PORTLAND DESIGN THINKERS (PDT) IS A COMMUNITY OF CREATIVE PROBLEM SOLVERS ADVANCING HUMAN-CENTERED DESIGN LITERACY THROUGH HIGH-QUALITY EVENTS, LIVELY CONVERSATION, AND PRACTICE-BASED DEVELOPMENT.

Portland design thinkers

OUR FOCUS

COMMUNITY

EDUCATION

GROWTH

We hope to enrich and complement the design thinking community, through knowledge sharing, outreach, and partnership. Although we are based in the PNW, we are a global community.

We are devoted to teaching and exploring topics related to design thinking and creative problem solving for both individuals and entire organizations.

We want to help others on their journey to grow their careers, expand their networks, and accelerate new opportunities.

WE ARE MORE THAN JUST MEETUP EVENTS.

Typically, we meet monthly, mostly virtually, and occasionally in person. Our monthly meetings, announced through MeetUp, may be webinar-style, or interactive and focus on some topic of interest to our community.

You can find information about our upcoming events as well as links to recordings of past events here on our website.

We have an active, Slack workspace – it is a thriving online discussion space for all things design thinking. Please join us there!

We also have a private LinkedIn group to stay connected and continue the community conversations.

We're made up of all kinds of people: practitioners who use human-centered design methods and mindsets every day, designers and researchers, design strategists, Agile scrum leaders, urban planners, and many more who use or appreciate Design Thinking.

One way to define design thinking is that it is a mindset, approach, and set of tools and techniques for problem-solving and innovation anchored around human-centered design. Design thinking is different from other innovation and ideation processes in that it’s solution-based and user-centric rather than problem-based. This means it focuses on the solution to a problem instead of the problem itself. Design thinking is the essential ability to combine empathy, creativity, and rationality to meet human needs and drive business success.

PDT is a volunteer-run organization. We rely on sponsors and donations to help us offset the costs of providing free events and content for the community. If you or your organization are interested in sponsorship opportunities, please contact Deb Mrazek (dmrazek@curiate.co).

Join us today

Sign up for your free membership to stay informed about our upcoming events, including exclusive in-person gatherings. We’ll keep you in the loop with infrequent emails, about once a month, so you won’t miss out on what’s happening in our community.