Advanced Design Thinking Certificate

Deepen your design thinking skills and practice

Advance your design thinking skills and have a greater impact through your work with this action-oriented learning experience. We’ve designed this program to help you move from understanding the core concepts of design thinking to practicing and applying these concepts in different scenarios in order to build your confidence to solve complex problems in the real world. Through extended practice, you’ll improve your ability to apply design thinking to your own work.

Certificate Program Outcomes
  • Deepen your understanding of when and how to apply design thinking to complex challenges.
  • Motivate others to think and work more creatively and collaboratively.
  • Apply techniques to help you and your team overcome common barriers to creativity.
  • Showcase your new skills through tangible, real-world project challenges, like an insights report and prototypes of products and services.
Skills You’ll Gain
Customer Insights Prototyping Storytelling
Format 5 Online Courses
Duration 5+ Months
Time 4 Hours/Week
Download Syllabus

Certificate Program Overview

  1. 1 Complete The Foundations in Design Thinking Certificate

    Start your Advanced Design Thinking certificate by learning the core skills through our two foundational design thinking courses. We recommend starting with Insights for Innovation.

    • Starting Soon
      Learn to use insights to turn customer needs into human-centered solutions
      Cohort Course 5 Weeks
      $699
      $699
    • Starting Soon
      Learn to prototype, experiment, and iterate to move your ideas forward
      Cohort Course 5 Weeks
      $799
      $799

  2. 2 Take Two Advanced Courses

    Take your design thinking practice to the next level by learning how to influence and engage others in the design thinking process. Take in either order.

    • Starting Soon
      Craft a narrative to motivate and inspire
      Cohort Course 5 Weeks
      $699
      $699
    • Exercises to overcome the common barriers to creativity
      Self-Paced Course start anytime
      $199
      $199

  3. 3 Choose One Advanced Elective

    Expand your knowledge by applying design thinking in the context of business and services.

    • Build and test new business ideas
      Cohort Course 5 Weeks
      $799
      $799
    • Starting Soon
      Design the moments that matter
      Cohort Course 5 Weeks
      $799
      $799

  4. 4 Receive and Share Your Certificate

    After completing the courses, you’ll receive your Advanced Design Thinking certificate of completion via email as a downloadable PDF within 1-2 weeks of completing the final required course. Certificates are configured for uploading and sharing on LinkedIn.

    Certificate in Advanced Design Thinking from IDEO U

Commonly Asked Questions

  • Course Order
    While courses can be taken in any order, we recommend completing the Foundations in Design Thinking Certificate first.
  • Completion Time
    The program takes 5 months to complete if courses are taken consecutively. However, there is no deadline for certificate completion.
  • Certificate Requirements
    If you've completed any courses in the Advanced Design Thinking certificate program, or if you've previously earned your Foundations in Design Thinking Certificate, all count toward your certificate of completion.
Learn more about program details in our FAQs

Certificate Program Requirements

Certificate Program Requirements

What’s Possible with Design Thinking

Innova Schools Case Study
Case Study

Designing a Network of Schools From the Ground Up

IDEO redesigned the learning experience for a growing network of schools in order to meet the unmet education needs for the emerging middle class in Peru.
Learn More
PillPack Case Study
Case Study

Growing an Online Pharmacy From Startup to Sale

IDEO helped PillPack build a venturing strategy for its prescription home-delivery system.
Learn More

Frequently Asked Questions

How do IDEO U certificate programs work?

We offer three types of courses: self-paced courses, cohort courses, and certificate programs. Certificate programs consist of multiple courses and typically take 3-6 months to complete. They are in-depth learning experiences designed to grow your skills and broaden your professional impact. Once you complete all required courses, you will be awarded a certificate of completion.

Does my time zone matter?

All of our certificate programs are fully online and flexible, so you can take them from any time zone, anywhere in the world. For cohort courses, the course teaching team will host scheduled virtual community conversations, which are optional. Times will be announced during the first week of the course and are set to accommodate as many time zones as possible.

Can I take one course now and others later and still receive the full certificate?

If you take all required courses in a certificate, you will receive the certificate. There is no deadline for the completion of the courses, and you do not have to purchase all required courses at the same time to be eligible for a certificate.

Can I take multiple courses at the same time?

While you can enroll in multiple courses at the same time, we strongly advise that you do so only if you are able to commit to a minimum of 5 hours per week for each course (for example, 10 hours per week for 2 courses) to ensure the most valuable learning experience. If that does not feel feasible, we recommend taking the courses separately and reviewing upcoming course dates on our course calendar.

What order of courses should I follow?

