Generating Big Ideas with Design Thinking

"I feel like I'm going to be a sprint and design thinking master."

Mika Pritchard-Berman, Google

"I have attended several conferences and certification courses for Agile, UX, content strategy, etc. This course is the most informative and interactive workshop I have ever attended for generating and refining design ideas. Sarah is a brilliant facilitator who brings the workshop and its contents to life."

Josh Luedicke, Birkman Intl.

"Loved how interactive the class is! Very engaging examples. Awesome class! I'm inspired to apply more of design thinking @ work and in my personal life."

That Waters, Fannie Mae

"We have already been doing Design Thinking at our company for a few years, but I'm leaving this workshop with a feeling that from next week we will be able to do it much better. I feel that I was able to reinforce my skills and learn 'tricks of the trade' that I can bring in right away."

Walter Lima, Lighting Beetle, Bratislava, Slovakia

"We covered months worth of design thinking content in just one day. I think this is a great way to both get introduced to the theory and also get your hands dirty on practical aspects."

Stefan Manastirliu, Caffeina, Parma, Italy

"I absolutely LOVED the structure of this class — so practical and hands-on. Therese is an excellent teacher."

Lexi Rohrer, University of Washington

"Loved the interactivity and real world thinking."

Krystyna Ninh, Transcend Insights

"Excellent instructor. Engaging, good speaker and knowledgeable about the material."

Phillip Jubb, Island Health

"Thank you for this super informative workshop. I feel as though I have gained some great insight on how to best run a workshop in the future and feel less anxious about it now."

Jessica Randall, Zonar

"Lots of hands-on workshopping which promoted good conversations."

Patrick Miller, Autodesk

"This course was exactly what I wanted. A professional high energy speaker confirming what I thought on design plus teaching me a lot. Love the amount of practicals."

James Foster, Cambridge Assessment

"Really nice course, I had a lot of fun. I've done a lot of single design thinking workshops in the past, so it was great to put it all together — including some new exercises, tools and tips into one comprehensive process."

Todd Morrison, Perfect Sense Digital

"I feel it was solid, educational, engaging. It reinforced some things I knew but also underscored the importance of the crucial points."

Ken Lee, Fannie Mae

"Excellent course to learn how to bring ideas forward from multiple perspectives and domains."

Brennen Schmidt, Deloitte

"Design thinking is fun and collaborative. Sarah brings this topic in a very enthusiastic way and guides her audience perfectly through the process. Thanks a lot!"

Guillaume Thys, Deloitte Digital

"Content was gret! Thanks Therese."

Dominiu Flegel, Accenture

"I really enjoyed the interactivity in the course. The activity was really helpful. I can see a lot of things to take back to my job."

Melissa Macpherson, Caterpillar

"I cannot wait to take what I learned in this class back to my team. It was lively, refreshing and most of all thought provoking. fantastic."

Amber Stratman, Keller Williams Realty

"Amazing way to reframe a problem and unlock ideas! It's incredible how a simple word shift (noun to verb) helps tremendously."

Ruzanna Rozman, Alchemy

"Superb! Sarah brings the design process alive with infectious enthusiasm, collaborative activities and wonderful slide deck."

Jamie Bryne, Financial Force

"I loved that it was fast paced and Therese was funny and personable. The group exercises were a great way to learn the material."

Tara Osborn, Software Solutions Integrated, LLC

"I loved this class, it really pushed me out of my comfort zone! It has given me a great toolkit to take back to work, Thank you!"

Sheridan Parker, Chales Stanley, London

"The best design course I have ever attended. All the workshops were well managed, we progressed a lot without being aware of it, thank you."

Francois Amisse, NOVUP, France

"A practical and modern design thinking workshop."

Paul Tyagi, Hewlett Paclard Enterprise, Bangalore

"A great course that provides you with a process you can use yourself to spike innovation. Excellent experience and it was fun."

Simon van Walle, Movify, Brussels, Belgium

"One of the best courses I attended so far at NNg. Really hands-on and practical. I wish I could spend more time on the ideas generation in my projects. Would definitely make use of the techniques."

Laura Versteele, KBC Bank NV, Belgium

"Great practical workshops and easy to follow slides, which are more visual than some of the courses."

Abul Siddique, Salesforce

"I felt this course solidifies principals I have learned. I finally understood the process while utilizing the tools."

Sharon Rogers, Life Vantage Corporation

"I've now taken 12 courses and this has been my favorite. Sarah was extremely approachable and all of the exercises were very practical. I look forward to taking these exercises back to my team."

Allie Etcoff, Zappos.com

"I really liked that we took design thinking concepts and acted them out in teams. It helped me learn how to do this with my own team at work and gave me insight as to how we can do this better!"

