Design Thinking Course in Amsterdam

This week, I had the chance to join the Design Thinking Fundamentals Training at DesignThinkers Academy Amsterdam, and it was an inspiring, eye-opening experience.

participants

On the first day, I asked a question that had been on my mind: “How can we be inspired by nature and use it in problem-solving and within the Design Thinking process?”

On the second day, Vitas told me, “We’re going to use your question as a tool today.”

Hearing that made me genuinely happy. It felt like the whole experience suddenly clicked. I felt fully aligned with the training, realizing that this is exactly what I want: to feed my problem-solving process with creative, curious questions while also learning how to guide it professionally and intentionally.

As someone who often sees the whole picture and gets lost in it, Joey’s quote hit me perfectly:

“Devils in the detail.”

We explored the growing challenge of overtourism in Amsterdam, a problem many global cities are now facing. The training pushed us to look beyond obvious solutions and dive into the human side of the issue: motivations, frustrations, and the deeper needs behind stakeholder behaviors.

A huge thank you to the DT team, Joey Piliero, and Vitas Kersbergen. And also to the wonderful group of participants for creating such an open, energetic, and collaborative environment. I’m walking away with a renewed appreciation for user-centric thinking, structured creativity, and the power of stepping outside your comfort zone.

Here’s to more bold ideas and to remembering that the "devil is in the details. "