Design Thinking for Human Centred Innovation

Benefits for your organisation  

Design thinking can help you and your teams to:  

• create a culture of innovation  
• adopt new thinking and behaviours  
• develop a flow of creative ideas  
• validate ideas and prioritise the best way forward  

Benefits to you   

• Explore the Design Thinking process and the impact it can have on the way you do things  
• Provide you with hands-on experience of the process through a real challenge  
• Help you become more creative in everyday problem solving and project approaches 
• Give you the skills, tools and confidence to apply design thinking across your area of responsibility or business  

All are welcome as the Design Thinking bootcamps and have no requirement for prior knowledge.

So you don’t have to be from a design background, in fact problem solving thrives on interdisciplinary thinking from diverse perspectives!  

This programme is for those who are looking for new ways to think about strategy, innovation and solving complex problems. Or for those that wish to take a fresh approach to a programme or project and need to think differently.

The sessions are delivered by Philip Harfield, Senior Lecturer In Design Thinking & Innovation, and the Course Leader for the Masters programme in Design Innovation at USW.

Philip is a long-standing advocate, or as he says ‘professional encourager’ for design-led innovation, who has spent the last 20 years immersed in international eco-innovation research, initiating sustainable business programmes and teaching creative practice.

You can stretch what you learn beyond the bootcamp and register to undertake an additional assignment with an associated 10 Academic Credits.

This is in the form of a written submission on the real-world application of the theory and methods introduced in the bootcamp. The assignments require a 100 notional hours of learning time, supported by academic tutorials.

Bootcamp 1: Design thinking and innovations in problem solving

Date: 7th June 2023
Time: 09:30 - 13:00

As the last 18 months has put into sharp focus, there is a world full of organisational challenges, which are entwined with systemic social considerations! Exploring our perspective means framing how we might act and be better prepared for tackling them in the future. 

More importantly seeing these challenges as a positive force, an opportunity to, ‘by-design’, innovate our products, services and business models.

In this bootcamp we explore empathy, need finding and human centeredness as a way to provide focus on ‘real’ challenges, which have meaning for our customers and stakeholders. 

We will introduce tools for divergent and convergent thinking, which check our assumptions, visualise our ideas and support the translation insights into appropriate solutions. 

Bootcamp 2: Designing Business Futures

Date: 14th June 2023
Time: 09:30 - 13:00

We would all like to anticipate the next big thing, future shocks and any obstacles we might face. This is the essence of what a strategically astute business or organisation should be. 

In this bootcamp we will introduce tools for gathering intelligence about the future and exploring the dynamics of change. I doing so we will ask, is futures thinking a viable approach to inform strategy? How do design tools and methods support meaningful interpretation? How can they be applied to our real-world activities?

Bootcamp 3: Human-centred and responsible organisations

Date: 21st June 2023
Time: 09:30 - 13:00

How businesses and organisations are perceived by the people they serve, cuts across all aspects of ‘doing-business’. Thinking which goes beyond the management of acceptability and desirability, considers organisational-level social responsibility. 

In this bootcamp we will explore how innovation cultures can engage staff and customers alike, and add value through embracing shared values. We will see how design offers opportunities for organisations to ‘redefine success’, through being responsive to environmental and social innovation drivers, and explore approaches for responsible organisational to drive buy-in through creative campaigns.

Bootcamp 4: Initiating collaborative innovation

Date: 28th June 2023
Time: 09:30 - 13:00

The challenge we seek to solve will likely exist across multiple contexts and involve others who perhaps have conflicting perspectives to our own.

In this bootcamp we aim to make the theory a reality, through engaging the actors implicated in our challenges and defining the actions required to initiate an innovation initiative. We will design prompts and provocations to engage these diverse audiences and think creatively about how to communicate our innovation proposals.

The sessions are delivered through our virtual learning environment, over a half-day, and as much as possible aim to personalise the learning.

You can just dip your toes in, as each session acts as a stand-alone ‘module’, or dive-in for the full programme.

The four modules are complimentary, in that they have been designed to guide progression towards applying what you learn, and to kick-start a live project.

The full course will cost £880.00 per delegate. These sessions can also be booked individually at £220.00 per delegate.

To register, please complete our online booking form and select which sessions you'd like to attend, or contact us on [email protected] for more information.

The above course can be delivered through our open-access programme (virtual) or as bespoke programmes within your organisation. If you are looking to access funding for you or your organisation, explore our funding routes or make an enquiry to speak to our advisors.