Design-Thinking Bootcamp Kicks Off Capstone Course

We’ve approached the Digital Innovation Capstone a little differently this semester, spending more time on the front end learning about human-centered design and exploring IDEO’s Design Kit methods through simulations and practice before we form project teams. In recent semesters, we just dived in and applied these principles as we went along. I’m hoping students will gain a better understanding about how this approach to problem solving -- integrating the audience into the design process -- differs from a more traditional “build it and they will come” approach.

Student teams are just now forming and entering their inspiration phase so things can change, but subjects of interest include the student experience at Longhorns football games and how transfer students and other new Austinites can connect to our community in more culturally-grounded ways. One group is exploring how AI personalization works with media, and another is working with Texas Highways Magazine on a “road trips” newsletter project. Students will share more about these projects with you later in the semester.

So, some projects might not land with a media-related or adjacent solution, and that’s OK. Students are still exercising their journalistic skills: interviewing people, researching topics and communicating complex findings in ways multiple audience segments can understand.