Design thinking is not about making beautiful things. It is about making things that change how people think, feel, and act.
DGN-3 represents the transition from academic exercise to professional practice. Where DGN-1 built foundations and DGN-2 explored client contexts, this course demands design thinking as methodology — systematic, evidence-based, and critically reflective.
Three assignments form a deliberate arc: two phases of YMCA client work establish rigour and accountability, while an independent art series reclaims the personal voice. Together they prove that commercial discipline and creative authenticity are not opposites — they are the same muscle, trained differently.
A two-phase engagement with YMCA exploring design thinking methodologies in a real organisational context. From strategic analysis to deliverable execution, this partnership tests every principle taught across three courses.
Formal Analysis & Strategic Foundation
Comprehensive case study analysing YMCA's design challenges, user experience patterns, and organisational needs. This phase establishes the strategic foundation for client interventions through research, stakeholder mapping, and design thinking frameworks.
View Case StudyDesign Solutions & Implementation
Full-service client project delivering design solutions for YMCA — implementing strategic recommendations from AG-1 with measurable outcomes, professional deliverables, and documented design decisions.
View DeliverablesThis is not a sketchbook. AG-3 is an art series in its own right — a conceptual exploration of design practice through personal voice, experimental form, and meta-commentary on the discipline itself. Where AG-1 and AG-2 demand professional restraint, AG-3 demands creative courage.
Personal Voice & Design Discourse
Gallery-quality presentation of conceptual design explorations. Each piece operates as both artifact and argument — a visual essay on what design means, what it costs, and what it gives back. Personal voice elevated to primary work status.
Enter the SeriesDesign Case Study on Urban Transit
A comprehensive design case study documenting ghost spaces at Britain's busiest station. Five personas. Six design interventions. How optimisation creates invisible spaces, and the design thinking methodology to reclaim humanity in transit.
View Case StudyStakeholder research, user interviews, contextual inquiry
Problem framing, insight synthesis, design brief
Divergent exploration, concept generation, critical selection
Rapid iteration, fidelity progression, user testing
Professional handoff, documentation, impact measurement