About the course

You’ve completed some human-centred research, but you can’t do research forever. It puts off doing something. In ideation—an uncommon word meaning idea generation—you work on what you’re going to do about the needs you’ve discovered, and how you can solve real problems for real people. If you don’t do a good job on ideation, you lessen your ability to come up with a great solution. 

Coming up with an idea is very different from building an idea. A Prototype is a way of embodying decisions so you can talk about them and make them better. More effective than simply piloting an idea, prototyping identifies what works and what doesn’t about your idea before you waste implementation dollars going down the wrong path.

In this course, you’ll dive deep into the Ideate and Prototype phases of the human-centred design cycle.

Modules

Principle of ideation and prototyping

Learn about best practices in ideation. Generating ideas is a learnable, practicable skill that everyone can get good at. You’ll also discover the ways that designers build constantly, the decisions to consider in the process, prototyping principles, and tips along the way. 

Hands on with ideation and prototyping tools

A hands-on session where you will use a variety of modes such as sketching, storyboarding and building to make tangible representations of your ideas—to get them out of your head—in a way that allows you to maximize opportunities for useful feedback.  

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, you should be able to more confidently jump into the Ideate or Prototype stages of the design cycle with deeper knowledge of foundational strategies as well as concrete tools for success. 

What you will learn:

  • The power of ideation: how strong ideation practices support the discovery of the best solutions for stakeholders
  • Practices to ensure you are making the most of many minds in ideation: how to ensure diverse perspectives are included 
  • Considerations when prototyping and inspiration for different modes that can be used: how prototyping is a critical vehicle for learning
  • Community Child and Youth Well-being Survey Toolkit

    “Overlap’s approach help take the fear outta learning while you insert fun. I have had this sick feeling every time I had to engage with technology–but your attitude and approach take away the scariness.”

    Intro to HCD Participant

  • Community Child and Youth Well-being Survey Toolkit

    “Overlap was able to explain concepts and engage people effectively and emotionally in the learning process. From concept thinking to design, they brought an element of a new Human feelings approach that gave me a new perspective of incorporating an end-user approach to a problem versus a global approach.”

    H. B. Com, CPA, CGA, Director of Finance and Administration, KW Habilitation

  • Community Child and Youth Well-being Survey Toolkit

    “Taking (Intro to HCD) rejuvenated my enthusiasm for work at a time when I was starting to feel disconnected. Not only was it refreshing to work through Launch activities with an interdisciplinary group, it gave me ideas for engaging my own team differently. I immediately applied what I learned with noted success!”

    Educational Developer | Curriculum Development and Program Improvement Centre for Teaching & Learning | Queen’s University

  • Community Child and Youth Well-being Survey Toolkit

    “...Overlap training introduced me to a process and a wealth of tools that will take our planning to the next level. Moving to virtual training did not dampen Ryan and Nicole's enthusiasm, and their insights helped me understand how to apply these tools in my own organization. I cannot wait for my next planning session!”

    Head of Public Services Law Library, Dalhousie University

  • Community Child and Youth Well-being Survey Toolkit

    “The training at Overlap encouraged me to fall in love with the problem and understand it deeply. The iterative design process teaches that failure is valued as a necessary step to designing the best solutions. This relieves the pressure of trying to 'get it right the first time.' Using this approach in our organization has promoted a new sense of engagement in our staff team, as people feel their voices are valued in the process.”

    Extend-a-Family Waterloo Region

Upcoming Courses

Building Innovative Ideas 

Creative Problem Solving: 202

(Live Online Cohort)

Nov 29 & Dec 1, 2022

9am-12pm EST

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Level 200 Training Bundle

Planning to take all three of our Level 200 courses?  You can save over 15% by registering for all 3 courses at the same time with our new Intermediate Problem Solving Bundle!

Intermediate Bundle: Sign Up