Programs | One Year Immersive | Quarter 3 | IDSE 301

Creative Leadership

IDSE 301
Creative Leadership

Course Overview

Design is not linear work, and requires a diverse team. In Creative Leadership, you'll learn to plan, facilitate, guide, and manage projects that give shape to the ambiguous. You will learn the basics of how to manage and advance the design process with non-design team members and stakeholders. This class will help you anticipate and plan for the unique challenges of the design process, whether as an independent consultant or part of an in-house design team.

Outcomes and Competencies

Course objectives:

  • Get comfortable thinking by making

  • Get comfortable facilitating engaging workshops

  • Demonstrate ability to make decisions about when to involve clients in collaborative work

  • Develop skills in telling interactive stories through collaborative work

  • Get comfortable using artifacts & collaborative work to solicit feedback from stakeholders

  • Get comfortable leading thinking around an idea

Course Schedule

Section 1

Own Your Expertise

Class 1: Telling your own story

  • Discuss class expectations

  • Watch & Discuss Kurt Vonnegut’s “Shapes of Stories” talk

  • Map out your own story

Class 2: Intro to structuring workshops

  • Present Assignment: Teach us about a topic of your choice

  • How to structure workshops using storytelling techniques for the outcomes you need

Class 3: Giving & receiving feedback

  • Lecture: Giving & Receiving feedback

Section 2

Know Your Team

Class 4: Stakeholders

  • Discussion about stakeholders

  • Introduce “AC4D Agency” & meet your stakeholders

  • Activity: Problem definition

Class 5: Working with other roles

  • Discussion about working with other roles (developers, designers, managers, researchers, sales, marketing, customer support, etc)

  • Guest speakers

  • Intro to facilitated ideation. What is it? How to use this tool with non-designers

Class 6: Presence

  • Guest speakers

  • Discussion about digital & IRL presence with practical tips

Class 7: Kickoffs

  • What’s a kickoff

  • Workshop: How to use structured conversation to better understand the needs of clients & collaborators

  • Activity: Collaborate with teammates to structure activities for your client

Section 3

Know Your Project

Class 8: Kickoffs Continue

  • Lead kickoff workshops

  • Discuss

Class 9: Thinking by making

  • Discussion: How do you plan for a product? What is a product vision? What is the workflow of “design”?

  • Activity: Create an artifact of your choice that illustrates an aspect of your client’s product or service

Section 4

Take Charge

Class 8: Aligning to a vision

  • “Walk the walls” with your client and talk them through your artifact from last assignment

  • Identify key areas to focus

Class 9: Facilitated Ideation

  • Revisit facilitated ideation

  • Activity: Rotate stations to try different ideation prompts

  • Discuss with your team: what types of ideation might work best for the problems you’re trying to solve with your client?

Class 10: Working session

  • Work with your team to plan out next steps & create a workshop or presentation for your clients

Class 11: Final workshop or presentation

  • Present or facilitation workshop for your clients

Class 12: Reflection & Celebration

  • Ideation activity for personal reflection

  • Intro to retros

  • Short retro

Ready to Launch Your Design Career?

Transform your creative aspirations into reality as you learn from experienced professionals at the Austin Center for Design. Dive into hands-on projects, receive personalized feedback, and develop a solid foundation that will kickstart your design career.