While courses can be taken in any order, we recommend you take them in the order that they are listed above in the Certificate Program Overview.

Do you offer discounts?

We offer a discount when you enroll in multiple courses at the same time through some of our certificate programs, including Foundations in Design Thinking, Business Innovation, Human-Centered Strategy, and Communicating for Impact. 

You can also enter your email address at the bottom of this page in order to receive updates on future offers or possible discounts. 

We also offer financial assistance for single courses with amounts dependent on your employment status, type of job, and annual salary – check out the financial aid application for more information and to apply for financial support. Please allow at least 15 days before a course start date to permit time for review, so plan ahead if you are looking to join a course soon.

Can I take the course with my team?

Absolutely! We have had many teams go through our courses together. For those taking our courses as a team, we provide a number of additional benefits:

1. A Team Learning Guide, developed to provide your team with resources to facilitate offline discussions that complement the in-course experience.

2. A Manage Learners function, which provides visibility into your team's progress within the course.

3. The ability to create a private Learning Circle, which is a closed space for discussion on the learning platform specifically for your team.

For more information, visit our Team Learning page.

How do I purchase a certificate?

You can purchase a certificate by enrolling in all the courses associated with that certificate. Required courses are listed in the Certificate Program Overview section above. When you click enroll in each cohort course, you will proceed to our checkout page, where you can select your desired cohort date for each course.

Payment options include credit card, PayPal, or Shop Pay. For US customers, we also offer installment plans at checkout if you use the Shop Pay method of payment.We typically are not able to accommodate bank transfer or invoicing. However, if your order includes 10 seats or more, please contact hello@ideou.com and our team will be happy to review your request.

Loved by Learners Across the Globe

Pedro Jose Ruiz Diaz
Pedro Jose CEO + Experimental Technologies Evangelist Exponential Real Estate & Great Places Inc.
Ben Nottingham
Ben Business Designer, Technology & Investments PwC
Jomarie Perlas
Jomarie Associate Product Manager Thermos LLC
Orson Podgorski
Orson Art Director / Designer Strichpunkt Design
Advanced Design Thinking Certificate
Certificate Program

“I've launched two successful companies as a direct result of IDEO U courses. We use the tools from the courses I've taken on an everyday basis in all of the teams. Human-centered design is a core tenet of our companies and we believe it's one of the most important competitive advantages.”

Pedro Jose Guatemala
Advanced Design Thinking Certificate
Certificate Program

“A couple of colleagues and I started an entrepreneurs network within our organisation. IDEO U courses have basically become the foundation for what we teach. Our hope is that by sharing your human-centered design approach we can see more people designing, launching, and scaling businesses at the intersection of profit and purpose.”

Ben London, UK
Advanced Design Thinking Certificate
Certificate Program

“The experience is so intuitive and attention grabbing. The flexibility is A+ and I feel like a human, not a statistic, when I take a class.”

Jomarie Chicago, IL
Advanced Design Thinking Certificate
Certificate Program

“I was recommended to look for design thinking courses, and my principal told me to do it where it was invented. I am absolutely happy with this decision. The content is super-distilled, the support is wonderful, and there are many opportunities for eye-opening moments.”

Orson Stuttgart, Germany

The IDEO U Learning Experience

HOW OUR COURSES WORK

See

Our courses engage you through stories, expertise, and humor. Each lesson has a series of 3-5 minute videos that explain the why, what, and how of a specific topic. Plus we bring everything to life through case studies from around the globe.

Reflect

Our learning experiences have a variety of reflective activities to help you make the connections to your specific work challenges. Reflection is one of the most effective ways to deepen your professional impact.

See
Try
Reflect
Share

Try

In order to develop new skills, you need to try them out through repeated practice and exposure to new contexts. Our courses provide opportunities to try out new behaviors online and through real-world projects.

Share

Knowledge is constructed through interaction with others—which is the foundation of our cohort experience. It’s through sharing and discussing with qualified teaching leads and a global peer network that you build greater understanding.

See

Our courses engage you through stories, expertise, and humor. Each lesson has a series of 3-5 minute videos that explain the why, what, and how of a specific topic. Plus we bring everything to life through case studies from around the globe.

Try

In order to develop new skills, you need to try them out through repeated practice and exposure to new contexts. Our courses provide opportunities to try out new behaviors online and through real-world projects.

Reflect

Our learning experiences have a variety of reflective activities to help you make the connections to your specific work challenges. Reflection is one of the most effective ways to deepen your professional impact.

Share

Knowledge is constructed through interaction with others—which is the foundation of our cohort experience. It’s through sharing and discussing with qualified teaching leads and a global peer network that you build greater understanding.

Learn More