Course Brochure '25
“Our experts will guide you through a structured approach and establish a new way of working to sustain innovation. ”
Design Thinking Foundations & AI
Hello, we're DesignThinkers, but you can call us "DT"
Design Thinking is a widely recognised framework to development innovative and relevant solutions for complex challenges. It is a hands-on method and mindset with emphasis on teamwork and iterative learning through continuous end-user and stakeholder involvement.
Our goal is to unlock your challenges and create lasting impact. With our practical approach, we empower you to lead change, providing the tools to identify beneficial opportunities and nurture valuable solutions. Our worldwide team combines global reach with invaluable local expertise, strategically assembling professionals to train, guide, and develop your team and organization, ensuring you thrive in the everevolving landscape. With over 25 years of experience, we bring leading-edge expertise from Europe to drive meaningful change and create lasting impact.
Now, let's get started!
Now, let's get started. Table of Contents
Why choose us?
Our worldwide team combines global reach with invaluable local expertise, strategically assembling professionals to train, guide, and develop your team and organization, ensuring you thrive in the ever-evolving landscape. With over 25 years of experience, we bring leading-edge expertise from Europe to drive meaningful change and create lasting impact.
page 05
Take a look at all the key learning objectives, topics covered, practical applications, and detailed course structure of the upcoming training.
Information & Details page 07
Find out if this training matches your learning journey, which tools will be used, and practical details such as location & pricing. Learning
& Official Certification page 12
Outcomes
What are the expected learning outcomes and their benefits. You will receive an official certificate, toolkit & exclusive access to our L&D library.
out: We love to guide your learning journey page 21 We' re happy to help you on your professional learning path! Aside from our courses, we offer bespoke programs. Contact us for more info.
"Perfect course to refresh how important customer-centricity is and how to put it into action. "
Giovanni di Russo, Coca-Cola HBC
You' re new to Design Thinking and eager to learn how to apply it effectively. The Design Thinking Fundamentals course is your starting point to explore the core principles, key tools, and mindset needed to tackle complex challenges. How do you truly understand your endusers? How can you create innovative solutions that meet their needs? This hands-on course equips you with the skills and confidence to apply Design Thinking to real-world challenges through collaboration and expert guidance.
3-Day Design Foundations & AI
Design Thinking isn’t just a process. It’ s a mindset that helps you navigate complexity and create solutions that truly resonate with users. Many recognize its value, but applying it effectively is where real impact happens.
Guided by our expert facilitators, this course gives you hands-on experience with essential tools like Stakeholder Mapping, Personas, and Prototyping, helping you move from theory to action. Working in diverse teams, you ’ll uncover real needs, align stakeholders, and develop solutions that make a real difference. Additionally, this course will show you how to apply AI tools to the DT process.
Design Thinking Foundations & AI
Day one Day two
Problem Space
Programme
09:30 Kick-off
Introduction to Design Thinking Methodology & cases
Present team-specific challenge
Stakeholder Mapping Research Guidelines
Design Research
Solution Space
09:00 Kick-off
Design Phase: Ideation
Brainstorm Techniques
ABC Avalanche
Prototyping and Validaton
Priority Mapping Service Scenarios
Prototyping
*Integrating AI in brainstorm techniques
Discover Phase: Briefing and Research
Define Pase: Reframing and Opportunity Areas
*Using AI in research
Wrap-up day 1 & Reflection round
Stakeholder Map & Persona Problem Statement
Customer Journey Map
Opportunity Areas & Reflection Methods
Deliver Phase
Pitching
Wrap-up day 2 & Reflection round
12:30 Lunch break 18:00 End 17:30 Certification & Drinks
Testing & Validation
Iteration
Persuasive Selling
Now-Next-Future Personal Action Plan
Design Thinking Foundations & AI
Programme
Applying Strategic AI
09:30 Kick-off
Introduction - Design-led Innovation Challenge
End-user Research
End-user Insights (individual)
End-user Insight Selection (team)
12:30 Lunch break
Ideation
Rapid Prototyping
Storytelling
Reflection
17:00 End
Outcomes
Becoming familiar with Design-led innovation
Hands-on experience tools/activities
Format session to run with clients
Participant Profile
Working professionals and field experts
…looking to understand their customers and users, and who want to gain confidence in using Design Thinking to do so.