Naomi Finn, Paymentsense

"Excellent course led by a fun and passionate tutor. Lots of great ideas to get the best ideas out of people's heads."

Chris Price, Cerceta Ltd

"So far this was the most interesting, engaging and participatory workshop I participated in. Excellent insight on the design thinking approach to problems and great communication skills from the speaker. I will be surely looking for other workshops from Sarah in future NNg conferences!"

Norbito Henriques, Ni Do Technologies, Portugal

"A very enthusiastic and engaged introduction/course to Design Thinking. Nice to get a little bit out of your comfort zone."

Trine Breum, NNTT

"It's been a great workshop. Sarah's been super solid in explaining what Design Thinking is and how to bring it into our daily work. Excellent hands-on workshop experience, thanks."

Augusto Bianchi, Philip Morris International

"Sarah is a great coach and I learned a lot today, even though I already practice Design Thinking in my career. I recommend taking part in this course!"

Thomas Prangenberg

"It's a really comprehensive way to cement design thinking in theory and in practice. Actionable/practical skills I can apply straight away."

Kate, NSW Department of Education, Sydney Australia

"It's worth every penny."

Victoria Gregory, Rabobank

"I like the collaboration with people and developing an idea from scratch. Very enthusiastic speaker and fun experience. Love It!"

Natalia Pelact, Melbourne Australia

"I recently attended design thinking course our company has sponsored. Even though the subject matter of this course is the same, I have gathered valuable ideas that I can immediately use at my workplace."

Federick Nino Young, Citibank

"Sarah's presentation of the course content was dynamic, and engaging. I walked away with 'practical' tools to introduce Design Thinking into almost any solution design or problem solving scenario."

Carly, JCH Media

"Awesome! Made my day ..... taking lots of ideas to share with my team."

B. Sundaram, HCL Technologies, Bangalore, India

"Excellent hands-on learning experience with the Design Thinking methodology."

Sarah Barber, Rockwell Collins

"Once again, Sarah's course has energized by allowing movement and participation in the process of learning. The concepts are brought to life and internalized so the process will stay with you after you walk out."

Lisa Wilson, UFG

"This course was very hands on hands on and interactive which helped me stay engaged and learn from doing. This was a helpful way for content to stick and determine lessons that can apply to your own team and work. I also like the post it and sharpie note taking. It helped me sty engaged and focused on the big picture."

Amanda Cove, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

"Looking forward to taking this back to our team. We "sort of" do this — this course is a great refinement of our process."

Steve Costello, Weissman Theatrical

"Knowledge and practice perfectly packed in one day!"

Maxime Deleveyne, CISCO

"This course was the perfect combination of lecture and group work to reinforce each concept we learned. I'm excited to take back what I've learned and put into practice with my team."

Lacy Draper, Quicken Loans

"Sarah has an excellent communication style and she has really great content to match. The session she created has very helpful exercises that left me feeling confident in my ability to engage my team in the design thinking process."

Darren Sorrels, Valorem LLC

"I was impressed with the amount of content covered and the dynamic of the class."

Consueloo Del Palacio, NUIX

"These are the type of skills that I can take back to my team and provide value to them."

Matthew Scoh, Convention Data Services

"Great workshop. Loved the live demos and walkthroughs. Helped me better understand how to facilitate and moderate an idea workshop as well as how I need to conduct myself as a participant."

Cory Laslocky, Airgas

"Great course to know everything you need to know about design thinking in a fun way."

Catalina Vasquez, Mining Tag

"Really enjoyed this course. It was detail oriented and engaging with hands on exercises. Going home with big ideas. Thanks Sarah!"

Carly Chiao, AutoGravity

"If I could recommend one course for people to attend, this would be it! Sarah is enthusiastic and knowledgeable with thought provoking activities — don't miss out!"

Victoria Robier, Allteen

"Excellent balance of higher order thinking with actionable tactics — including stakeholder communication. I've run my own design sprints, but I took away so many more skills to improve my practice as a design thinking facilitator."

Alissa Ampezzan, Tempus

"Sarah was incredibly engaging and passionate. I learned more in this course than I could have imagined and didn't want it to end."

Erica Wenick, Careres, Inc.

"This was a great course! It put so many of the other courses I've taken at this conference into context. I'm excited to start implementing this back at my job."

Jessica Dufour, Brigade

"The class is top because it is mainly about design thinking and thinking about problems. Great delivery, great content, great facilitation, great learning and answers all of your relevant questions, thank you."

John Pagonis, Zanshin Labs

"Fantastic Facilitator, learnt a lot and got to network with others, very interactive which I found useful to remember."

