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DesignShops: World-famous design sprints transforming individuals and creating design capacity

Born out of Jessica's Masters thesis at MIT, the DesignShop is Darte's proprietary "design sprint" format for learning and applying the design process to any "wicked problem". Stemming from an MIT hands-on approach to learning the fundamental principles of design, Jessica provided a customized experience to the audience and their challenges ahead and leverages the multitude of IDEO et. al design thinking resources so participants' learning is supported beyond the DesignShop. 

Service

Customer Discovery; Journey Maps; Impact Mapping; Product Roadmap;  Workshop Facilitation; International Clientele

Year

Est. 2014

Clients

MIT, 

Credit Suisse,

Boston Society of Architects, Koru Strategy, Beyond the Agency, 
Seven Arrows and Little Dolphins Academy, 

Estácio de Sa,

Gustavo Couto, 

Mingdao International High School, 

Hong Kong's Catalyst Education Lab, 

RisOn

The Process

For my Masters’ Thesis at MIT, I developed a methodology to optimize the transformation of novice designers in applying design thinking to prototype novel solutions in education. Over the course of a 2-day workshop, I took 100 participants from all over the world through the design process for the first time, and advised them on how to create the most telling prototypes to showcase how they were addressing user needs. I orchestrated an entire production that made participants feel catered for, energized, and hopeful about the future state of education. I knocked on doors to receive unparalleled support from leaders at MIT to the Secretary of Education of Massachusetts. I interviewed 14 experts in education for their perspectives on the true challenges and I trained 25 team facilitators to support their teams through the best team capacitation practices.

Our secret sauce is research-based and gosh darn delicious when you see us in action. Here are some favorite mantras:

  • topic definition increases engagement;

  • pre-game interviews are gold;

  • team design can be optimized;

  • keep mentors flat;

  • playtest daily;

  • show me in 3D. 

hands-on thinking

There's a method to our madness: to engage both brains—head and gut— and design from a comprehensive and fully informed center. Design solutions are ever-lasting when they are practical and intuitive, and we can tap into that place with you. Mindfulness + awareness + design = a better world, no doubt. 

from coach to quarterback

With Darte's background in design education at MIT, we are able to serve you in a number of roles. Darte can jump in as your:  

Instructor,

Facilitator,

Co-Designer,

Quarterback,

Teammate. 

DESIGN Principles

You will leave our design sprint with a foundation n the principles and mindsets, and with a set of design tools to take back to your every day. Building capacity through the Power of Design— that's awesome. 

Consulting

This isn't your father's consulting service. DesignShops serve us as a hands-on briefing into the problem. We'll roll-up our sleeves and make progress on your goals while unravelling the complexities before we co-design an informed path forward. Hands-on strategy design— we live in the future.

Knowing your market, doing your research

Our first DesignShop was an experiment in how to communicate the new innovation platforms Artiles was building for her thesis that would later go on the road all over the world and ultimately become the foundation for Darte Design. This wasn't going to be just any Professional Development Workshop, and we needed to make that clear to our users— some of them flying in from Brasil to attend! We conducted a series of video interviews of experts and of users within the education system and synthesized our design research into three main themes to work out during the weekend. This Trailer told our participants we were designing with them in mind, not taking their valuable time for granted. From the three topic videos that we synthesized (available at edudesignshop.mit.edu), participants were given the agency to rank their preferred theme for the week-long experiment.  

​

The Results

I facilitated the creation of 25 novel prototyped solutions in the education space. I created novel impact metrics to track their transformation by assessing their team prototypes and individual approaches to design-based problem-solving before and after the DesignShop. I optimized the hackathon format and created a shippable commodity that future recipients could benefit from. From this success, I was invited to international stages to bring design thinking, facilitate the creation of prototypes, and begin individual mindset transformations. 

TESTIMONIALS

“YOU MADE MAGIC HAPPEN HERE. HERE'S A MAGIC WAND SO YOU NEVER FORGET IT.”

PARTICIPANT FROM ORIGINAL MIT DESIGNSHOP

“THAT WAS THE BEST WORKSHOP I'VE EVER ATTENDED. HANDS DOWN. A FULL BODY YES.”

ELLEN LEANSE, CHIEF PEOPLE OFFICER, LUCIDWORKS

“ANYONE THAT MEETS JESSICA ARTILES CAN PROBABLY AGREE THAT HER INFECTIOUS ENERGY AND OPENNESS MAKE HER AN UNFORGETTABLE HUMAN BEING. SHE BRINGS THIS SAME ENERGY TO HER DESIGNSHOP SESSIONS. WHEN JESS LED OUR SESSION SHE MANAGED TO KEEP THE ENTIRE AUDIENCE ENGAGED AND CURIOUS THROUGHOUT, SOMETHING I’D NEVER WITNESSED BEFORE IN THAT ORGANIZATION. I FELT EMPOWERED TO CONTINUE MY JOURNEY IN DESIGN THINKING THROUGH EVERY DAY PRACTICES AFTER OUR SESSION, AND THOROUGHLY ENJOYED THE EXPERIENCE. THE TOOL I HAVE MOST OFTEN USED SINCE DESIGNSHOP IS SKETCH-NOTING, I AM GETTING MUCH MORE OUT OF MY NOTES THESE DAYS!”

CAROLINA BELMONTE / COGNITIVE & DIGITAL SERVICES, AVP OF INTERACTION DESIGN / GLOBAL FINANCIAL SERVICES ORGANIZATION

"TAKING A DESIGN THINKING WORKSHOP WITH DARTE WAS A TRULY ENJOYABLE EXPERIENCE. JESSICA PROVIDED GREAT GUIDANCE AND HELPED OUR TEAM DISTILL COMPLEX PROBLEMS INTO ACTIONABLE SOLUTIONS, WHICH IS PARTICULARLY USEFUL IN OUR CREATIVE INDUSTRY. WE APPRECIATED THE ATTENTION TO DETAIL AS SHE ADDRESSED ALL QUESTIONS THAT CAME UP DURING THE SESSION, ANSWERING THEM WITH CLARITY AND CONTEXT. WE NOW ACTIVELY LOOK FOR WAYS TO APPLY DESIGN THINKING INTO OUR PROCESSES AT THE AGENCY ON A DAILY BASIS."

DAVID VERJANO/ CREATIVE DIRECTOR / BEYOND THE AGENCY

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