Becoming a Certified Design Futurist Is a Game Changer

This article originally appeared in the August 25 issue of officeinsight.

None of us have a crystal ball, but IIDA is equipping design professionals with research-backed strategies to identify and prepare for what’s ahead. How? Through IIDA’s Certified Design Futurist (CDF) program, a first-of-its-kind certification course that’s now open for registration.

Taught by Mark Bryan, IIDA, a Senior Foresight Manager at the Future Today Strategy Group (FTSG) and IIDA’s Futurist-in-Residence, the 10-week certification course teaches design professionals how to practice strategic foresight, a rigorous, evidence-based approach to identifying signals that can help you clarify how people, clients, businesses, and users will behave in the next 5, 10, 15, and 20 years.

The course is built on the methods of noted quantitative futurist Amy Webb, Founder and CEO of FTSG, and candidates who complete the course learn to apply foresight practices to real-world scenarios, exiting the program with a powerful new skill set that adds significant value to firms and clients. Upon completion, participants can use the “CDF” (Certified Design Futurist) appellation.

For those curious about what the program entails, IIDA is bringing you voices from the CDF beta cohort. Below, you’ll hear from Abby Scott, FIIDA, CDF, Director of Interiors at HDR and a member of IIDA’s International Board of Directors.

I have had the pleasure of hearing Mark Bryan speak quite a few times, so I was excited when the program came to life. I also follow Amy Webb’s work and watched her recent South by Southwest talk. I was eager to understand exactly how they tackle the future and bring that to my own work.

One thing that surprised me was the problem-solving and knowledge-sharing that occurred within my cohort; hearing their unique perspectives, specialties, backgrounds, and interests was invigorating. There were 12 of us in the beta group, and even though we each had individual projects, we were constantly bouncing ideas off one another, sharing fascinating and valuable research, and operating like a team. We often shared ideas that could be immediately implemented in our everyday work — for instance, someone might bring something up, and another designer would say, “oh my gosh, I have a project this is perfect for” or “I have a client that’s navigating a similar scenario.” That part was excellent; we felt very connected by the end of the cohort. We’re a tight-knit group now.

Even beyond the camaraderie, the CDF program changed the way I approach design. Sometimes we lean on what we know, or what has worked in the past, and this course prompts you to think differently, collaborate with design professionals across disciplines, and apply foresight to real-world contexts. It helps you think through how you’re visioning with your clients and teaches you to ask hard questions to get them to see with fresh eyes. That was a huge takeaway for me: CDF helped me add new techniques to my repertoire.

As designers, we have so much power to influence clients, projects, and society — from specification to sustainability to human experience. And there’s so much research and data out there; this course teaches you how to find that information, analyze it, and put it to use. Each CDF participant has their own project that they work on throughout the course. I specifically explored waiting (something I despise), which evolved specifically into waiting rooms. Nobody likes to wait. Humans are impatient. My research was guided by this question: In a healthcare context, what if you didn’t have to wait? What if you didn’t have to spend time looking for healthcare specialists, and instead suitable options were presented to you immediately? What if a self-driving car picked you up and dropped you off at the precise time of your appointment?

Again, a great thing about the program is that you’re in conversation with other members of your cohort. Everyone has a different take. Someone else in my group considered the idea of waiting through a socioeconomic lens — some people can’t sit in a waiting room because they can’t miss work, or they can’t get there because they don’t have access to transportation. We took broad ideas and concepts and drilled down into specifics, then thought through how to help clients navigate similar scenarios now and in the future.

The CDF course is worthwhile for design professionals from all backgrounds and levels, whether you’re a few years into your design career or several decades in. Digging into the research, doing the homework, and working with Mark expands your mind. You might think you know how to harness strategic foresight, but you have no idea. Foresight has so many applications, from project work to improving the internal processes of your own firm or company. It can promote operational, technical, and design excellence.

Finally, it’s fun to be a student again. It takes you out of your comfort zone, and as a result, you grow. The coursework is fantastic — it’s so intriguing, it taps into your curiosity. When you submit an assignment, you have to wait for Mark to grade it before you move on to the next one. I would submit work and think, oh, I hope he grades this tonight. I always wanted to know more. I wanted to know what was next. And it wasn’t just me. Members of my cohort would message each other, “have you unlocked the next assignment yet?”

Learn more about IIDA's first-of-its-kind Certified Design Futurist program

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