HCD Workshops
Workshops for All
Our HCD Workshops engage learners with activities and practices associated with the six mindsets of Human-Centered Design, and serve as practical explorations of each of the five spaces of the Design Thinking process
Getting Started with
Human-Centered Design
Human-Centered Design is a creative problem solving approach that uses design thinking tools to identify the unmet needs of a population in order to collaboratively and iteratively develop relevant and innovative solutions. This workshop provides an introduction to the tools, spaces and processes that define this approach.
Date: Thursday, September 5, 2024, 2-4pm
Mindsets of HCD: Building Your Design Thinking Toolkit
Practicing Human-Centered Design isn’t only about learning the process, but adopting certain mindsets that are critical for problem solving. In this two-hour workshop, learners will engage in activities that foster Collaboration, Communication, Creativity, Experimentation, Human-Centeredness, and Metacognition. Join us to explore and practice getting into the right mindset so you can approach any design challenge.
Date: Thursday, September 19, 2024, 2-4pm
Discover and Define: Understanding the Problem
When practicing human-centered design, it’s important to connect with the people you are designing for—their lives, their interests, their motivations, and their struggles. Learn how to take a human-centered approach to gathering information that will provide a compass when designing to solve complex problems.
Thursday, October 3, 2024, 2-4pm
Synthesizing Insights:
Turning Data into Action
Synthesis is the area of human-centered design that takes us from inspiration to ideas, and from stories to solutions. In addition to discovering practical pathways toward new perspectives, participants will learn to identify innovative opportunities by collaboratively making sense of others’ stories and challenges.
Thursday, October 17, 2024, 2-4pm
Ideation Techniques: Unleashing Your Creativity
We all have good ideas from time to time, but how can we intentionally ideate to develop innovative solutions to complex problems? Learn about and practice collaborative, intentional ideation to generate ideas, communicate them to others, receive feedback, and keep iterating to generate groundbreaking solutions to real-world problems.
Thursday, October 31, 2024, 2-4pm
Hands-On Prototyping:
Bringing Concepts to Life
This workshop will introduce participants to the process of prototyping in human-centered design. The two-hour session will cover topics such as low fidelity vs. high fidelity prototyping, prototyping methods, and the value of prototyping during your design process. Participants will have the opportunity to create their own lo-fi prototypes.
Thursday, November 7, 2024, 2-4pm
Simulating Solutions: Prototyping Experiences
Prototyping gives designers the opportunity to create, communicate, and evaluate the ideas that have been developed over the human-centered design process. In this workshop, learners will experiment with prototyping the intangible - experiences! Learn how prototyping can help your designed digital or in-person experiences to reach their goal, whether that's to delight, inform, or motivate.
Thursday, November 14, 2024, 2-4pm
Implementing Solutions: From Prototype to Reality
After multiple prototyping iterations, you arrive at a final design. It is time to implement your design in the market. Learn about developing implementation plans, ways to sustain and evolve your design, and tools to execute and scale your design.
Thursday, November 21, 2024, 2-4pm
Interested in bringing Human-Centered Design to your class or group?
Request any of our workshops and SCD will come to you!
After an introduction of the day’s topic, workshop participants will work in small groups to apply newly learned skills and concepts to real-world problems. These standalone, in-person events are perfect for groups who want to apply an aspect of human-centered design to a current project, as well as for those who want to explore human-centered design in an experiential way. Open to University of Illinois students, RSOs, groups, faculty, and staff, these events will take place at SCD. Request a Workshop for your group or team today!
Understanding Oneself and Others
Empathy - understanding oneself and others - is a critical tool in everyone's toolkit! Being human-centered and seeing the world from the perspective of others (and better understanding yourself) can help you better meet the needs of your end user, whether that’s through a product, a strategy, or an experience. Join us to learn more about empathy, empathizing with others, and how empathy can enhance your work.
Creating Captive Audiences
Creating compelling communication matters in order to fully engage your audience while presenting your ideas. The aim of this workshop is to help you stay focused on the specific points you’re trying to make by outlining your story ahead of time. You will learn how to identify the purpose of your story, effective techniques to engage your audience, and to use empathy in your storytelling telling process.
Developing Collaborative Connections
Collaboration is key to sparking innovation. By bringing together people with unique sets of knowledge, skills, and experiences, you can collectively develop new ideas that will solve big problems. Join us in exploring how to best develop and facilitate a multidisciplinary team when practicing human-centered design to discover solutions to complex challenges.
Let's Get Meta!
Being aware of your own thinking and learning processes and being able to agilely and intentionally change them in order to successfully complete a task (also term metacognition) is a fundamental, but often underdeveloped, skill essential for success in learning and life. Join us as we explore metacognitive strategies, such as planning, monitoring, and evaluating, to empower students to become designers of their own learning.
Building Creative Confidence
Creativity is a vital part of human-centered design, and a core skill for 21st-century learners. Human-centered design can motivate learners to develop a creative mindset that facilitates problem-solving through collaboration and critical thinking. Developing creative confidence - the belief that we all have the potential to innovate and solve problems through creative outcomes - will take you even further. Join us to learn the essential qualities to fostering creativity, and participate in activities designed to encourage creative confidence.
* For more information, contact Sidney Sprunger, SCD’s Learning Programs Coordinator, sidneys4@illinois.edu