The Course for Human-Centered Design is a seven-week curriculum that will introduce you to the concepts of human-centered design and how this approach can be used to create innovative, effective, and sustainable solutions for social change. This course has been created to reach those who are brand new to human-centered design, so no prior experience required (though we of course welcome previous students to continue honing your human-centered design skills!)
This seven-week course will:
- Equip you with the mindsets and methods of human-centered design so that you can be more intentional about facing and solving your current challenges
- Let you experiment with the power of human-centered design
- Teach you to identify patterns and opportunities for concept development
- Inspire you to approach challenges differently and experience how human-centered design can add new perspectives to your own work tackling poverty-related challenges
- Give you hands-on experience speaking to, prototyping for, and testing solutions with the people you're designing for
You will work through the course with a group of 2-6 people we will refer to as your “design team”. It’s strongly recommended you form a team with people located in your city before starting the course but you will also have the opportunity to find a team using the course platform once the course starts.
You will learn the human-centered design process by applying it to one of three pre-crafted real world design challenges (provided in the course). Each week you will explore the main human-centered design concepts through readings, case studies, and short videos. Then you’ll be expected to meet in-person with your design team to get your hands dirty practicing the relevant human-centered design methods.
Throughout the course you’ll have the opportunity to interact and gain inspiration from design teams around the world taking the course with you and ask questions of experienced human-centered designers when you feel stuck.
