Courses & Resources

The Design Lab has been creating hands-on design and innovation courses, workshops, and programs at Harvard University for nearly a decade. We help students and our partners create more empowering products, services, and experiences for their users.

Design Lab Courses

Integrated design 

[HBS-5240] Leading advanced design projects requires the integration of multiple skill areas and ongoing learning about the best data-driven tools to guide development. This course is structured to provide a comprehensive education in all stages of the new product design process, from idea generation to concept development, detailed design and prototyping, testing and integrating data into design decisions. The emphasis is on the way that design teams must both generate and utilize data to make decisions under conditions of extreme uncertainty. A critical feature of modern technical design challenges is that the problem space and solution space are often poorly defined, and/or to a large extent unbounded. The course aims to provide students with rigorous analytical tools to deal with such uncertainties. More information >

Product and Experience Design for Desirability 

[SEAS ES22 / GSD SCI 6276] Product and Experience Design for Desirability is a Harvard University course cross-listed in the engineering and design schools, and open to students from all schools. It appeals to those interested in designing products and services that are desirable. In today’s competitive landscape, products and services that connect with human meaning, usability, and emotions are more likely to be successful. Designing for desirability begins with questions of what we mean by ‘desirable’ and ‘for whom’. It can mean irresistible, delightful, meaningful, cool, covetable, viral, easy, and more. The class explores different meanings of desirability in design. More information >

Innovators’ Practice:  Finding Building and Leading Good Ideas With Diverse Others

[SEAS ENG-SCI 21 / GSD SCI6271] Innovators’ Practice course was created by Altringer at SEAS in 2011 and has been described as “Harvard’s real-world obstacle course for practicing innovation“. Student teams from the first two years of the class have won awards, including the Dean’s 100K Cultural Entrepreneurship Challenge and various funded fellowships to continue developing their ideas beyond the classroom.  Think of it as a startup obstacle course – You will experience the most common product and team challenges that early stage startups face, learn how researchers analyze these issues, discover how top companies deal with them, and apply these lessons in real time to your own project. The Innovators’ Practice is a hands-on course on idea creation & development based on a deep understanding of human and organizational behavior. The class itself is created as an organization designed to support multiple teams. Students learn to make rapid progress on their projects, as well as to contribute to the success of the broader organization. Limited enrollment for undergraduates (SEAS: ENG-SCI 21) and graduates (GSD: SCI627100). More information >

Human-centered Algorithms Design

HCAD was a one-time course at SEAS that evolved out of our algorithm research group —  ai-kitchen. Due to growing demand in 2016, the ai-kitchen discussion group expanded, becoming a course on Human Centered Algorithm Design designed and taught by Altringer at SEAS in Fall 2017. The team later worked with other groups at Harvard, MIT, and beyond that are better-positioned to take the conversation much further, namely, the BKC-MIT AI Initiative. *NEW* We recommend the syllabus that has developed out of the initiative’s work here. 

Online courses 

Our team has compiled  top-rated online courses from multiple platforms in design, innovation & entrepreneurship as part of our Nested Learning Collective COVID-19 educational community relief initiative. Explore the full list of courses in virtually every subject here. 

Courses at Harvard of Interest to Design Lab Members