Library Demo: Tools
• Design takes practice. The more you use your creative muscles, the stronger they become. Whether you’re just beginning or looking for a workout, you can adapt these tools for whatever challenge you’re working on.
Featured Collections
Our curated collections pull together tools & other resources to help you exercise essential design skills
All Tools
Tool
Equity+Design: An Integrative Design Exploration
Dig into your project, and work through considerations to better prepare and plan equitable design…
Equity
Tool
Ethnography Field Guide
Make observations and hold conversations to further your understanding of who you are designing for…
Professionals
Tool
The Inspiration Walk
In just 15 minutes, you will have collected inspiration for something you care about and discovered…
Educators
Tool
How To Give Feedback
No one is naturally good at giving and getting feedback, but you can become great at both through…
Tool
What Went Down
Put together a good story about a creative project—or any situation in which you learned something…
Educators
Tool
The Layers of Design
Practice seeing beyond physical objects to understand movements, interactions, and the…
Educators
Tool
The No-Build Hack
See how making and question-asking can be key tools in learning, and how prototypes can be used to…
Educators
Tool
What Are Your Attitudes toward Ambiguity?
Difficult challenges require creativity to tackle, and ambiguity is a natural part of creative work.
Educators
Tool
The Ladder of Meaning
Explore multiple levels of abstraction to help you discover what really matters and better ways to…
Educators
Tool
Know Your Positionality and Develop Critical Awareness
Reflect on who you are: your identities, your social position, and how these affect your work.
Educators
Tool
Write an Internal Op-Ed
Know your values and be brave enough to express them.
Educators
Tool
Your Love Is Like a Red Red Rose
Use metaphors and similes to better understand what motivates you.
Educators
Tool
The Gifts to Goals Canvas
Bridge the gifts you have to the goals you hope to achieve.
Educators
Tool
Secret Handshake
Introduce new collaborators to each other for the first time or reignite an old group with a new…
Educators
Tool
Emotional Journey Map
Chart your feelings, both positive and negative, over time as a way to help identify when and where…
Educators
Tool
Ambiguity Journey Map
Map your personal experience on a project that reflects how you felt when you moved in and out of…
Educators
Tool
Do a Duchamp
Practice letting go of what you know so that you can see new possibilities.
Educators
Tool
Desktop Data Shuffle
Use different frameworks to sort data and find new relationships and possibilities.
Educators
Tool
Design Project Scoping Guide
Discover what challenges are best suited for human-centered design, and how to scope and frame…
Tool
Design Project Guide
Discover new opportunities, better understand those for whom you are designing, and develop new…
Social Impact