In this presentation, Dean Victor Ermoli and Professor Kwela Hermanns of Savannah College of Art & Design (SCAD) along with Marty Gage and Spencer Murrell from Lextant will share how they collaborated to develop a certification in front-end design and user-experience research. In sharing this story with you, they hope to encourage more collaboration between design educators and design practitioners.

Their goal in the collaboration with Lextant was to ensure that students’ designs are grounded in what people desire; so that as designers, students can create meaningful experiences that have the potential to be successful in the marketplace. Through the certification, students are learning how to systematically approach the first step in the design thinking process: develop empathy. The Lextant approach to this first step centers on defining what people value, in a way that is actionable for design. The certification is supported by a practical guide to front-end design/user experience research, and includes a series of examples and videos devised for specific moments in the curriculum.