MakerSpace Digital Badges
DESIGN THINKING
The Design Thinking badge is awarded to NYU Affiliates who complete a series of interactive, hands-on workshops that provide them with an understanding of and experience with the Design Thinking process. Through expert professional-led workshops on design research, ideation, rapid prototyping, user testing, and storytelling, recipients will develop a human centered design approach to creating innovative work in any field.
Design and Innovation Studio (all required):
Participants learn how user research goes beyond usability testing and gain hands-on experience with methods that get to the heart of users' needs. You will learn the do's and don'ts of forming a solid research foundation, cover real-world case studies, and role-play in a mock study to gain hands-on experience.
Participants focus on the fundamentals of ideation and cover the process of generating new ideas to solve problems that have been identified through research. You will learn the best practices of ideation, how to step beyond ordinary solutions, and participate in a series of creative exercises to gain hands-on experience.
Learn what a concise portfolio needs, the importance of creating a portfolio as part of the job application process, and how to market yourself to potential employers and clients using design thinking strategies. You will have the opportunity to develop an element of your own portfolio using the techniques from the workshop.
Participants learn the fundamentals of rapid prototyping and cover the process of making products with the consumer in mind. You will learn the best practices of prototyping, view physical and digital product development samples, and examine each through prototyping techniques.
Learn the fundamentals of collecting user feedback for product development by preparing for user interviews and running user tests, collecting feedback, and synthesizing action-items to improve product concepts.
Participants learn the art of storytelling as an essential tool in design practice. Through a series of creative exercises, you will practice your storytelling abilities as a resource that can be used in interviews, presentations, and more!
Design Thinking Exercise:
Please choose one of the three creative prompts below and submit a design, along with a short paragraph explaining your design thinking process to tandon-design-lab@nyu.edu, with the subject line Design thinking Exercise - NetID - Name.
Designs can be anything you choose. Possible submissions include a research plan, design requirements document, wireframe, concept art, or service proposal. Click either this Smashing Magazine link or this UX Collective link for a description of the types of design deliverables.
In addition to your design, submit a short paragraph briefly describing your thinking process while you were designing. Include your design, a description of the user(s) you are targeting, how the design solves the problem in the prompt, and the steps you took to get to your design. We are not expecting this to be a final product, but rather the initial stages of your design thinking process. This exercise should take approximately 1-2 hours.
How do I get this badge?
To begin the badging process, attend the required workshops above. To sign up for a workshop, visit our Events Page. After attending, select one of the Design Thinking Exercise - Creative Prompts and submit your design.
- Learn: Complete the required workshops and design thinking exercise listed under this badge.
- Claim: Once you have completed the requirements for the desired badge, fill out and submit the Completed Badge Application.
- Approve: Our team will review your application and determine whether you are eligible to receive the badge.
- Share: Once approved, we will send you a digital certification package that includes everything you need to share your achievement and new skills including the badge icon and text for your resume, portfolio, and LinkedIn.
- Certify: To validate your certification and ensure compliance with our badging procedure, successful badge recipients will have their name displayed below in our 'Certified Badge Holders' section as well as on each page for the badge they have received.
Badging Rules & Expectations
- Claiming Badges: You have one full school year (i.e. Fall 2021 - Spring 2022) to claim a badge.
- Workshops: To qualify for a desired badge, you must have attended the required workshops during the current school year (i.e. Fall 2020 - Spring 2021).
- Trainings: MakerSpace machine trainings are valid for 4 years.
- Not Interchangeable: Workshops and trainings are not interchangeable. You must attend a different set of trainings and workshops for each badge (i.e. if you attended Intro to Illustrator and used it to claim the Product Design badge, you cannot also use it towards Digital Design. You must attend another workshop. Same goes for machine trainings).
Certified Digital Craft Badge Holders
Melchior Tamisier-Fayard
