UW301
Design Thinking
Faculty
Kara Prosser
Founder at Design For. Experience Designer & Strategist
Course length
Duration
Total hours
Credits
Language
Course type
Fee for single course
Fee for degree students
Skills you’ll learn
Overview
Design Thinking is a powerful mindset and problem-solving approach used to tackle complex challenges, unlock growth, and create meaningful impact. At its core, it is about deeply understanding human needs, challenging assumptions, and combining analytical and creative thinking to design solutions that work in the real world.
This course brings design thinking to life through hands-on, real-world application, following the Double Diamond design framework. You will step outside the classroom to conduct user research, uncover insights, and identify genuine opportunities. You will generate ideas, prototype solutions, and experiment rapidly to test what works and what does not.
Along the way, you will learn how to use AI to accelerate your research, ideation, and experimentation, while strengthening the human creativity, curiosity, and understanding at the heart of great design.
Learning highlights
Understand how design thinking drives business performance and innovation.
Apply the double diamond design framework to real world challenges.
Conduct qualitative & design research to uncover human needs.
Develop strong analytical and creative thinking skills & techniques.
Translate insights into clear, actionable opportunities.
Use AI to accelerate research, analysis, ideation and prototyping.
Build business cases and impact frameworks.
Understand how design can drive both commercial success and social impact.
Course outline
15 classes
Introduction to Design Thinking
What is design (beyond aesthetics)?
Core principles: human-centred, messy, iterative, holistic, co-creative.
The double diamond design framework: Discover, Define, Design, Deliver.
Layers of design: Strategic Design, Customer Experience Design, User experience design, User interface design.
Design vs Agile vs Lean methodologies.
Why is design critical for business and social impact?
Examples & case studies.
Project Brief, Vision & Impact Framework
Introduction to 3 live briefs.
Vision and mission creation.
Impact frameworks - how we measure success & impact.
Introduce DISCOVER - Mindset, Methods, Tools & Techniques
Ethnography, customer interviews, cultural probe, stakeholder interviews, service safari, intercepts, contextual enquiry, observation, card sorting, business model testing, service walk through, lo-fi prototypes, storyboards, co-design workshops, proof of concept, role play, experience prototyping, hi-fi prototypes, usability testing.
Qualitative & quantitative research including sample size.
Mindset: curiosity, empathy, challenging assumptions.
Examples & case studies.
Deep Dive & Class Activity - Qualitative Research
Sample size and recruitment strategy.
Research objectives and planning.
Interview techniques and discussion guides.
Observation and contextual enquiry.
Ethical research frameworks.
Deep Dive & Class Activity - AI in Research
Using AI to scale research and insight generation.
Synthetic data and personas.
Bias, ethics and limitations.
Introduce DEFINE - Mindset, Methods, Tools & Techniques
Empathy maps, Theme mapping, Opportunity mapping, Insight statements, Ranking sort, Affinity analysis, Journey mapping, Personas, Archetypes, Experience modelling, Frequency analysis, Concept mapping, Design principles, Design challenges.
Turning data into insight.
Identifying patterns and themes.
Framing clear, actionable opportunities.
Examples & case studies.
Project progress sharing & feedback.
Deep Dive & Class Activity - Insight Generation
Critical thinking and synthesis.
The 5 Whys framework.
What makes a strong insight.
Deep Dive & Class Activity - Personas, Journey Maps & Experience Principles
Personas and archetypes.
Current and future state journey mapping.
Experience principles.
Introduce DESIGN - Mindset, Methods, Tools & Techniques
Sketching, top 5 ideas, business model testing, storyboards, co-design workshops, prototypes, proof of concept, design improvement, create frameworks, creative brainstorming.
Structured creativity.
Divergent and convergent thinking.
Designing ideas that are both innovative and viable.
Examples & case studies.
Deep Dive & Class Activity - Prototyping & AI
Low to high fidelity prototyping.
Experience prototyping.
Using AI to rapidly generate and test ideas.
Project progress sharing & feedback.
Deep Dive & Class Activity - Co-Design
Co-design as a mindset & methodology (not just a workshop).
Facilitation techniques.
Ethics and inclusion.
Project progress sharing & feedback.
Introduce DELIVER - Mindset, Methods, Tools & Techniques
Service mapping, operation modelling, funding strategy, hi-fi prototypes, value proposition modelling, road map, pitch, decision tree, financial modelling, delivery plan, business case modelling, story mapping.
From idea to implementation.
MVP definition and delivery planning.
Examples & case studies.
Deep Dive & Class Activity - Experimentation & AI
Experimentation frameworks and prioritisation.
Testing and iteration.
Using AI to simulate and scale testing.
Deep Dive & Class Activity - Impact Framework & Business Case
Measuring success (NPS, retention, cost to serve, etc).
Building a business case.
Designing for both commercial and social impact.
Impact frameworks (focus on social impact & sustainability).
Project progress sharing & feedback.
Final Presentations & Reflection
Final pitch deck.
Business case and impact framework.
Reflection and key learnings.
Prerequisites
No prior design experience required.
Curiosity about people, behaviour and the world around you.
Willingness to experiment, collaborate and challenge assumptions.
Methodology
This course is delivered as a hands on, studio based learning experience.
Each session includes:
* Theory (mindsets, frameworks, principles)
* Industry case studies (real world application & examples)
* Hands on activity (in class practice)
* Extended application (students apply learning to their own project)
Students will work on one of three real world challenges / briefs based in Barcelona or Bangkok individually or in groups, and we will be getting out of the classroom for some of the sessions for interviews, observations, service safari’s etc.
The course follows the double diamond design framework, moving through Discover, Define, Design and Deliver.
Grading
Apply for this course
Design Thinking
by Kara Prosser
Total hours
45 Hours
Dates
Sep 07 - Sep 25, 2026
Fee for single course
€1500
Fee for degree students
€750
How to secure your spot
Complete the form below to kickstart your application
Schedule your Harbour.Space interview
If successful, get ready to join us on campus
FAQ