OpenHPI

Inspirations for Design - A Course on Human-Centered Research (openHPI)

Offered by Hasso-Plattner-Institut,
Inspirations for Design - A Course on Human-Centered Research (openHPI)

Become a proficient explorer of the world around you and find inspirations that may lead to human-centered design solutions. This course will introduce you to crucial methods in design research, which will help you to discover inspirations for innovative solutions. We take a task-based approach to build your competencies and skills: You will learn to spot workarounds, observe potential users in their context and explore the basic skills of conducting insightful interviews.

Learning Objectives

  • spot and analyze workarounds to identify user needs
  • prepare and conduct good qualitative interviews
  • analyze interview notes and identify insights
  • evaluate the quality of your peers' work and provide constructive feedback

Course Structure

WARM-UP / Week 1 (24.8. – 30.8.2017)
This is a chance for you to introduce yourself and get to know the learning environment and your peers with the help of an exercise.
Time commitment: 1h – 1:40h
OBSERVATION / Week 2 (31.8. – 6.9.2017)
The week focuses on the skill of careful observation and introduces you to workarounds and misuses.
Time commitment: 1h – 1:40h
CONDUCTING QUALITATIVE INTERVIEWS / Week 3 (7.9. – 13.9.2017)
This week focuses on the role of qualitative interviewing and how to conduct a good interview.
Time commitment: 3h – 3:40h
INFERRING MEANING FROM INTERVIEWS / Week 4 (13.9. – 20.9.2017)
After you conducted your own interviews, this week's module introduces you to interpreting your findings and inferring meaning from them - the first step towards gathering inspirations for design solution!
Time commitment: 1h – 1:20h
WRAP-UP / Week 5 (20.9 – 28.9.2017)
In this week, we will provide a summary of what you have learned. We will talk about future steps and discuss some of the best assignment results with you.
Time commitment: 0:30h – 1h

Go to Class
MOOC List is learner-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Related Courses

Pensamiento de diseño para la innovación (Coursera) Coursera
University of Virginia

Pensamiento de diseño para la innovación (Coursera)

Business

Hoy en día la innovación es el negocio de todos. Ya sea un gerente en una corporación global, un emprendedor que está comenzando, que esté en un puesto gubernamental o un maestro en una escuela primaria, se espera que todos se vuelvan austeros, para hacerlo mejor con menos. Y ese es el motivo por el que todos necesitamos el pensamiento de diseño.

Nov 2nd 2026
5-12 Weeks
Business Entrepreneurship Business Strategy
Details
Design Thinking: Ideas to Action (Coursera) Coursera
University of Virginia

Design Thinking: Ideas to Action (Coursera)

Business

Welcome, designers! In this course, developed at the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia, you will carry on the design thinking process begun in our Insights to Inspiration course, beginning with the eighth step in our 14-Step process, bringing the ideas you developed in our Insights to Inspiration course to action. We start this course by asking, “What if?” We’ll use brainstorming in a new and creative way to generate solutions to your challenge, and then learn to take those raw ideas and synthesize them into important concepts. By asking, “What wows?” and “What works?” you will learn to move from ideation to experimentation.

Oct 26th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Innovation Design Thinking Strategic Thinking
Details
Mastering Design Thinking in Organizations (openHPI) OpenHPI
Hasso-Plattner-Institut

Mastering Design Thinking in Organizations (openHPI)

CS: Information & Technology Business

Design thinking (DT) is a valuable approach for enabling effective innovation in organizations (Kolko 2015). Just as a company’s, objectives for DT are diverse, so is the diversity of how and why organizations implement and succeed DT. While some companies start small in one department, others make DT part of their strategy and implement DT globally throughout the whole organization and embed it into their corporate DNA.

Self Paced
Self-Paced
Innovation Leadership Design Thinking
Details
Design Thinking: Discovery Tools (Coursera) Coursera
University of Virginia

Design Thinking: Discovery Tools (Coursera)

Business

Welcome Designers! In this course, you will learn to use the most important tools from the field of human-centered design to generate ideas: stakeholder mapping, journey mapping, personas, value-chain analysis, the job-to-be-done, ethnographic interviews, and more. Learn to connect with your customers on a human level, to get beyond what they say and observe what they do.

Oct 26th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Design Thinking Strategic Thinking Value Chain
Details
Design Thinking for Innovation (Coursera) Coursera
University of Virginia

Design Thinking for Innovation (Coursera)

Management & Leadership Business

Today innovation is everyone's business. Whether you are a manager in a global corporation, an entrepreneur starting up, in a government role, or a teacher in an elementary school, everyone is expected to get lean – to do better with less. And that is why we all need design thinking. At every level in every kind of organization, design thinking provides the tools you need to become an innovative thinker and uncover creative opportunities that are there – you're just not seeing them yet.

Oct 26th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Business Entrepreneurship Business Strategy
Details
Design Thinking for the Greater Good: Innovation in the Social Sector (Coursera) Coursera
University of Virginia

Design Thinking for the Greater Good: Innovation in the Social Sector (Coursera)

Education Social Sciences

Do you work for a nonprofit or in the social sector? Are you struggling to solve the problems and meet the needs of the people you serve? Come learn more about how design thinking, a human-centered approach to problem solving, can help you truly understand an issue, generate ideas worth testing and iterate to find solutions that make a real difference. Through global stories from areas as diverse as government, health care, and education, we’ll show you the tools, techniques and mindset needed to use design thinking to uncover new and creative solutions in the social sector.

Oct 26th 2026
4 Weeks
Social Innovation Education
Details
3D Printing Applications (Coursera) Coursera
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

3D Printing Applications (Coursera)

Management & Leadership

This course will help you understand how 3D printing is being applied across a number of domains, including design, manufacturing, and retailing. It will also demonstrate the special capabilities of 3D printing such as customization, self-assembly, and the ability to print complex objects. In addition to business applications, this course will also examine how individuals, including those in developing countries, are using this technology to create solutions to the problems they face.

Oct 26th 2026
4 Weeks
Manufacturing Design Thinking 3D Printing
Details