Design Thinking is changing the future of business

Companies are looking for employees with design thinking skills. In fact, listing “design thinking” as a preferred qualification has seen an increase of 219% on job postings in the last two years, according to the Design Management Institute. Now that the RDC is offering the unique opportunity to earn a Certificate in Design Thinking, your CSU degree can become more marketable.
How to earn the 12-credit Certificate
Start with IDEA 210 Intro to Design Thinking (AUCC3B) and add in a toolbox course concurrently if you’d like.
IDEA 210 provides the foundation for Design Thinking and gets you working on projects directly with businesses like Target, Habitat for Humanity, and the Food Bank for Larimer County. This earns you three credits toward the 12-credit Certificate.
Next, you get to choose from our ever-evolving array of toolbox courses. This gets you into our fabrication labs with opportunities to use everything from vinyl, 3D, and fabric printers, to CNC machines and laser cutters, to wood and metal equipment for making furniture.
Take three-four toolbox courses (or more! Where else will you gain access to all this amazing equipment!?) that vary from one-two credits.
To finish the certificate, you’ll need the capstone: IDEA 450 Design Thinking Collaborative. In this course, you’ll get the opportunity to apply all your learnings into an impressive project, like building a Tiny House, or working with the Department of Defense, or even getting to develop an app that’s already funded and supported.
Ready? Let’s get design thinking!