CSMC-N100 - Human-Centred Design Certificate
Course Description
New Certificate
Early Bird Price Now On – 15% Off
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14-weeks, online, asynchronous
Join this immersive course and gain the skills to design meaningful, user-centred solutions. By the end of 14-weeks, you’ll walk away with a polished design project, a deep understanding of HCD, and a portfolio-ready case study.
Human-centred design (HCD) is a creative problem-solving approach that places people at the centre of the design process. When we deeply understand the people we are solving for, the solutions or interventions we create are more relevant, caring, and impactful. This online certificate explores the five stages of the HCD process. Each week, you will be introduced to key concepts, methods, and mindsets within each phase. You will then apply the learnings to a challenge of your choosing.
Stage 1: Empathize
Build an understanding of empathy for the community/people you are solving for. Explore key methods and mindsets that are used to uncover social insight and deeply understand people’s needs, desires, and contexts. Examples of methods include interviews, observations, and empathy maps.
Stage 2: Define
Define the human-centred problem you are looking to solve based on deep empathy. Explore key mapping and visual techniques that can help you map the challenge or problem space and get to the root of the problem. Techniques such as affinity diagrams and journey maps will be introduced.
Stage 3: Ideate
Generate a wide variety of innovative ideas to solve the identified human-centred problems. Get inspired to think beyond what exists and identify spaces for innovation. You will use brainstorm sessions, mind maps, and SCAMPER to generate ideas.
Stage 4 + 5: Prototype and Test
Prioritize the best way to solve the human-centred problem. Create prototypes of the selected ideas and iteratively test the designed solutions with people to gather feedback and refine the solution. Prototyping tools such as sketching, storyboarding, and low-fidelity models will be utilized.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
- Successfully gained an understanding of key HCD methods and mindsets.
- Completed a HCD project (based on a challenge of your choosing) utilizing at least four HCD techniques moving through the four key phases of the process.
WHAT TO EXPECT
You can expect 5-6 hours of work per week, including:
- Foundational content (video, podcasts, textual materials) on the key methods and mindsets within HCD. Interactive hands-on activities will be demonstrated via the course videos. Real-world applications will be emphasized to enhance learning.
- HCD activity in which you will apply the weekly learnings to a challenge of your choosing. Examples of challenges explored in the past include designing a community space, improving a service, or creating an educational tool.
- Weekly optional meetings with the instructors to ask questions and share with your peers.
- Six presentations and Q+A with guest HCD practitioners.
WHAT WILL YOU GAIN?
- Hands-on experience applying the HCD process to real-world challenges.
- A completed Project Book showcasing your design process, prototypes, and insights.
- Skills in user research, prototyping, usability testing, and inclusive design.
IS THIS FOR YOU?
- UX/UI designers, service designers, product managers, and researchers.
- Entrepreneurs and professionals looking to integrate HCD into your work.
- Anyone interested in designing impactful, user-centred solutions.
WHAT SETS THIS CERTIFICATE APART?
- Project-Based Learning: Work on your own design project from start to finish.
- Hands-On Prototyping + Testing: Learn by making, testing, and iterating.
- Inclusive + Ethical Design: Focus on accessibility, sustainability, and responsible innovation.
- Industry-Relevant Tools + Methods: Exposure to co-design, and usability heuristics.
ABOUT THIS CERTIFICATE
- Online, asynchronous, 14-week certificate. Study at your own pace from anywhere.
- Small class sizes with dedicated instructors. Get timely and effective feedback and connect with your peers.
- Instructors assess the student's work and issue a grade of pass or fail. Students must receive a passing grade to qualify for the certificate. Students must complete and turn in all assigned materials and participate in online discussions.
- The certificate is awarded when students complete all requirements, it can be downloaded as a printable PDF.
- Certificate fee: $4,200. Early bird price starting in April – 15% off.
"For me, human-centred design is about a lot more than a set of tools or problem-solving. In its most radical articulation, it has the potential to shift worlds—to change how we see ourselves, to shift how we approach others, and, in doing so, open up space for more caring and dignified ways of being."
- Instructor, Nadine Hare
"Mastering Human-Centred Design isn’t about sudden genius—it’s about deliberate curiosity, continuous iteration, and deeply understanding the people we design for. Breakthroughs come not from luck, but from the persistence of learning and refining over time."
- Instructor, Renn Scott
Human-Centred Design Certificate with OCAD U School of Continuing Studies
Applies Towards the Following Certificates
- Human-Centred Design Certificate : Qualifying Course
