Design Thinking – Innovative Problem Solving

Design Thinking – Innovative Problem Solving

Duration

2

Course Fee

688 SGD

Design Thinking – Innovative Problem Solving

Course Description

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 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.

Target Audience

This course is suitable for anyone who wants to understand Design Thinking. It is particularly valuable for:

  • Business Leaders & Managers – Driving innovation in teams and organizations
  • Entrepreneurs & Startups – Creating impactful, user-centered solutions
  • Product Managers & Marketers – Enhancing customer engagement through design
  • HR & Change Management Professionals – Fostering a culture of creativity
  • UX/UI Designers & Developers – Applying design methodologies to problem-solving

Prerequisite

You are required to have basic computer navigational skills such as opening and closing of files, dragging, and dropping of widgets, copying, and pasting of files.

Learning Outcomes

By this end of this course, you will be able to:

  • Define Design Thinking and its role in business innovation. 
  • Describe key traits of a design thinker. 
  • Explain the five stages of the Design Thinking process. 
  • Analyze how Design Thinking is applied in different organizations. 
  • Identify opportunities to implement Design Thinking within an organization. 
  • Develop problem statements using Design Thinking methodologies. 
  • Generate and refine innovative solutions through ideation techniques. 
  • Apply prototyping methodologies to test and develop design solutions. 
  • Utilize key metrics to evaluate the success of design solutions. 
  • Develop strategies to scale Design Thinking initiatives across the organization. 
  • Present and communicate the Design Thinking process and outcomes to stakeholders. 
  • Create an action plan for embedding Design Thinking into business workflows. 

Course Highlights

This immersive course introduces participants to design thinking methodologies to foster innovation and solve complex organizational challenges. Learners will explore the five phases of design thinking—Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, and Test—while working on hands-on projects. Through interactive activities, case studies, and group collaboration, participants will gain the ability to challenge assumptions, generate creative solutions, and develop user-centered strategies. By the end of the course, participants will be equipped to lead design thinking processes within their teams and organizations.

You will learn:

  • Understand the Power of Design Thinking – Learn how it drives business innovation.
  • Empathy in Business – Identify customer pain points and unmet needs.
  • Problem Definition – Frame challenges effectively for better solutions.
  • Creative Ideation Techniques – Generate and refine breakthrough ideas.
  • Prototyping & Testing – Bring ideas to life and iterate based on feedback.
  • Business Application – Apply Design Thinking to real-world scenarios.

Course Outline

Instructor-Led | Lecture, Group Discussion , Individual Exercise

What is Design Thinking? (K1)

  • What is design thinking? 
  • Who is design thinking for and what makes someone a Design thinker?
  • The 5 core design principles 
  • Why is design thinking so important? https://online.hbs.edu/blog/post/what-is-design-thinking
  • The design thinking process
  • Applying design thinking to your business 

ROI of User Experience

  • Why is Design Thinking important in business? 
  • Characteristics of a successful design thinker 

Instructor-Led | Lecture, Group Discussion

  • Overview of the five Design Thinking stages
  • Case studies: How top companies use Design Thinking 
  • How would you apply Design Thinking to your company and what problems do you think that would solve / optimize?

Instructor-led | Lecture, Demonstration and modelling, Practice and feedback

Identifying business problems suitable for Design Thinking

  • Empathy – Knowing your users
  • Why do we need empathy? 
  • The value of empathy research 
  • Methods for Empathy research 
    • User Personas
    • Customer journey maps
    • User flow maps
    • Empathy maps
    • Interpreting the data

Formulating problem statements using empathy-based approaches

Define – What exactly are we trying to resolve?

  • Design thinking as a problem-solving method for everyone to use 
  • Benefits of design thinking vs. traditional problem-solving
  • What sort of problems can design thinking solve?
  • With the research data gained, you can clearly define your problem via a problem statement or a business hypothesis for you to test.
  • Root cause exercise 
  • 5Ws exercise – Who’s involved 

Instructor-led | Lecture, Group Discussion, Practice and feedback, Individual Exercise

