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#5 in Design ThinkingUdemyDesign ThinkingPaid courseBeginner level

The World of Design Thinking (Udemy.com)

Human-centered design for solving wicked problems

Created by: Falk Uebernickel

Last updated January 2019

Our take

Based on the ratings of 2,135 students, a sample of their written reviews and the syllabus, as the course stood in January 2019. No course pays to be reviewed.

A free three-hour introduction to design thinking from Hasso Plattner Institute professor Falk Uebernickel and a team of guest experts. It is built as 21 lectures and 10 reading articles across three sections: the basics, design thinking applied, and a final section on digital prototyping. The syllabus covers needfinding, synthesis, ideation, prototyping and testing at an overview level. It's pitched at managers who want the vocabulary and practitioners who want a first pass at the process before trying it on a real project. About 27,000 students have enrolled and 2,135 have left a rating, averaging 4.4.

Reviewers like the mix of history, examples and practical activities. A couple mention the questions dropped between lectures as a useful check, and the reading list comes up as something students go back to as a reference. An architect with no tech background said it worked fine as a first step. The complaints are consistent. A three-star reviewer with a PhD called it too theoretical and chaotic, wanting one project followed end to end. A two-star review says the 15-minute videos could have been five. Others found some speakers monotone, the camera work distracting, and a quiz or two with no answer given.

The course has not been updated since January 2019, so the tooling in the digital prototyping section (a reviewer names the Prott app) is dated, and there's no certificate. For a free course that hardly matters. Among the other beginner design thinking courses on the same list, this is the university one: more framework than practice. Take it if you want a professor's overview in an afternoon. If you need a worked project, pair it with something more practical.

Best forManagers and students who want the vocabulary and process of design thinking from an academic source, for free, in an afternoon.
Skip it ifYou want to follow one real project end to end or need current prototyping tools; this hasn't been updated since 2019.

Pros

  • Free, and taught by a professor at the Hasso Plattner Institute, one of the homes of design thinking
  • Ten reading articles that reviewers say they return to as a reference after finishing
  • Questions between lectures help the ideas stick, according to a couple of reviews
  • Guest experts and Q&A sessions add voices beyond the lead instructor

Cons

  • Too theoretical for some: no single project is followed from needfinding to testing
  • Videos run 15 minutes or more and some reviewers found them slow and monotone
  • Not updated since January 2019 and no certificate on completion
Very informative and mind opening that design thinking is not only about the world of design but can be used for business innovations as well.
Kabelo Ntshuntshe, a student

Genuinely beginner: the listed requirements are curiosity, an open mind and an interest in customers, and no design or tech background is assumed.

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What you will learn

  • You will be able to utilise the potential of Design Thinking in projects for solving wicked problems.
  • You understand the most important process steps of Design Thinking like Needfinding, Synthesis, Prototyping and more.
  • You will be able to apply selected tools.
  • You get ready to manage agile and human-centered design projects.

Course content

3 sections · 21 lectures · 3.1 hours of video 10 articles

  1. 1The Basics of Design Thinking 1 free preview7 lectures · 54 min
  2. 2Design Thinking applied12 lectures · 1.4 hours
  3. 3Digital Prototyping - Design Thinking extended2 lectures · 47 min

Who it is for

The instructor says it suits

  • Practitioner who want to use Design Thinking and Human-centered Design in their project work and daily practice.
  • Manager who want to know the basics of the Design Thinking and agile working methods.
  • Students who are interested in human-centered design, Design Thinking and agile project management techniques.

What you need before you start

  • Curiosity
  • Open minded
  • Human- and customer-centricity

How it compares

Against the other 53 rated Udemy courses in Design Thinking on CourseDuck:

  • Rating4.4 out of 5higher than 26% of them
  • Reviews2,135#21 of 54 by number of reviews
  • Length3.1 hourslonger than 58% of them
  • Last updatedJanuary 2019earlier than 88% of them

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Course Description

Design Thinking is a human-centered method and set of principles for solving wicked problems. Nowadays it is being used for product, service and business model innovation. Thereby it takes advantages of new digital technologies, rapid prototyping, field research techniques and creativity methods. 

This course will provide you with 17-course modules an overview of the essential steps and techniques. You will learn about the process of Design Thinking, Needfinding, Synthesis, Ideation, Prototyping and Testing.

Each modules uses short videos to explain the teaching content, and we provide further readings and materials as well. The objective is to equip you with the ABC for Design Thinking.

