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.

Think of a problem or challenge you had to solve at work recently. How did you approach it? Did you find yourself overwhelmed with the number of possible solutions? Were you unsure how to even start? Design thinking can help.

Design thinking is a five-step human-centered process for creative problem solving. It was popularized by the Stanford d.school and IDEO, and has been used by organizations around the world to solve knotty problems. It is all about understanding your user’s needs and solving the right problem. By using this human-centered design approach, you can develop products and services that truly help your user.

This course is meant to serve as an introduction to the principles of design thinking and touches on ways you can implement it in your workplace. The material is best suited for students who are new to design thinking or want a refresher on the core concepts. Luckily, design thinking can be applied to almost any field; no matter what your profession, design thinking can help you discover and implement the best solutions to problems you encounter.