Amrit Virdi, Civica, London

"Simply put, Sarah is awesome. Her engaging method of teaching brings the material alive. And hence, makes it meaningful."

Jim Nesbitt, Amazon

"Very practical, informative class. Would highly recommend."

Sebastian Tamoyo, Harris Corporation

"Sarah did a great job delivering the material and I learned more than I expected."

Brad McDougall, Midmark Corporation

"Sarah was so engaging and genuinely helpful. The material was very relevant. She did a great job motivating us and reinforcing our ideas. I can definitely apply this in my job."

Tricia Yarusinski, SunTrust

"Perfect! Exactly what I was after. I have done similar courses before but never have I felt as confident to facilitate until now. Love the passion too."

Niki Knuszka, Niki Shu designs

"As I was expecting Sarah did a great job at making us understand design thinking in a really engaging way, learning by doing as it is her style. It is my second course with her, she is superb, I am looking forward to the next one."

Irene Eleta, Isglobal, Barcelona

"It was hands-on and extremely through provoking, I learnt that facilitating these sessions is as valuable as the theory."

Jmaes Urry, Mercer, London

"I was very pleased by material and the presenter. It provided some different views on tools we have used, and now I'll give these methods a try."

Barry Glasord, Kohler

"This is a really engaging course. I was make you think creatively and critically but quickly. It was challenging but I can see how I can use what I learned back in my workplace."

Joanna Park, LG Electronics

"As a new recruit into the world of UX, I felt the course was exactly what I needed to kick start a new way of thinking and to validate the previous experiences I have had within the world of UX."

Daniel Argent, Virtual Lease Services

"It taught me to apply the techniques to projects I'm working on. Enjoyed the diversity of the group and learning from others. I was concerned that I'd be out of my depth with this course but it has improved both my confidence and understanding of DT."

Louise Clark, Virtual Lease Services

"I really love how interactive this course is. We are learning a lot without realising it while we do!"

Sabrina Kerzel, Electrobit Automotive GmbH

"Great course. It will for sure help me in all my daily work."

Giorgio Sciani, Siemens Industry Software

"Great course for getting people out of their shells."

Tudor Whiteley, OCAS

"This was amazing! Hands-on, understandable, ready to implement. Thank you!"

Katrine Hansted, TDC Group

"Fantastic course! I have some knowledge about design thinking prior to this course but Therese really focused on the "How" and it was really helpful & fun."

Ebun Ormunde, Arizona State University

"I really enjoyed this hands-on class that expanded on the things our team does today, by digging deeper into the root "why"."

Mandi Dillard, Walters Klewer

"Design thinking seams to be easy but it isn't. I learned a lot of micro-connections in overall UX process, and how I can use DT at my work"

Konrad, Capgemini

"I really liked the whole course, although it was pretty exhausting haha. Because of the amount of information and interaction, my brains are empty. But, in a good way."

Linda vd Zwan, CGI, The Hague Netherlands

"I liked the fact we got to practice the theory using real user data. It helped making the information concrete and was a good way to experience what it'd be like later when we apply the knowledge."

Wendy Wojenka, Bikkelhart

"In a world where ''design thinking'' is being used as a buzzword NN/G clearly explains the process, means and methods in order to do design thinking in structured manner. I will definitely apply this in my next sessions!"

Bart van Woensel, Mccoy & Partners

"Rachel Krause was brilliant. I'm looking forward to introducing this into my workflow."

Torrey Utue, Laforge Holeran

"The course was very informative and gave practical steps to integrate design thinking in a UX team, a product lifecycle, and a product team. The instructor as experienced and shared real world experiences that are relatable and also gave examples of real challenges in adopting Design Thinking."

Amir Khan, Extron

"I think this course helped me use the process of design thinking to generate big ideas. I liked the part when we had to come up with a crazy idea, because I struggle with thinking outside the box."

Jonri Rothwell, NetApp-Digital Marketing

"Amazing class! Generating big ideas is just what I needed to bring back to my team. I can't wait to incorporate this into everyday projects."

Janell Pace, Red Hat

"I really enjoyed the hands on approach to this course! Thank you!"

Jeff Thompson, Acuity Insurance

"This was the best course of all the days in the conference. Very practical, engaging and fun. Best way to apply the principles that were taught."

Sayeed, Purefacts Financial Solutions

"I really enjoyed this course, Rachel was extremely clear and involved us in many activities which really help understand design thinking. Also, it was a lot of fun! Thank you."

Linda Oscar, IATA-International Air Transport Association

"A great course for learning the process of facilitating design thinking at your organization."