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Instructor Details

Falk Uebernickel

Falk is professor at the Hasso Plattner Institute, one of Europes leading institutions for Design Thinking, Human-centered Design and Computer Science. Further, Falk is adjunct professor at the University of St.Gallen (HSG), one of Europe's leading universities for Strategy and Management. He received his PhD in Business Administration from the University of St.Gallen with focus in IT performance management and controlling. Since then he is actively doing research in two areas; first, Internet of Things as head of the “Competence Center for Industrial Services and Enterprise Systems” - a collaboration between large organisations like SAP, ThyssenKrupp and Linde MH and second, Human-centered Design and Design Thinking.

Over the last fifteen years Falk is training students and practitioners worldwide in using Design Thinking as a mind- and toolset to solve wicked problems in a human- and user-centered way. As part of his role he worked together with companies from almost all industries like FIFA, Allianz, E.ON, SAP, Roche, Sanofi, Merck, Audi, Siemens and more.   

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Reviews

4.4

2,135 ratings on Udemy

Select a bar to show only those reviews.Select the bar again to show every rating.

By Emmanuel Dapaah Boateng on 5/6/2025

The instructors really applied the concepts they taught--they were focused on the learner. By using historical facts and practical, day-to-day activities, they helped me understand the fundamentals of Design Thinking. The questions which were interspersed with the lecture gave me an opportunity to review what I had learned.

By Md. Eusuf Miah on 7/14/2022

Surprisingly a great course I have taken. Definitely, design thinking is very important for us which is using everything. And this course would be the best choice. I am happy with this course. I want to thank Prof. Dr. Falk Uebernickel and Nihan Altug for your lovely guidance. Thank you.

By Shilpa K on 5/13/2022

I am an Architect by profession and always thought that Design Thinking is a concept which can be used universally, for all types of professions and fields. I am not a tech savvy person and don't know much outside Autocad and some of MS Office. I decided to take this course to understand how this new concept of design thinking is applied in all fields. And I must say the course is very well designed for all types of takers and am very thankful to your team for making my first step into the world of Design thinking, a great experience! Thanks and best wishes!

By Satyajit Datta Roy on 1/3/2022

This is very good course for understanding Design Thinking. Couple of pointers - 1) It takes well beyond 3 hours if you go through the resources carefully (a must do!) 2) A completion certificate would be great!

By Dwaipayan Sarkar on 4/20/2021

Compehensive and detailed and gives you a holistic view of what design thinking is and how it can hel in product or service design and development that catualy meets user requirements. Certification of a seondary category would be appreciated as the free version comes without it.

By Rose de Vrieze-McBean on 10/20/2020

Thank you very much for this! This was very useful for me. I was not familiar with the methodology but I now know much more about it! It is both theoretical and practical at the same time. I particularly enjoyed the practical examples (Alex, Karen, Linda etc.). And of course Falk did an amazing job. I will definitely recommend it to my colleagues who are currently seeking to gain understanding of this innovative and creative methodology. My compliments to the entire team!

By Dayal Saran Mirthinti on 7/22/2020

An excellent course to introduce the concept of Design Thinking to beginners. The course may at first seem to be of just 3 hours but you go along, it becomes very detailed. It has links to some of the very good articles on design thinking and I would definitely recommend they be read thoroughly before moving ahead. Overall, a very good course.

By Nuno Filipe Trovisco Fernandes on 11/17/2019

The concepts are all addresses (even with a good depth of detail) and explained in a very simple way! Congrats Points of improvement: - Sometimes the way people talk can be a bit 'boring' and mechanic - Also the person filming could stop with the sudden side angles shooting

By Chrisoganos Anto M John on 10/5/2019

Course has met my expectations, the reason being - before taking the course, I did have a vague idea what the methodology is all about but was unclear on the phases and the purposes of the same. Team has put up a quality content which is clear and concise and is quite engaging. As this being a free course, I didn't expect it to be of much value - Boy, you guys did surprise me! I would like to thank each one of you personally and appreciate your hard work!

By Setin Maganean on 11/7/2018

Better than I originally thought. Perfect for initiation in design thinking, I was pleasantly surprised that the videos aren't just another slideshow with voice over, I feel like we're slowly loosing the human connection in elearning and it's nice to actually watch the lecturer while speaking and see him expose himself to you. The quizzes I'm not so fond of and could be a bit better explained, but that was a minor minus and not worth me giving a 4/5 instead of 5/5 rating. In the overall picture, it is an excellent course.

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Overall Score : 88 / 100