Design Thinking (online)

Impactful Innovation through Design

Design Thinking, Impactful Innovation through Design, is a cost-effective and flexible online course offering a concise overview of Design Thinking. It walks you through the human-centric process of Design Thinking and gives you the best tools for all phases. You will acquire a workbook to practice and apply on your own real business challenges.

Why Design Thinking?

Design Thinking is an approach to innovation that is driven by deep understanding of the stakeholders.
It involves early prototyping and iterative testing of potential solutions by employing a practical methodology and process.
Design Thinking can be employed in developing products, services, processes, business models and strategies.
This way, important decisions can be made early on in the development process to save resources towards the end of the process where changes are far more expensive to make.

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Registration information

Learn why this human-centric approach to innovation is so effective

Working at your own pace, gain an understanding of the design thinking process and methodology

Acquire a workbook of tools and templates to apply on your own business challenges

Program Benefits

Design Thinking can be employed in innovating products, services, processes, business models and strategies. By employing this human-centric approach to innovation and development, important decisions can be made early on in the development process. This will save you a significant amount of resources towards the end of the process where making changes is complicated and expensive. By validating or co-creating your designs with your stakeholders your pursuits will be far more likely to succeed.

You will learn to combine analytical and creative thinking in a systematic way for the best end results in your business

You will gain a coherent understanding of this human-centric approach to innovation, its process and tools

You will receive the latest academic viewpoints as well as great many practical real-world examples and tacit knowledge on how best to apply it

You will acquire a workbook of tools and templates to help you to apply the lessons learned on your own real business challenges

For

This course is suitable for anyone who wants to get a coherent understanding of Design Thinking as an approach, a process and set of practical tools. People involved with developing products, services, processes, business models or strategies will benefit from this course.

We also offer a face-to-face program, Design Thinking for Business Innovation, if you prefer a deep dive into the topic with an international group of peers and instructors.

Learn more

You may be accountable for getting measurable results through a systematic process and thus want to be able to use the lessons learned immediately in your organization. Maybe you are working in managing or developing:

products or services
marketing
business development
sales and customer relations
HR

Contents and Schedule

The themes cover the topics from creating value with Design Thinking through to the process and different tools and templates for applying the methodology in practice. The course also addresses the question of how to scale up Design Thinking and implement it in your organization.

This online course comprises six modules with three videos each. It also includes a workbook that you can either print out in A3 format or use in electronic format. The duration of each video is about 5 minutes, altogether about 1,5 hours. After each video, there is a brief knowledge check. We recommend that you stop after each video to reflect and consider how the lessons learned can be related to your own context. To enhance learning, employ the workbook on a challenge in your own organization. Work together with a colleague or your team in order to get the best results.

Program Structure

Six Online modules

Six times three videos of appr. 5 min each

Reflection

Relate lessons learned to your context

Workbook

Employ templates on a business challenge in your organization

Modules

Instructors

Tua Björklund

Dr. Tua Björklund is Professor of Practice and one of the founders of Aalto Design Factory, a multidisciplinary experimentation platform in Aalto University and 29 institutions abroad. Her research focuses on design expertise and advancing new ideas in organizations, building on her experience at Aalto University and at the Center for Design Research at Stanford University.

Tua Björklund has a comprehensive, human-centered view on what innovation efforts actually need in order to succeed in organizations. She teaches design thinking and innovation practices in three schools of Aalto University, as well at e.g. Aalto EE and Stanford Executive Education. Currently she leads the development of research activities in the Design Factory Global Network and manages several research projects investigating design thinking in Finland and in Silicon Valley. She is experienced in supervising design thinking development initiatives for companies in practice.

Tua Björklund holds a DSc degree in industrial engineering and management from Aalto University and a MA degree in cognitive science from the University of Helsinki.

Program Fee and Registration

Videos

Design Thinking and Beyond

Design Thinking and BeyondDesign Thinking has been a buzz word for quite some time. How have companies actually been applying it?

Articles

More Functional Public Service with Service Design—Helsinki Central Library Oodi as a Shining Exampl...

Tiia Lappalainen

More Functional Public Service with Service Design—Helsinki Central Library Oodi as a Shining ExampleMore functional services can be achieved by using service design in public administration, whilst simultaneously bringing about financial savings. Use...

Articles

Participation Is Used Below its Potential — Co-design and Design Games Go Beneath the Surface

Tiia Lappalainen

Participation Is Used Below its Potential — Co-design and Design Games Go Beneath the SurfaceCo-creation and co-design have been the buzzwords in product and service development for years, but according to Professor of Co-design Sampsa Hyysalo...

Articles

Careful Nudging Becomes a Global Phenomenon – a Method That Works Especially Well in Public Administ...

Tiia Lappalainen

Careful Nudging Becomes a Global Phenomenon – a Method That Works Especially Well in Public AdministrationNudging is being used to great effect in the public administration sector throughout the Anglo-Saxon world in particular. Based on behavioral sciences...

Articles

Is the Customer a Strategic Player or a B-Class Bench Sitter?

Tiia Lappalainen

Is the Customer a Strategic Player or a B-Class Bench Sitter?We sat together with Professor of Practice Risto Sarvas and Palmu’s Organization Designer Petri Aaltonen to discuss the customer experience and custom...

Articles

Using Service Design Methods for the Best Prison in the World

Tiia Lappalainen

Using Service Design Methods for the Best Prison in the WorldThe Criminal Sanctions Agency and Senate Properties are undertaking a globally unique project which tries to create the best women’s prison in the wor...

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