Certified Design Futurist

The future is in our DNA

The IIDA Design Futurist Certification (CDF) Course

Designers have always relied on their ability to create for the needs of the future. But what if you had the knowledge and skill to accurately foresee what’s coming next and map a path to success—for yourself, your firm, and your clients?

IIDA’s Certified Design Futurist (CDF) program is built on the methods of noted quantitative futurist Amy Webb, Founder and CEO of the Future Today Institute (FTI), who was commissioned by IIDA to create a brand-new curriculum, specifically for designers and the design industry.

Working directly with FTI leader and IIDA’s Futurist-in-Residence, Mark Bryan, IIDA, Certified Design Futurist, candidates will learn and apply research-based foresight practices to real-world scenarios, and exit the program with new, industry-leading capabilities that add significant value to firms and clients.

You could be among the first to become a Certified Design Futurist, CDF.

Find out more about how to start designing your future.

IIDA has been at the forefront of providing the ideas, skills, and knowledge for strategic foresight. Explore our videos and articles below.

Learn more

Watch

Visions for the Future: Conversations About What Comes Next | Season four of IIDA’s Collective Design webinar series explores the innovation changing our lives, the design thinking we all need now, and today’s pressing issues, from equity and justice to sustainability.

How To Think and Work Like a Futurist, Starting Now | In a conversation with IIDA EVP and CEO Cheryl Durst, Hon. FIIDA, and IIDA Futurist-in-Residence, Mark Bryan, dives into the careful methodology behind foresight and how it can help us shape the future we want to see.

The Big Picture: Building Empathy to Design for the Future | A conversation between Cheryl Durst and Mark Bryan about the ecosystem of design ,rapid changes in our world, expanding who we design for, and being a design futurist.

Read

Strategic Foresight: What It Is, Why It’s Important, and How to Harness It in Your Work | In a conversation with Cheryl Durst and Mark Bryan, we dive into the careful methodology behind foresight and how it can help us shape the future we want to see.

The Car Has a Face: BMW Is Crafting Vehicles with a Human Feel | BMW Designworks is exploring advanced technology to create results that are profoundly human—and elicit human emotions.

The New Face of Design: Creating for Humanity in a Tech-Enabled Future | The 2024 IIDA Industry Roundtable Report explores the benefits and hindrances of AI, big ideas to advance sustainability, and how to build strong relationships between designers and manufacturers, among other topics.

"IIDA Maps out the Future of Work" | Covid changed everything. Here are three key takeaways from 2023’s IIDA Industry Roundtable on how to design for the post-pandemic employee.

What Will Work Look Like in the Next Decade? | The summer 2023 issue of IIDA’s Perspective magazine is focused on this question. “The old roadmap is out the window,” writes Cheryl Durst, “but the trip has gotten a lot more interesting.”

Sustainable Practices: What You Can Do Now, and What Lies Ahead | This issue of Perspective explores the critical topic of sustainable design practices, taking a closer look at how sustainability intersects with equity, education, and our collective future.

The Female Future of Design | Women are at the center of this issue of Perspective—women leaders, entrepreneurs, and mentors shaping the built environment, the way we think about design, and the next generation of designers.