NGO's and Government workers
…who want to understand their audience' s needs and create impactful solutions for the public.
Executives or decision makers
...looking to strengthen their ab innovation and enhance the org innovation capability.
Freelancers and consultants
…who want to understand the n behaviour of their target groups help them kickstart innovation.
Our tools for growth
Stakeholder Mapping Personas
Customer Journey Mapping Service Scenarios
Prototyping
Persona Card
20-45 minutes
Individual or in groups
Sticky notes, sharpies
Personas are used to define who are the customers you are trying to help with their specific problems. They can provide a range of different perspectives on a service, allowing your team to define and engage the different interest groups that may exist within your target segment.
Customer Journey Map
45-60 minutes
Core team
Sticky notes, sharpies
Creating a Customer Journey Map builds empathy by focusing on the present journey of the customer. At its best, this is a continuous activity to plot information about why your customers do what they do and how they experience interacting with organizations and/or services through different touch points.
Idea Brainwriting Tool Service Scenario Map
+4 people
Sticky notes, sharpies
The Idea Brainwriting Tool is a simple and direct tool to start co-creating new ideas in a team. It pushes everyone to contribute in enriching and making ideas more detailed. Everyone in the group works on each other' s ideas by adding, eliminating, replacing and finetuning each idea.
20-60 minutes
Core team
Sticky notes, sharpies
The Service Scenario Map is a tool which will help you visualize the steps and actions your persona takes when using the service or product of your company. It is a visualization of the user experience, using the service designed based on the ideated ideas. 10-30 minutes
AI Prompting
5-15 minutes
Core team
Laptop or phone
Support your process by using AI for the different stages of the Double Diamond. Prompt AI to generate 5 ideas on your problem statement, present your persona to AI and ask your research questions pretending they embody the persona, or make a prompt to enrich your Customer Journey Map by simulating different situations.
Mindsetters | Hands-free
Make pairs. There is going to be a competition making paper airplanes. Let everyone put their dominant hand in their pocket. Give the participants 5 minutes to make a paper airplane; Let everyone throw their plane from behind a common line. For throwing they can use their dominant hand.
AI Tools we like and use
Text-based Image-based
ChatGPT: Conversational AI for text generation and understanding.
Claude (Anthropic): AI assistant for generating,
editing, and analyzing text
NotebookLM (Google): Research focused chat Model
Perplexity: AI-powered research assistant
Audio-based
Descript: AI for audio transcription, podcast
editing, and text-to-speech.
Resemble AI: Text-to-speech tool for voice
cloning and generation.
ElevenLabs: AI for creating realistic voiceovers.
ChatGPT Dall-E 2: Generates creative images from text prompts.
Flux1.ai: AI tool for creating artistic and realistic images.
Ideogram: best image tool to include text in generated images
Video-based
Runway Gen-3: AI for text-to-video generation.
Pictory: AI tool to create videos from text and scripts.
Synthesia: Generates AI-based videos with digital avatars.
Outcomes & Objectives
What to expect Learning Outcomes
Human-Centred Mindset
Experience with DT Tools Double Diamond
Ideation & Prototyping (*AI)
Validation & Iteration
Did you know?
All our alumni gain unlimited access to our exclusive online L&D Library.
What's Included?
Your ticket includes a daily healthy lunch, snacks, beverages, course materials for personal use, and an official DTA certificate upon completion.
A Designer's Mindset, AI-empowered
We base our approach on the Double Diamond, developed by the UK Design Council. This is a visual model frequently used to describe a process flow of design and innovation. We have adapted this model to integrate the latest AI.
The first Diamond focuses on problem finding while the second Diamond provides the tools and mindset for generating value increasing solutions.
