Design Thinking Barcelona
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Workshop: Quick & Dirty User Research

The guys of Design Staff, and Google Ventures Startup Lab did it again, an awesome workshop and guide to user research; the quick and dirty way. 

 

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Design Sprint: a five-day recipe for startups

At Google Ventures Design Studio they use an approach to product development named: Design Sprint. Based on the principles of design thinking, design sprint is a five-day recipe for startups aimed to accelerate projects that are already in motion. This series of post provide a DIY guide to the process, including:

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Design Thinking Business Innovation Book

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We are very happy for the launch of Design Thinking, Business Innovation, a book by Brazilian firm MJV, written together with a group of internationally trained consultants. The book presents stages, techniques and tools illustrated through genuinely Brazilian cases to inspire and help in the work towards innovation. 

“Our book is addressed to professionals in all areas of business. Through it, we intend to cover both the genesis of innovation, as well methods and practices for its implementation.”

Download the PDF (in English) or buy the Portuguese version for Kindle

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Human-Centered Design Toolkit from IDEO

The Human-Centered Design Toolkit is a free innovation guide for social entreprises and NGO’s.

In 2008 IDEO designed a toolkit of human-centered design so that the process of design thinking could be used by grassroots non-governmental organizations in the developing world. The guide walks you through the design process and gives practical guidance for the different phases.

You can download the guide here.

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Prototyping on Paper iPhone App

POP is a free iPhone app that helps you make interactive prototype with ease. If you can draw, you can design apps. The workflow is ridiculously simple:

  1. Design on Paper
  2. Take Pictures
  3. Link & Play

Complicated wireframing tools slow us down. Why not use the most efficient tools, pen & paper, to create prototypes? You simply take pictures of your wireframe, link these pictures, and it’ll work on iPhone! 

Download POP from App Store

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d.school Virtual Crash Course

d.school virtual course

Online learning gives the chance to access top-class learning material from the confort of our house. Now, you can join a Design Thinking Crash Course by the guys at d.school

We know not everyone can make a trip the d.school to experience how we teach design thinking. So, we created this online version of one of our most frequently sought after learning tools. Using the video, handouts, and facilitation tips below, we will take you step by step through the process of hosting or participating in a 90 minute design challenge.

d.school Virtual Course on Design Thinking

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Frog’s Collective Action Toolkit

Flog Collective Action Toolkit

Frog’s Collective Action Toolkit (CAT) is a package of resources and activities that enable groups of people anywhere to organize, build trust, and collaboratively create solutions for problems impacting their community. The toolkit provides a dynamic framework that integrates knowledge and action to solve challenges. Designed to harness the benefits of group action and the power of open sharing, the activities draw on each participant’s strengths and perspectives as the group works to accomplish a common goal.

Download the Toolkit

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Rapid Prototyping: Rough to Ready

Designer Erica Heinz great presentation on the benefits of rapid prototyping (also known rough prototyping, or low-fi prototyping) and collection of tools and resources to prototype

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Design Thinking in Public Social Services

Design Thinking at the LA County Department of Public Social Services from Stanford d.school on Vimeo.

Standford d.School helped the LA County Department of Public Social Services to improve their offering and services. A good example of how design thinking can also improve bureaucracy. 

Here, four quotes summarizing the video:

  • “Our mission is to enrich lives through effective and caring services, if we care about what you think, we’ll be more effective”
  • “On the spot, our director approved two out of four prototypes to bring forward for implementation”
  • “The user felt great to tell what they thought”
  • “[design thinking] allows you to be connected, to have a better understanding” 
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Bill Moggridge 1943-2012

We woke up this morning with some sad news; Bill Moggridge has passed away at age 69. He has been a great inspiration for us, and most provably will be for next generations to come. When using a laptop, remember that he invented it. 

Remembering Bill by Cooper-Hewitt

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Free IDEO Course: Design Thinking for Educators

Week 01 IDEO from Design Thinking for Educators on Vimeo.

Students can’t learn design thinking if their teachers aren’t trained in it, so to help give educators the tools and methods to integrate this mindset into their work, Edutopia,  IDEO, and New York’s Riverdale Country Day School, are teaming up to offer “Design Thinking for Educators” a free, five-week virtual class

Via GOOD.is

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Prototyping isn’t a step; it is the process!

Prototype

Diego Rodriguez from MetaCool writes: 

Designers are always prototyping, whether it’s moving things around in their imagination, building a reverse income statement in Excel, or hacking something out of wood using a sidewalk as sandpaper.  The notion that a designer waits until it’s “prototyping time” to start messing around with stuff is just wrong.  Prototyping starts when the design process begins, and it never stops.  We build to understand.  We observe for generative insight but we also observe to gather data regarding the hack we just whipped up ten minutes ago.  We ideate with our gut and our hands as much as with our brains.

Read the full post

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Designing Better Services Experiences

Designing Better Service Experiences from Continuum on Vimeo.

Design firm Continuum and the AIGA design association convened a group of top business leaders and innovators from a variety of backgrounds and industries, including Disney, Facebook and Zipcar, to discuss how designing a service experience with purpose can transform a company’s image and make people’s lives better.

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Leancamp Barcelona, Conference Notes

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This weekend we attended the first Leancamp Barcelona, and we really enjoyed it.

Leancamp is an unconference – an open, interactive, multi-track event – which brings together the world’s Lean, Agile and Design-led business leaders, and practitioners from different disciplines. It’s a high-energy day focused on learning and knowledge transfer.

You can download our notes from the event. 

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Design Thinking: Una Manera Más Humana de Innovar

No es fácil encontrar información sobre Design Thinking en español, así que cuando hemos leido el artículo publicado en Open Circle, nos hemos puesto muy contentos. entre otros, el Design Thinking abarca las siguientes características:

  • Empatía: capacidad de imaginar el mundo desde distintas perspectivas
  • Integrative thinking: habilidad de ver los aspectos sobresalientes de un problema complejo y crear soluciones novedosas
  • Optimismo: una posible solución siempre será mejor que nada
  • Experimentación: planteando preguntas y explorando las limitaciones del problema de forma creativa 
  • Colaboración: equipos interdisciplinarios que trabajan colaborativamente

Artículo completo en Open Circle