Divergent & Convergent Thinking – Generating innovative ideas

  • What is Ideation?
  • Ideation is about finding new angles
  • Start with big wild ideas, then narrow them down and make them “feasible”
    • Activity: Based on your problem statements, braindump (individual brainstorm) in a uncensored way, and list down 3 ideas
    • We’ll then do a round robin, go to the next person’s ideas and add to them
    • Choose a feasible idea, and storyboard / visualize the problem + design + solution
  • Other Idea generation methods 
    • SCAMPER method – Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Modify, Put to another use, Eliminate and Reverse.
    • Movement – You take a “what if?” approach to overcoming obstacles in ideation and finding themes/trends/attributes towards reliable solutions.
    • Prioritization / categorization methods 
    • Note and Vote
    • Affinity Grouping
  • Tips on How to improve ideation 

Prototyping methodologies – Low vs. High Fidelity Prototypes
Instructor-led | Lecture, Demonstration and modelling, Practice and feedback

  • What does prototyping entail? – taking these ideas to life 
  • What is a prototype?
  • Why we need to prototype?
    • Prototype for the other 4 steps
    • Purposes that prototypes fulfill
  • How prototyping works
  • Methods of prototyping
  • Hifi / Lofi Prototypes
    • Pros of Low-fi  prototypes
    • Cons of Low-fi prototypes
    • Pros of high-fi  prototypes
    • Cons of high-fi prototypes
  • Storyboarding
  • Paper Sketches and Diagrams – New user flows, processes etc
  • Card Sorting – For organizing data
  • Storyboarding – Role Plays – useful for service scenarios where human-to-human interaction is essential
  • Physical Models (for physical products)
  • Guidelines for prototyping


Testing and refining solutions based on feedback
Instructor-led | Lecture, Demonstration and modelling, Group Discussion

  • Why is testing so important 
  • Benefits of testing 
  • Guidelines for conducting a test
  • Methods of testing 
    • Concept Validation – early stages for flows and processes
    • Usability task analysis (digital)
    • First click testing (digital)
    • Card sorting – Process and categorization
    • User Feedback (interviews / surveys post trial)
    • Split testing (A/B testing)
    • Other forms of testing
  • Discussion Activity: Which test would you choose for your solution and why?

Instructor-Led | Lecture, Group Discussion , Individual Exercise

The Golden question: How do we measure success? 

Identifying success metrics for innovation projects 
Evaluating the impact of design solutions 
Scaling and sustaining Design Thinking within an organization

Instructor-Led | Lecture, Individual Exercise

  • Communicating design outcomes to stakeholders 
  • Creating an organizational roadmap for Design Thinking adoption 

Why Learn at DesignX?

At DesignX, we are passionate in delivering quality training and want to see you succeed. Get expert advice, learning resources, and post-training support for up to 3 years.

Re-attend the Course Within 3 Years

3-year access to the courseware via our LMS

Post-Training Mentoring with Industry Experts

Certification

A Certificate of Achievement will be awarded upon successfully completing at least 75% of the course.

Trainers

Jeremiah Maximus Lim User Interface & User Experience Design (UI/UX) Trainer
Having started as a F&B Marketer, Jeremiah spearheaded some extremely successful campaigns for notable F&B Groups such as Strumms Holdings, The Clan Restaurant, and Mel’s Place. He then founded UNGRUMP.CO in 2016 and has since worked with key clients such as Fitness First, Impact Investment Exchange, and was responsible for the successful rebranding and localization efforts for Tongue Tip Lanzhou Beef Noodles which has now spanned to 7 outlets across Singapore. In 2020, he joined the L&D Facebook and spearheaded global vILT production efforts with his team at Creative Facilitations in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Jeremiah is a ACLP-certified and experienced trainer with over 12 years of industry experience.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Yes, this course includes hands-on projects where you’ll apply design thinking concepts to real-world problems, allowing you to practice and reinforce what you learn.

You only need a notebook, pen, and access to a computer or mobile device. Some optional tools include prototyping software or materials for creating physical prototypes, but these aren’t mandatory.

By the end of this course, you will have a solid understanding of the design thinking process, equipped with techniques for approaching problems creatively and collaboratively.

Yes, a completion certificate is available for those who complete all modules and projects, validating your understanding and skills in Design Thinking.

Unlike traditional design courses, this course focuses specifically on Design Thinking, emphasizing empathy, user-centered design, and iterative problem-solving, which are applicable across various fields, not just design.

Yes, you’ll receive feedback on key projects from either instructors or peers to help refine your understanding and application of Design Thinking.

 No prior experience is needed. This course is designed to be accessible to beginners, as well as to those looking to expand their creative problem-solving toolkit.