Charles Steininger, Bellese Technologies

"Very enjoyable. The "doing" involved today definitely fermented the information and will definitely help me retain this information for the future."

Amanda DiPede, Mastercard

"Really fun and energetic course. Takes an abstract, "high level" idea like design thinking and makes it applicable."

Brittan Reinhart, Zion & Zion

"Rachel is FANTASTIC! She makes it fun, collaborative and has the perfect mix of content and applicability."

Kristine Howell, Duo Consulting

"Really fun class. My favorite one so far because of the amount of activity and real techniques we practiced."

Wes Couch, Zion & Zion

"Attending this event was great; there was a lot of information and new ways of thinking presented. The activities allowed me to work directly with a team of other creative individuals and learn from their insights."

Teron Russell, Snapsheet

"Rachel, I absolutely love your style of presenting information. it is very easy to follow and understand the information the way you present. Our company currently does design thinking but there were new ideas that I have never done before that I will be able to incorporate easily."

Leanna Tennant, Encova Insurance

"The day flew by — I enjoyed the break-away activities and felt like they all reinforced design thinking principles and processes."

Kevin Ginley, CGI

"The instructor had amazing communication skills. She spoke with such confidence and knowledge. She kept the course on time. Thoroughly enjoyed the learning and the exercises."

Julia Sabbe, Fortis BC

"I love the amount of interaction and team work."

Jason Lewise, ECS Federal

"Another great course from NNg. Essential for anyone wanting to generate design ideas from their customers perspective. I can't wait to put them into action for he next phase of our company group growth."

Duncan Eley, Simplicity Life Coaching

"Thank you for help defining "Design Thinking" when this term has been abused."

James Ciao, Microsoft

"* A little worried that it was so hands on that testing will be hard to complete. * I love the hands-on aspect! I didn't realize that how I have been synthesizing research data was called empathy mapping! Gained some useful tools to add to it."

Molly Wilvich, Moz

"I really enjoyed the class and the activities. Therese is fun, approachable and very knowledgeable about design thinking."

Michael Hansen, Kroger

"This course really helped me to learn how to think outside the box and exercise my creative side regularly as it's easy to get tunnel vision on features and quick wins in day to day work."

Jenni Lee, Moneysupermarket Group, Manchester, UK

"This is a really interesting course which can be adaptable to many different areas of work/ specialisms. The content taught me a lot but also the way it was taught gave me ideas for my own facilitation."

Sarah Storey, The National Lottery Community Fund, England

"I am walking away with new skills and techniques that I can put into practice right away!"

Misty Majors, HireRight, Nashville

"I've been in Design Thinking workshops before, so I really appreciated how Sarah added some "meta" conversation about facilitation tips throughout!"

Pert Eileres, Adobe

"That was wonderful — Sarah is SO kind and an amazing public speaker. Thank you!"

Emily Amundson, Vulcan Inc, Seattle

"This was my first time attending a virtual NN/g conference — I've attended others (in person) but COVID-19 has inspired us be more creative as to how to stay connect — from our homes. Our facilitator was very knowledgeable and managed to make things feel "hands-on" through our breakout sessions. I am excited to implement Design Thinking workshops to uncover insights that will ultimately lead the way to designing better solutions for our users."

Kristie A Bedgood, Procter & Gamble

"Sarah is a passionate and engaging trainer with a lot of experience, I loved the training virtually, I am sure F2F must be even greater, thanks!!"

Norma Argonza, Procter and Gamble, São Paulo

"This is a really great course for those who are just getting started with design thinking, or have tried and need tips on how to improve. The virtual course was way more engaging and interactive than I thought it would be. You could tell the NNg team took the time to prepare, having virtual breakout sessions, materials, and resources ready to go. Along with technical support and different wants to virtually communicate any issues or questions (Zoom chat, Slack, etc.). Overall, I would highly recommend to friends or colleagues!"

Emily Wayman, Modea, Blacksburg, VA

"This course was a great introduction on how to get started with Design Thinking. I feel like I have enough tools to start and enough information to know where I should now be diving deeper."

Kim, Cantactix Solutions, Cochrane, Canada

"I especially liked hands on workshop, and QA sessions to hear answers to additional questions from other UX experts that have been attending this course. Also, a lecturer has such a great and inspirational energy — this is the course I highly recommend!"

Marina Bošnjak, VNTRS Consulting AB, Stockholm

"This session was very well constructed and Therese was a fantastic presenter! Additionally, the online breakout rooms worked REALLY well and it's been so helpful to go back to the online docs we used to revisit and study. While I'm not in a UX role where I currently work, I have been in brainstorm sessions that mostly don't go well and/or produce little in the way of new ideas/outcomes. This course clearly outlines what's important and best practices of how to structure an ideation workshop. PS: I'm a fan of the 2-day online sessions! It allows me to not be away from work for an entire day, plus I stay more engaged than in the one full-day sessions."

