Design thinking
Creative strategies used during the design process.
Articles
The diverge-and-converge technique for UX workshops
Nielsen Norman Group
– 15 December 2019
By first working independently on a problem, then converging to share insights, teams can leverage the benefits of both work styles, leading to rapid data analysis, diverse ideas, and high-quality designs.
How your team can solve a customer problem in just 8 minutes
– 5 August 2019
This article explores a workshopping technique which helps teams find simple, elegant solutions to the projects they’re working on.
How to Look Before You Leap: A guide to mapping assumptions for product development teams
– 31 January 2017
Assumptions Mapping is an exercise in which a cross-functional team can unpack risky assumptions about a new product or service.
The Double Diamond: Strategy + Execution of the Right Solution
ThoughtWorks
– 3 February 2015
The ‘Double Diamond’ process maps the divergent and convergent stages of a design process. Created by The British Design Council, it describes modes of thinking that designers use.
A study of the design process (PDF)
Design Council
– 20 January 2007
For our most in-depth study ever, Design Council researchers visited the design departments of eleven companies, all world-leaders in their fields.
Resources
CMD Methods Pack
This pack supports your design research planning in any communication and media design (CMD) project.
Digital Services Playbook
We created a playbook of 13 key “plays” that, if followed together, will help government build effective digital services.
Futuremaker's Toolbox
Are you missing a long-term goal? This toolbox will help you to outline the future and build a vision towards a better tomorrow.
Government Design Principles
The UK government's design principles and examples of how they've been used.
Hyper Island Toolbox
A resource kit you can use to apply creative collaboration and unleash potential in your team or organization.
Initiate.Collaborate
A card game that takes players through a series of practical, guided activities and exercises that are crafted to delight, surprise, and at times challenge.
Liberating Structures
A menu of thirty-three Liberating Structures to replace or complement conventional practices. Liberating Structures used routinely make it possible to build the kind of organization that everybody wants. They are designed to include everyone in shaping next steps.
NOBL Academy
NOBL Academy is our library of tools, case studies, essays, and trainings designed to help you bring your culture together during an unprecedented time of uncertainty.
Nesta Toolkits
A wide range of toolkits, guides and blueprints covering all kinds of topics, including civic engagement, artificial intelligence, climate change, creativity and more.
Open Design Kit
A living collection of guides and best practices to help you to make and design openly.
Project of How
Project of How is a place to store and share creative methods. We dare you to improve your creative output.
Systemic Design Toolkit
Systemic Design Toolkit helps you co-create interventions to tackle organisational and societal complexity.
The Creative Innovation Toolbox
How can we tap into our own creativity and that inherent in an organization?
The Design Sprint
The sprint is a five-day process for answering critical business questions through design, prototyping, and testing ideas with customers.
The Teamwork Kit
A collection of methods that helps teams build trust and deliver great work together.
Tools for taking action
We’ve curated a collection of resources from our classes and workshops for you to explore.
Courses
Design Thinking in 3 Steps
Understand your audience, envision a creative solution, and test your prototype.
Design Thinking: The Beginner’s Guide
This course will help you design better products, services, processes, strategies, spaces, architecture, and experiences.
Creativity: methods to design better products and services
Design better products, services and experiences by helping you and your team develop innovative and useful solutions.