CONNECTIONS & RELATIONSHIPS
People-centered design empowered by AI
LEADERSHIP &
Our AI-enabled, humancentered design raises awareness and harnesses progressive AI research to enrich the human experience.
We leverage the latest AI tools to uncover innovative solutions, ensuring that every angle is explored and no stone is left unturned.
Meet some of our Facilitators
Our coaches and facilitators are all subject matter experts in th Human-Centred Design, and have extensive experience in pro assistance and trainings in Design Thinking. You can find all o and facilitators on our website.
*Dr. Robert Collins is a business consultant and educator who has been delivering courses through the University of Oxford for over 25 years.
About what we do Expertise
We focus on creating value for people as the most effective way to drive project success and inspire.
"A
refreshing and
engaging experience that went beyond my expectations."
Tupo Muocha, UNICEF
Our worldwide team combines global reach with invaluable local expertise. We approach every challenge from the user ’ s perspective. We focus on creating value for people as the most effective way to drive project success and inspire growth for our clients’ businesses and organisations. inspire growth for our clients’ businesses and organisations. inspire growth for our clients.
Schuurman, Founder DT Academy
Joey Piliero, Senior Facilitator
Adela Cristea, Leadership Expert
Certification
We value quality! DesignThinkers is accredited by the Dutch Council for Training and Education, underscoring our commitment to delivering high-quality education and training experiences globally. This accreditation is a testament to our unwavering commitment to delivering high-quality education and training experiences to our global community.
After the successful completion of one of our courses, participants are awarded with a DesignThinkers Academy Certificate. All tools and materials will be available after the course in our Learn & Develop Library (accessible to alumni only).
'
Ihaveparticipatedinatleast
softskillsinthepast
15 courseson
20 yearsofmycareer, but thecourseofDTAstandsoutasthebest. '
Javier Sanchez Millan, Banque Pictet & Cie SA
Price list*
Whatwe provide
Culture
An AI-aware innovation cultu
Our experts will guide you structured approach that in emerging technologies like establishes a future-proof w working to sustain innovat
Content
Relevant results
We provide the means to bring real and viable solutions to your challenge, using AI-driven insights and validating those with real customers and key stakeholders through masterful presentation.
Capability
An AI & innova
ready team
Through hands-on trainin
we empower your team to adopt a solution oriented mindset and build confidence in applying emerging AI learning technologies to drive innovation.
Culture
Capability
Content
Steppingstones forinnovation
Your Bespoke LearningJourney
We help you navigate through a diverse array of customized routes, integrating both content and capability services and ensuring a bespoke approach to meet your unique needs and unlock your potential.
and find your bespoke route. We explore stepping stones together,
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In this training, you will learn how to approach problems more systematically and detect emerging trends to transform them into innovation strategies.
storytelling techniques to gain buyin and foster engagement with stakeholders through effective presentations and data utilization.
Deep-Dive Boo Future Leadership
Thinking and Facilitation in just 4 days. Work in co-creation in small teams to learn from participants with diverse industry backgrounds.
skills to being a leader of the future while learning to guide your organization through disruptive and dynamic conditions, with the support of AI. * includes latest AI techniques
Getintouchvia Whatsappfor questionsbig orsmall,
Send a Whatsapp now just drop our team a message and we'll get you what you need. Hey, DesignThinkers here, how can we help you today? I have a question about the AI & Strategic Thinkng Course. Of course!
Some companies we're proud to team up with
See all cases
From startups to global enterprises, we ’ re privileged to support teams of all capabilities in solving complex challenges through innovation. By equipping organizations with the right tools, mindset, and strategies, we help them foster creativity, drive meaningful change, and stay ahead in an ever-evolving world.
We operate with a high energy, action oriented approach to make sure you walk away with tangible outcomes. Together, let’ s shape a future that truly benefits everyone. Looking for a bespoke program? Let' s connect! Email us via info@designthinkersacademy.com.
