Innovate
Human-Centered Design for Social Builders
Learn IDEO.org’s approach to turning empathy into action, delivered through WhatsApp.
Human-Centered Design for Social Builders
Learn How To
Understand and be able to apply the Human-Centered Design framework
Identify how people’s realities and needs serve as the starting point for any solution
Have the ability to transform complex information and challenges into clear opportunities for design and innovation
Acknowledge the value of iteration, rapid learning, and working with the community to create real impact
Preview
Course Syllabus
Learning Tools
5 Activities to put your knowledge into practice
10 worksheets to structure your own human-centered design project
5 videos from Aya Jaffar Design Director at IDEO.org
Supplemental resources from Acumen Academy’s Founders Hub
Introduction to the course
Video: Welcome to Human-Centered Design
Activity: Self-assessment on your ability to understand what people really need
Inspiration Phase
Video: M1 — Inspiration
Introduction to course challenge vs own challenge
Activity: Stakeholder identification
Activity: Team knowledge & key assumptions
Knowledge checks
Activity: Build an Interview Guide
Tool: Empathy Map
Ideation Phase – Synthesis
Video: Ideation
Synthesis
Knowledge checks
Activity: Create insight statements
Activity: Create “How Might We” questions
Ideation Phase – Prototyping
Video: Ideation
Prototyping
Activity: Voting and idea selection
Knowledge checks
Activity: Do a prototype of your product/service
Tool: 2x2 Matrix
Implementation Phase
Video: Implementation & wrap-up
Discussion: Feasibility and Viability
Activity: Final self-assessment on your ability to understand what people really need
Tool: Folder with all course materials
"My expectations for learning through WhatsApp were exceeded by the materials’ quality and the way this course was designed. I came away with a truly satisfying experience.”
Pablo Céspedes,
Bolivia
Course Description
This seven-week, hands-on course brings IDEO.org’s human-centered design approach directly to WhatsApp, with bite-sized lessons and activities you can apply as you build.
You’ll learn to uncover people’s real needs, turn insights into ideas, and test them through quick, low-cost prototypes. Along the way, real-world examples show how human-centered design can create solutions that truly work for people.
Grounded in Acumen’s concept of moral imagination, you’ll gain practical tools to challenge assumptions, see problems differently and build with the people you hope to serve.
Reimagined from Acumen Academy’s original Introduction to Human-Centered Design, this updated course taken by 335,000+ learners since 2013 brings human-centered design to WhatsApp, so you can learn wherever you are and put it to work on the challenges you’re tackling.
This course is also available in Spanish. Enroll here.
Featured
in this Course
Aya Jaffar
Aya graduated from York University with a Bachelors in Design and earned her MFA in Transdisciplinary Design from Parsons. She has taught Design Thinking at NYU and lived in Iraq, the UAE, Canada and the US. She loves Russian Literature and pottery
Featured
in this Course
Aya Jaffar
Aya graduated from York University with a Bachelors in Design and earned her MFA in Transdisciplinary Design from Parsons. She has taught Design Thinking at NYU and lived in Iraq, the UAE, Canada and the US. She loves Russian Literature and pottery
Supported By
IDEO.org — the non-profit design studio whose real-world projects and methodology inspired this course's examples and framework.
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