Design Thinking Course

Choose this course if you are interested in...

Our Design Thinking course is for anyone who wants to understand business challenges from a creative, customer-centric perspective and gain key design thinking skills.

The study of design thinking is recommended for: business analysts; customer journey managers; business service designers (including business designers and service designers); user researchers; project leaders; product owners; business architects; business change managers and any business professional involved in transformational change projects. Everyone can learn from the design thinking practices. 

What will you learn?

The Design Thinking course covers the underlying principles of design thinking, bringing the strategies and techniques to life by applying them to a range of real life scenarios. Developing their design thinking skills, delegates learn how to empathise with and engage with the customer, unlock key insights, question assumptions, explore strategies and test ideas. Upon the completion of this workshop, candidates will be able to:   Demonstrate an understanding of the Design Thinking mindset 

• Demonstrate an understanding of the Design Thinking mindset 
•  Identify and apply core Design Thinking practices 
• Explain the Design Council Double Diamond and Stanford d.School 5 approaches 
• Apply divergent & convergent thinking
• Identify and apply key Design Thinking techniques 
• Understand the relationship between organisational culture & Design Thinking

Course outline

Introduction to Design Thinking

• The nature and characteristics of Design Thinking
• The rationale for Design Thinking
• The core elements of the Design Thinking mindset

Fundamental Design Thinking Practices

• Empathy and perspective analysis
• Research and investigation
• Divergent and convergent thinking
• Experimentation and prototyping
• Visualisation
• Validation
• Assumption identification and testing
• Iteration and continuous learning

Design Thinking approaches

• The Design Council 3H approach: Head, Heart, Hand
• The structure and stages of the Double Diamond approach to Design Thinking
• The structure and stages of the Stanford d.School approach to Design Thinking
• Design Thinking macro and micro processes

Design Thinking techniques

• Discover : Service safari and Empathy map
• Define : Customer journey map and Problem framing
• Develop: Service blueprint and Assumption reversal
• Deliver : High and low fidelity prototyping, Feedback capture grid and A/B testing
• Generic Techniques : Brainstorming and brainwriting, Focus groups, User roles, persona analysis and Storyboarding

Implementing Design Thinking

• The relationship between culture and Design Thinking
• The Culture Pyramid 
• Cultural aspects that enable and inhibit the use of Design Thinking
• POPIT™

What to expect on the course

The course is delivered remotely over 3 days from 9 AM to 5 PM.  You will receive a copy of the training material as well as relevant handouts. All successful participants will receive a certificate of completion at the end of the course. During this three-day course you’ll receive all the training you need to prepare for the examination leading to the A4Q Certificate in Business Service Design. This is one of the mandatory modules for the new internationally recognised A4Q Service Designer qualification(this will open in a new window). The examination (ratified by global certification body iSQI) can be taken when you please and is given remotely using an online proctoring service. This examination consists of 40 multiple-choice questions with a pass mark of 26/40.

Course Dates

This 3-day course is being delivered starting on these dates: 6th May 2025, 2nd July 2025, 17th September 2025, 24th November 2025. To book for future dates please contact us on hello@uservision.co.uk.