Suzanne Butman, Tech Mahindra, Long Beach

"The course gives an excellent foundation on how a designer should start any new project. The material provided an excellent toolkit on taking engaged users needs back to your company and how to to get your whole team involved when driving your next design idea."

Graeme Cowell, SPS Commerce, Brampton, Canada

"A great introduction to the principles and application. Lots of hands-on exercises to reinforce the learning. Excellent instructor and good fun working through the exercises in teams"

Ken Bowman, acQuire Technology Solutions, Perth, Australia

"What a fantastic course! Rachel has been really informative and insightful. It was difficult to get distracted since the course content and activities were so engaging. Thanks so much — I have learnt so many practical skills that I will take into the field."

Caroline, Gold Coast, Australia

"It was very fun course to participate in. lots of activities and evenly timed breaks for rest and recharge. the 7 hours went by quickly although it started 3:00 AM in my local time! I would definitely recommend this course."

Abrar Alsmayer, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

"There are so many resources out there which talk about design thinking but this course gave me a lot of guidance how to action it and incorporate it into my work. Can highly recommend this, not only for UX professionals."

Ulrike Eulenfeldt, nib Travel, Sydney, Australia

"If you wonder what Design Thinking is about, then this is a great course to take!"

Max Lindroos, King, Stockholm, Sweden

"Therese is a amazing teacher who made me feel comfortable exploring an area of UX that I wasn't confident with."

Lani Raukawa Field, Signify Ltd, Wellington, Aotearoa, New Zealand

"I absolutely benefited from the course, even as someone who has doing some of these techniques. This course will also help me communicate value."

Jessica Toth, SemanticBits, Fayetteville USA

"Even as someone who has facilitated Design Thinking workshops, there were loads of information nuggets I haven't heard before. Sarah was an incredible speaker. She was engaging, answered lots of questions, and made a virtual experience feel much more connected than I've experienced in the past."

 

"Content and presenter were awesome. Learned so much in a short time, and got inspiration. Found some group activities to be challenging; so dependent on the group personalities you get. Liked all the resources shared that I can go through later."

Audra, Baltimore, MD USA

"I really liked the breakout sessions. It was great to work with people of different backgrounds and it felt collaborative. I thought the assignments were clearly explained and the documents were done well for us to easily use. I thought the speaker was very engaging (honestly one of the best) compared to other online courses I've taken. She managed to keep me engaged on a Saturday after a long week of work :)"

Dana Fioravanti, doxy.me, Park City, USA

"You will fine-tune your empathy skills and remember to leave your own bias at the door. Anything that puts the user first is a win for me. You can never learn this enough times. Even better, you'll learn tools to gently remind (and show!) your clients to do the same."

Stacy Allen, IQ Solutions, North Potomac

"Awesome course as an intro or refresher into Design Thinking. Not only did it help me reframe some things, it also gave me several new tools (and book recommendations) for my design workshop toolkit."

Michal Balcerzak, Arcweb Technologies, Philadelphia

"A great course on gaining insights and perspective on solving problems versus designing for features."

Michael R. Bridgeforth, Berkshire Hathaway, Stevens Point, USA

"This was a fantastic course, jam-packed with great information and fabulous hands-on activities! Therese was everything you'd expect in an instructor - highly knowledgeable, engaging, genuine, and incredibly helpful in answering questions and facilitating group activities. This was my first NN/g course, and while I'm not new to UX principles, I've never led or facilitated a "design thinking" or ideation process within an organization so this seemed like a great jumping-off point for me to begin the process of UX certification. I definitely made the right choice and learned so much -- I feel I have gained an invaluable "toolbox" of language, methodologies, and frameworks that not only better support design collaboration, but really "demystify" and define some of the thought processes that many good designers do intuitively -- asking the "whys" to make sure you fully understand the actual problem, before jumping to the solution. I hope to take what I have learned and use it to help move my clients and colleagues to the next level in our approach to interactive design. RE: the online format, NN/g has clearly done a LOT of work in designing the "virtual conference" to provide a high level of value and user experience (of course I'd expect nothing less from UX experts!) -- it was absolutely the best online Zoom experience I have EVER had!"

Amy Harvey, Self-employed IT Consultant, Blacksburg, Virginia

"Loved how every step of the process we were learning about, we also did it. Very hands on and so much fun."

Irina Predescu, Concise Media Design