The Course for
Human-Centered
Design
*The smallest variation has been spaced specifically for legibitlity
A seven-week course brought to you by:
Class 1
An Introduction to
Human-Centered Design
Readings
Mindsets
Case Study
Workshop Guide
Class 2
Inspiration Phase
Readings
Case Study
Methods in Action
Workshop Guide
Class 3
Ideation Phase: Synthesis
Readings
Case Study
Methods in Action
Workshop Guide
Class 4
Ideation Phase: Prototyping
Readings
Case Study
Methods in Action
Workshop Guide
Class 5
Implementation Phase
Readings
Case Study
Methods in Action
Workshop Guide
Before You Start
This Course Is For You
This Course Can Help You Create Solutions for Everyday Challenges.
Businesses, social entrepreneurs, and other
innovators have used human-centered
design for decades to create solutions for
many different types of challenges. This
course will introduce to you the concepts of
human-centered design to help make you a
more effective, innovative problem solver.
This course is designed with a group-guided
learning structure, which means that you
and your team of two to six people will be
learning the human-centered design process
together. The course is designed to be
conducted over seven weeks. However, you
can do it faster or slower if a different pace is
right for your team.
This course is an invitation to experiment
with the process of design. Let it inspire
you to approach challenges differently and
experience how human-centered design can
add a new perspective and dimension to
your work.
Effective Ways to Engage my
Community
Unstuck
Solutions that Fit my Individual
Challenge
What benefits will I
gain from humancentered design ?
Improved Collaboration
More Creative Confidence
More Fun
The Course for Human-Centered Design
Before You Start
A Note About Language
The Terminology Used to Describe Human-Centered Design Can Vary a Bit.
Indeed, not even the term human-centered
design is universal among its practitioners.
Youll notice that in some of the required
and optional readings and links for this
course, human-centered design is sometimes
referred to as design thinking. As a new
learner of the process, you can think of
human-centered design and design thinking
as one and the same.
The Design Process
In this course, the three major phases of
the human-centered design process are
broken down into Inspiration, Ideation, and
Implementation.
As you begin reading some of the other
materials included in this course, youll see
that the steps in the human-centered design
process have been broken down in a variety
of different ways. For example, when reading
the Human-Centered Design (HCD) Toolkit,
INSPIRATION
The Course for Human-Centered Design
IDEATION
youll notice that the three major steps of
the process are labeled as: 1) Hear 2) Create 3)
Deliver. If you read the Bootcamp materials
from the Stanford d.school, youll see yet
another set of terms. But dont worry! As you
start to put human-centered design to work,
the steps will become clearer.
Most importantly, human-centered design
is a process. Think of it as a recipe for
cooking your favorite meal. The names of the
ingredients might differ from place
to place, country to country, but the process
itself with an emphasis on getting out into
your community, prototyping rapidly, and
iterating until you get your ideas right
remains constant.
IMPLEMENTATION
Before You Start
Course Logistics
There are a Few Logistics Everyone on Your Team Should Know About.
Teams
This course is designed as a group-guided
learning experience. In order to make this
stucture work, youll need a team of at least
two (and no more than six) colleagues. A
smaller size will make it easier to coordinate
schedules and make decisions. And diversity
is key: a team of people with different
strengths and perspectives will only enhance
your ability to come up with new solutions
to complex challenges. We suggest making
agreements before the course starts about
what responsibilities people can bring to
the tablewhos the scheduler, ensuring
the team is on time? Whos the enthusiast,
inspiring the team with big dreams?
advantage of this opportunity to see how
others are tackling similar challenges as you
throughout this course.
This course is designed to extend seven
weeks, minimumone class per week, with
the exception of the materials for Class 2 and
4, which extend two weeks each. This pacing,
however, is just a suggestion. The course can
be completed in more or less time, depending
on your teams schedule.
Calender
Plan out your workshop days on a
calendar with your team. Can everyone
commit to attend all of the sessions? If not,
mark dates that members might miss and
plan accordingly or reschedule. Some tasks
might require more time, so review the
requirements for each section and
plan accordingly.
Time Commitment
For each class, youll have one to two hours
of readings to help you prepare for your
workshop. Each workshop is scheduled to
last two to three hours. For some of these
workshops, your team will be expected to
submit assignments to the NovoEd platform.
Following these assignments, you will
have a chance to explore and peer review
the work of your fellow classmates. Take
The Course for Human-Centered Design
Leadership
At each class, a member of your team will
serve as the Class Leader.
The Class Leader will be responsible
for thoroughly reviewing Readings and the
Workshop Guide before the team meets so
5
that they can lead the workshop activities.
The Class Leader will also organize your team
to bring required supplies. You should coordi
nate with your team to choose the Class
Leader for Class 1 and subsequently choose
a new leader for the following class at each
group session.
Space
Suggested Supplies
The human-centered design process is
about making ideas visual, tactile, and
experiential.
Its important to have supplies on hand
that make it easy to work in this fashion.
Each class, your design team will need the
following supplies for the workshop:
Pens, pencils, markers, paper.
Post-it notes if theyre available; if not, cut
scrap paper into squares and bring tape to
stick these square pieces of paper on the
wall. Trust us, this is important!
Other useful (but not required) supplies
might include construction paper,
foam core boards, scissors, and mobile
phone cameras.
D
uring the second half of the course,
youll be prototyping your designs;
each team member will need to bring
prototyping supplies to these workshops
(more details later).
The Course for Human-Centered Design
The human-centered design process requires
space for your team to work.
Can you hold the workshop at someones
house? Your school? Your office? Your church?
Restaurants or coffee shops can work as
spaces too, but sometimes can be too noisy or
crowded to facilitate proper brainstorming
and prototyping.
Whatever space you decide upon, its best
if theres a wall where you can stick inspiring
imagery or notes from your research, so that
your team can be continuously be immersed
in your learnings. Shared visual reminders
will also help your team track progress of the
project and stay focused on your challenge.
Printed Materials
Each member of the team is required to print
out the Workshop Guide for that class and
bring it to your group session.
If youd like, you can print out the class
readings, though this is not required. To save
paper, we encourage you to download and
read them on a computer or tablet.
Before You Start
About Acumen
Acumen is a Non-Profit Changing the Way the World Tackles Poverty by Investing in Companies,
Leaders, and Ideas.
+Acumen is part of Acumens work in leadership. We created +Acumen to give people
a meaningful way to add Acumen to their lives. Learn through our online courses or
volunteer and network through our chapters. +Acumen aims to provide the tools and
training for individuals to step up and create social change.
Design Kit: The Course of Human-Centered Design is one of many courses inspired by the
leadership curriculum used in Acumens Fellows Program. Each of our courses fits in one of
three areas of Acumens Leadership Model.
MORAL
IMAGINATION
FINANCIAL
OPERATIONAL
EXPERTISE
EXPERTISE
MORAL IMAGINATION
The humility to see the world as
it is and the audacity to imagine
the world as it could be.
FINANCIAL EXPERTISE
The ability to use capital
as a tool we can control
to execute on our vision
sustainably.
OPERATIONAL EXPERTISE
The skills essential to
starting, running, and scaling
your vision for the world.
Acumen believes in the importance of incorporating the principles of human-centered
design when creating solutions to problems of poverty so that low-income communities are
provided with choice, not just charity. IDEO.org has been our partner in delivering humancentered design training to our fellows for many years so we are excited to partner with
them to make these tools available to more people around the world. More information can
be found at www.plusacumen.org.
The Course for Human-Centered Design
