The Challenge
The fourth-year students in the Zuyd International Communication and Languages program were tasked with developing a professional product that is not only creative but also truly meets the needs of the end user. The challenge was to help them experience, in a short period of time, how Design Thinking and the Design Sprint methodology can help them arrive at better solutions more quickly.
The approach
The Next Lab guided the students through a “pressure-cooker” version of a Design Sprint. Instead of five days, the students went through the key steps of a Design Sprint in just five hours.
During the workshop, they learned:
- Putting the user first.
- Actively engage end users.
- Validating ideas early on.
- Work iteratively and strive for continuous improvement.
By getting started right away, the students not only experienced the theory but also saw the power of the method in practice.
The result
Within five hours, the students developed a prototype that can be tested. This gave them a concrete and robust result to incorporate into their assignment for the professional project. The workshop demonstrated that Design Thinking is, above all, a mindset: learning quickly, creating together, and developing solutions that truly add value.
