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.
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Map the Problem Space
Identify all the opportunities for design interventions across data, tech, product, experience,…
Develop Your Design Work
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Getting Unstuck
A self-paced, two-hour sojourn that will have you humming again.
Develop Your Design Work
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Idea Expedition
Explore how-might-we questions, brainstorm, identify ideas with potential, and flesh out your…
Develop Your Design Work
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Liberatory Design
Mindsets and modes to support your practice of designing for equity.
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d.school Starter Kit
A complete facilitated guide to running an introduction to design workshop.
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Design Questions Library
We explore the answer through nine questions we think a lot about.
Public Library
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Library of Ambiguity
We believe navigating ambiguity is an essential ability in creative work. This resource focuses…
Public Library
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K12 Futures Library
These immersive experiences aim to help educators imagine and design futures of learning with their…
Public Library
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Human Centered Design: An Integrative Design Exploration
Consider how you already exhibit behaviors, and where you might employ them more.
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Systems+Design: An Integrative Design Exploration
Articulate your objectives and consider where you may have leverage to make the change you seek.
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Strategy+Design: An Integrative Design Exploration
From describing the problem and change you want to create to listing potential interventions, this…
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Equity+Design: An Integrative Design Exploration
Dig into your project, and work through considerations to better prepare and plan equitable design…
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Portrait of a Descendant: Futures Thinking for K12
Imagine a descendant many generations ahead and cultivate empathy for the future.
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The Design Abilities Workshop
An introduction to 8 abilities, including a 2.5 hour design challenge workshop paired with some fun…
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Blind Contour Bookend
Useful anytime you’re feeling deflated about the quality of your work or you’ve just caught…
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Stoke Deck
Boost energy, foster collaboration or ignite creativity.
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Design Project Guide
Discover new opportunities, better understand those for whom you are designing, and develop new…
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The Inspiration Walk
In just 15 minutes, you will have collected inspiration for something you care about and discovered…
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Critical Lens Protocol
Review prototypes to make sure they promote fairness and equity for everyone.
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The Haircut Challenge: An Introduction to a Design Process
For those familiar with the tools of design, this practice project walks you through creating a…
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Design Thinking Bootleg
Play with a design process to practice different modes and mindsets of creative problem solving.
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Mixtape Manifesto
In here, music drives design by unlocking futurism and energizing perspective.
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I Love Algorithms: A Machineless Machine Learning Creation Kit
This kit enables anyone, technical or not, to prototype with machine learning.
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The Ladder of Meaning
Explore multiple levels of abstraction to help you discover what really matters and better ways to…
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Know Your Positionality and Develop Critical Awareness
Reflect on who you are: your identities, your social position, and how these affect your work.
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Ethnography Field Guide
Make observations and hold conversations to further your understanding of who you are designing for…
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Design Engaging Meetings
Make your next meeting clear, productive, and engaging.
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Design Project Scoping Guide
Discover what challenges are best suited for human-centered design, and how to scope and frame…
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Desktop Data Shuffle
Use different frameworks to sort data and find new relationships and possibilities.
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Do a Duchamp
Practice letting go of what you know so that you can see new possibilities.
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Ambiguity Journey Map
Map your personal experience on a project that reflects how you felt when you moved in and out of…
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Emotional Journey Map
Chart your feelings, both positive and negative, over time as a way to help identify when and where…
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Secret Handshake
Introduce new collaborators to each other for the first time or reignite an old group with a new…
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The Gifts to Goals Canvas
Bridge the gifts you have to the goals you hope to achieve.
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Your Love Is Like a Red Red Rose
Use metaphors and similes to better understand what motivates you.
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Write an Internal Op-Ed
Know your values and be brave enough to express them.
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What Are Your Attitudes toward Ambiguity?
Difficult challenges require creativity to tackle, and ambiguity is a natural part of creative work.
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The No-Build Hack
See how making and question-asking can be key tools in learning, and how prototypes can be used to…
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The Layers of Design
Practice seeing beyond physical objects to understand movements, interactions, and the…
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What Went Down
Put together a good story about a creative project—or any situation in which you learned something…
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How To Give Feedback
No one is naturally good at giving and getting feedback, but you can become great at both through…
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Ethnography Expedition
Outline the specific steps for your project: field research, unpack learnings, develop insights,…
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Experiment Expedition
This guided journey will help you storyboard, build your prototype, capture data, and make sense…
Develop Your Design Work