Leveraging Design Methods to Identify Business Opportunities (Coursera)

To succeed in this specialization, you should be a professional with at least two to three years of experience in an organizational setting. Experience in a design role or working with designers is helpful.
By the end of this course, you will be able to:

• Understand the importance of design and the responsibilities of designers
• Examine the expanding role of design and the tools helping it grow
• Analyze how design frameworks can help you find opportunities and frame problem statements
• Assess opportunities, experiences, and the use of a canvas

Course 2 of 4 in the Business Innovation and Digital Disruption Specialization.

What You Will Learn

• Understand the importance of design and the responsibilities of designers
• Examine the expanding role of design and the tools helping it grow
• Analyze how design frameworks can help you find opportunities and frame problem statements
• Assess opportunities, experiences, and the use of a canvas

Syllabus

WEEK 1
Creative Problem Solving: Using Design as a Toolkit
In this week, you'll learn about the expanding role of design, and see how rigorous design can accommodate scalability. You will discuss the importance design plays in today's world, and think about why it's important to not only design, but continually redesign. You'll be introduced to the concept of VUCA: volatile, unpredictable, chaotic, and ambiguous. You will also have the chance to dive into the changing landscape of education, and see why the Four C's are critical for designers of the future. Finally, you will see what role the designer plays in preserving design ethics. This will help you to unpack the art versus the science of design.

WEEK 2
Calling Skilled Practitioners: The Need as Opportunity Space Grows
In this week, you'll see that the opportunity space is expanding and find out what this means for design in emerging markets. You'll learn about six factors that are making it possible for design to solve local problems globally. We'll do this by exploring a series of case studies out of East Africa. You'll explore the different types of design tools and methodologies. In this week, one of the methodologies you'll be introduced to is the Empathy and Excellence approach.

WEEK 3
Unpacking the Double Diamond Method
In this week, you'll learn about another design methodology: the Double Diamond Method. The Double Diamond Method is made up of four phases: the discover phase, the define phase, the develop phase, and the deliver phase. We'll deep dive into each of these phases to see what steps take place in each and how the four phases and the fifteen steps work together. You'll then be able to apply the Double Diamond method to enhance the design process.

WEEK 4
Validating an Opportunity
In this week, you'll look at how perceived risk and value are used to prioritize projects within the portfolio selection process for different types of organizations. You'll consider how to mitigate risk. You'll learn to calculate your addressable market size from the full market size. We'll introduce you to various types of canvases and explain their uses in different scenarios. You'll see why in some contexts, the lean canvas works best. Finally, you'll learn how to identify an opportunity and create a distinctive experience, and find out why creating a distinctive experience is so important.