Design Thinking Workshops

Design thinking is a human-centered problem-solving and innovation method in which interdisciplinary teams work on new solutions. By working with the design thinking approach, the team develops a deep understanding of the needs and challenges of the users in order to create customized, effective solutions. Design thinking comprises four levels, which we address in our workshops: process, team, mindset and set of methods.

Process: Design thinking is an iterative innovation process that structures team work. Different skills are required in each phase – from creative to highly analytical approaches. The focus of the process is always the person (or the group of persons) for whom the development is being carried out.

Mindset: Innovations can only emerge in a safe space where every team member can express themselves freely and every idea is accepted and valued. In today’s working world, creative self-confidence is often not encouraged, and even more often suppressed. Design thinking helps to rediscover this creative self-confidence and trains people to give constructive feedback.

Set of methods: In each phase of the innovation process, there is a whole range of methods that are also suitable for other project work. Design thinking includes creative working methods, analytical approaches, interview methods, feedback tools and much more.

Team: Design Thinking is an intensive team process in which the participants learn how to find their optimal role in a team, how to make decisions quickly in a team and how to deal with complex team dynamics.

Design thinking is an iterative process that combines creativity, critical thinking and structured analysis to develop innovative solutions. Each phase of the process aims to better understand the needs of user groups or to adapt and improve ideas. By repeatedly going through the different phases, tailor-made, user-centered results are created.

It all starts with a challenge. This involves outlining in one sentence which experience is to be improved. For example: Design a way in which decisions can be made more effectively within teams.

Next, the team follows the design thinking process. First linearly, then iteratively.

Understand: The aim is to develop a shared understanding of the challenge. Using methods such as mind maps or stakeholder maps, the team members come to the same level of knowledge and develop an understanding of potential user groups and their needs. This phase is fundamental for effective, hierarchy-free collaboration and prepares for the following steps.

Empathy: This is where participants learn to put themselves in the shoes of their users. It is done through direct observations, role plays and, in particular, interviews with users. Specially developed interview techniques and plans help to gain in-depth insights into the needs and motivations of users.

Synthesis: Based on the interviews, each team creates a focused point of view (POV). Through storytelling and joint analysis, needs are identified and summarized in a user-centric problem statement. This POV helps to find focus and summarize it in a tangible way for further work.

Ideation: In this phase, the team generates a large number of ideas. Creative “How could we…” questions are formulated based on the POV. Brainstorming techniques promote a creative atmosphere in which unconventional ideas are valued.

Prototyping: The team selects a solution approach from the ideas developed and turns it into an initial prototype. Various prototyping methods such as role-playing games, paper mock-ups or Lego models make the ideas tangible. The aim is to concretize the idea in such a way that it can be effectively evaluated with users in the test phase.

Testing: The prototypes are tested with users in order to gather valuable feedback. An authentic test environment makes it possible to receive honest feedback. This feedback is essential for the subsequent iteration and further development of the ideas.

You will learn the systematic innovation method Design Thinking.

We will show you a different, unconventional way of working in teams that is used by many founders and entrepreneurs.

Thanks to the hands-on mentality, you will get to know an immediately applicable set of methods for development and project work.

In the empathy and testing phase, we will get you to leave your “comfort zone” through contact with users and take the perspective of real users in order to gain new, needs-centered insights.

Our workshops promote your creative self-confidence and your courage to actively tackle change.

You will learn to work in a doing mode in order to implement projects instead of talking only talking about them.

Our workshops promote team skills and team cohesion.

Because of our founding history, we are all design thinkers, trained at the School of Design Thinking at the renowned Hasso Plattner Institute in Potsdam. This is where we learned to develop ideas that consistently put the human at the center. We are happy to share our passion for change with you in design thinking workshops.

Write us an email or give us a call to arrange an initial meeting to get to know each other. During the introductory meeting, you will get a better impression of us and we will learn about your ideas within your project.

Based on the meeting, we will send you an offer.

Once the offer has been confirmed, we will conduct a meeting to understand your workshop vision in detail. Here, we discuss your concerns, challenges, expectations and needs. Initial ideas for a suitable concept and approach for the design thinking project are developed.

Based on the insights gained, we develop a rough concept for the workshop procedure. We present this rough concept to you and discuss your feedback and questions with you.

We then incorporate the feedback, develop a final detailed concept with needs-based focal points and a detailed schedule and create the appropriate templates and working materials.

We start the design thinking project with the detailed concept and the working materials at hand. Thanks to our many years of experience, we are also able to respond flexibly and openly to surprising topics and changes of course. At such times, we adapt the timetable at short notice in collaboration with the participants.

After projects, there is usually a digital follow-up to track the plans developed in the workshop and discuss possible implementation hurdles together. We also share our observations and findings here, if desired.