Strategic Design Programs
Built on a foundation of RISD’s rich design practice, CfC Strategic Design Programs (SDP) is an experiential walled-garden for anyone interested in developing strategic design and innovation skills.
SDP experiences invite material experimentation and a departure from the status quo without following a formula. Participatory workshops are the core SDP modality, as the studio environment enables practices and thinking that can’t thrive in the conference room.
While design thinking has failed to deliver on its promise, the role of design in innovation is open to new interpretations as a field of expertise. This comes from the reality of change as a constant, and a decline in value of business and technology expertise as the only guiding force of change. Our partnerships co-create these new definitions, exceeding the initial promise of design thinking by orders of magnitude.
Our partners use the word innovation every day in response to the immediate demands of the market and believe there is room in business-as-usual work to cultivate a deeper understanding and practice of innovation from the field of design.
The SDP meets our workshop participants where they are, then pushes forward to help people, and the products and services they create, be more innovative.
In order to deliver the greatest possible transformational impact design practice can offer, we typically focus on developing three opportunity spaces for our partners:
- workforce development
- products and services for clients and the market
- thought leadership
While staying true to the RISD tradition of establishing foundational techniques for creative learners, we shift from a supportive role to an active one in order to meet the urgency of business. When communication between stakeholders leaves creatives with limited insights upon which to build their proposals, we can take on the responsibilities of creative director to bring pitches to a client-ready state. For projects that are already in the pipeline, we lead production sprints that minimize the likelihood that a project goes over budget in fixes and client reviews.
We specialize in remote workshops that are cost effective and induce global collaboration between individuals with different contextual insights. Our more intimate in-person experiences are highly immersive and engaging, leave a lasting impression, and create deeper relationships.
workshops for medium sized organizations
The Agency Program
Workshop participants are asked to work individually in a virtual studio environment to complete a series of exercise varying in duration from 30 minutes to a few hours. They then are assigned two design briefs to apply the techniques they learned during those exercises. RISD staff facilitate and provide real time creative direction during studio time and office hours with participants.
Thinking x Design
We talked to dozens of technologists and business development experts to identify gaps in current practice to build our Thinking x Design Program format. Participants practice concepts from the expanded field of design that can help scaffold success. They then are assigned one design brief to apply the techniques they learned during those exercises. RISD staff facilitate and provide real time creative direction during studio time and office hours with participants.
workforce development ecosystems for large organizations
SDP Stacked credentials
This customized model is build on RISD LMS and contains carefully selected badges and certificates that closes the gap on your workforce’s creative and innovation skills. Drawing on the wide practice of strategic design, we offer activities to advance design research to futuring, and everything in between. Once a foundational cohort has earned their first certificates, we creative direct teams to complete design briefs that reflect the real world needs of your organization.
