Design Thinking: Design with Impact

Design Thinking is a class intended to enable you to make your personal stamp on your Overlake experience.

The course is designed to introduce you to the IDEA Lab and to the mind-set and strategies that lead to successful exploration and innovation; the kind of work that is central to what the IDEA Lab is all about. Design Thinking is a course that will provide you the opportunity to be engaged in a process of research and innovation to craft a personal, in-depth inquiry into a self-selected area of interest, curiosity or passion. You will learn about the central elements of design-thinking and then use this approach to creatively address a problem or challenge you have identified, with the hopes of arriving at novel, sustainable solutions.

Design-thinking is experimental by nature, rooted in facing and tackling problems that truly impact humanity. Regardless of the subject of interest, developing your project will involve discovery, creative thinking, experimentation/prototyping, evaluation, and presentation. The course will introduce you to the components and traits of these steps with smaller, initial projects, all directing you to the development of your own work. Among the products you will produce will be a thorough portfolio chronicling your design-thinking process for your major project.

Two Examples of Design Thinking:

1.    The challenge: What can we do to make the Whitten Math and Sciences Center a true student hub at the Overlake School?

       The project involves the development and implementation of a business plan for putting a coffee cart into the new building

2.    The problem: Gender-based violence in Rwanda continues to be a problem despite noteworthy progress on addressing and eliminating the problem. In 2019 35% of women reported being victims of some form of physical violence.

       The project involves the design and prototyping of a bracelet that will notify/alert police or emergency facilities when the wearer is in a dangerous situation.