• Hands-on workshop
  • Available on demand

Design thinking in urban spaces

This course will help you understand the design process through hands-on activities in public spaces. How does the signage in a nearby public space in your city look like? What insights can you gather to design the simplest solution to the problem you’ve recognised? How can you test it and refine it?

If you’re interested in design, urban spaces, or problem solving, you will find this course highly engaging and relevant.

No design background required.

Brief

If you’re interested in learning design, it’s vital to understand the design process. It isn’t often clear cut as textbook drawings will have you believe, instead it often involves messiness, asking the right questions, and lots of iteration.

Format

This course will involve a combination of field work and online interaction. Please note that you can participate in the course from the comfort of your city.

You will be assigned to a group of 3 or 4, based on proximity. You will work collaboratively on the field work. Your group will present your field work to the instructor for feedback and guidance, via a video call.

Overview

Session 1

  • 2 PM – 2:30 PM: Introductions with group members
  • 2:30 PM – 3:30 PM: Introduction to design thinking
  • 4 PM – 7 PM: Field work

Session 2

  • 2 PM – 4 PM: Discussion and feedback session

Session 3

  • 10 AM – 1 PM: Field work
  • 2 PM – 4 PM: Feedback and conclusion

What you'll take away

In this class, you will:

  • Get hands-on experience with the foundations of design thinking
  • Refine your ideas through iteration and user feedback
  • Apply the design process in a physical environment
  • Develop universal design solutions that work for everyone involved
  • Design with constraints

Facilitator

Arun Ganesh

Arun has been trying to understand planet earth by walking, observing and drawing maps since childhood.

A graduate of the National Institute of Design, he is currently a digital cartographer at Mapbox.

Why ownpath

Live interaction

Interact with industry experts over video and text.

If you get stuck, need to know how well you’re doing, and where you can go next, we have you covered.

Personal feedback

On ownpath, you will learn by doing, with feedback from your facilitator.

With this feedback loop, your skills will grow much faster than learning alone.

Resources

The number of resources for learning any topic can be overwhelming.

On ownpath, you’ll be provided with highly curated and carefully produced guides that are specific and relevant to your learning needs.

Learn with peers

Working on projects with peers can be an enriching and enjoyable experience.

On ownpath, we’ll help you meet peers at nearby public spaces to collaborate on projects.

What learners are saying

Jayashree Raman

On Design thinking in urban spaces

The result was 4 completely different urban signs, that we designed, and most importantly, learned by doing.

Read more
Rajesh Bhat

On Introduction to typography

The course (on ownpath) led by application with an overview of design principles to start with and got into specifics progressively.

Read more
Aishwarya Naik

On Personal coaching

I recommend any aspiring designer to give this a shot.

Read more
Brahma Reddy Chilakala

On Personal coaching

As a full-time Software Developer, ownpath was a perfect learning opportunity for me.

Read more

FAQ

Why shouldn't I just use MOOCs?

MOOCs and ownpath solve different problems. MOOCs help with accessing high quality educational resources from some of the best universities and companies.

But, a MOOC isn’t sufficient to keep most of us motivated. Besides, how does one know how well they’ve understood something or how well they’re applying what they’ve learned?

ownpath is designed to help you learn by doing. We’ll not stop at the theory. We’ll establish a practice routine through which you can get direct feedback and guidance on your work from industry professionals.

Will I get a certificate?

We do not provide certificates at the moment. We do however strive to help you with something that is, in our view, far more valuable. Namely, concrete experience and industry connections.

Through assignments and projects, you’ll actually learn how to apply concepts and develop real-world experience; stuff you can feature on your portfolio.

Finally, by working with experienced professionals on ownpath, you’ll develop valuable connections that can unlock doors which would be much harder otherwise.

How about an existing personal mentoring service?

Existing mentoring services seem to have a very limited selection of topics. Also, they tend to cost about ~$500/month, very expensive for most people.

ownpath strives to be an accessible and affordable alternative to higher education. We intend to be inclusive of far more topics than design or data science. We believe that a lot of real world problems are interdisciplinary, and hence require diverse perspectives.

We also want to help you not just learn a specific skill such as design or machine learning, but the surrounding skillset too. Skills such as being able to communicate your ideas well and collaborating well with others, are necessary to be great at almost any job.

What if I don't like the experience at ownpath?

We’ll be heartbroken and we’ll do our best to address the concerns you may have.

If you’d like to drop out of a programme after one session, you can avail a full refund.

Who's behind this?

We are a private company (registration underway) founded by Shreyas Satish, and run by a growing team. Please feel free to get in touch with any questions you may have at contact@ownpath.xyz.

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Illustrations are courtesy Undraw.

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