human Centered Problem Statements4:51
Craft human centered problem statements that guide design thinking by focusing on user needs and emotions, using pov and how might we to spark broad, research grounded ideation.
Unlocking Creative Potential: Ideation techniques5:42
Unlock creative potential through ideation techniques - brainstorming, brainwriting, mind mapping - embracing divergent thinking, psychological safety, and diverse perspectives to spark innovative solutions.
From Ideas To Action: Evaluating & Prioritizing5:06
Evaluate and prioritize ideas by weighing user needs, feasibility, desirability, originality, viability, and impact, using dot voting and the fdv lens model to set now, next, and later priorities.
The Purpose and Power of Prototypes6:18
Prototype to transform abstract ideas into tangible forms, gather feedback from users, and learn quickly through low- and high-fidelity prototypes.
User Testing and Feedback Loops5:01
Test with real users to observe interactions with a prototype, think aloud, and assess intuitiveness, goals, emotions, and usability, then iterate to align with user needs.
Iteration and Refinement4:48
Iterate to refine user-centered solutions through testing, learning, and feedback, balancing desirability, feasibility, and viability. Organize feedback into themes, prioritize issues, brainstorm solutions, and test revised prototypes with users.
Implementing Design Thinking in Teams and Organizations6:00
Harness design thinking to reshape problem solving by embedding empathy for customer and employee needs, collaboration, and experimentation into daily team and organizational culture, driving adoption and measurable impact.
Facilitating a Design Thinking Workshop5:44
Plan and facilitate design thinking workshops to solve problems collaboratively, define user-centered challenges with empathy, set clear objectives, and choose formats that foster creativity and continuous improvement.
-Practice Asking Someone to Participate in a Design Thinking Workshop-
Course Wrap-Up & Call to Action4:59
Master design thinking to solve real world challenges through empathy, ideation, prototyping, and testing, and embed a collaborative, habit-driven mindset that leads with people.
Let's keep the learning going!2:15

Requirements

No prerequisites other than a desire to implement Design Thinking

Description

Unlock Innovation and Solve Real-World Problems with Design Thinking

Are you looking for a more creative, effective, and people-centered way to solve complex problems? Whether you work in business, design, education, nonprofit, or tech, this course will equip you with the mindset and tools of Design Thinking—a proven approach used by the world’s most innovative organizations to develop better products, services, and systems.

This comprehensive online course will guide you through the full Design Thinking process, step by step. You’ll not only understand the theory—you’ll learn how to put it into practice immediately with hands-on strategies you can apply to real challenges in your work.

You’ll begin by developing a deep understanding of your users through empathy-building techniques, such as interviews, journey mapping, and observation. Next, you’ll learn how to translate insights into clear problem statements that fuel innovation. From there, you’ll dive into structured ideation methods to generate fresh ideas, followed by prototyping and user testing to bring concepts to life and refine them through feedback.

This course also covers how to facilitate Design Thinking workshops, lead collaborative sessions with your team, and implement a Design Thinking mindset across departments and organizations—whether you're in-person or virtual.

What You’ll Learn:

The complete Design Thinking framework and how to apply it in real-world scenarios
How to deeply understand users and uncover unmet needs
Tools to translate insights into actionable problem statements
Practical ideation methods to generate breakthrough ideas
How to quickly prototype and test solutions before investing resources
Workshop facilitation skills for both in-person and virtual teams
Strategies to integrate Design Thinking into your team’s culture and workflows

Who This Course Is For:

Managers, team leads, and professionals responsible for innovation and improvement
Product managers, UX designers, marketers, and service designers
HR, L&D, and operations leaders seeking better employee and stakeholder engagement
Anyone looking to enhance creative problem-solving and collaborative thinking skills

You don’t need a design background—just a desire to think differently, solve challenges more effectively, and deliver better outcomes for the people you serve.

By the end of this course, you’ll be able to confidently lead and participate in Design Thinking projects, build more user-centered solutions, and create value through empathy, experimentation, and iteration.

Enroll today and start solving problems the Design Thinking way.

Who this course is for:

Team leaders and managers looking to foster innovation, improve collaboration, and solve problems with a user-centered mindset.
Product managers, marketers, and UX professionals who want to better understand user needs and generate creative, effective solutions.
HR professionals, and organizational change agents seeking new approaches to engage stakeholders and improve experiences.