How the credential is earned
Candidates show what they can do through real project work and four complementary assessments. Trained industry evaluators look at all of the evidence together before a credential is awarded.
Four performance standards
Every candidate is evaluated against the same four standards.
| Performance standard | What candidates demonstrate |
|---|---|
| 1. Human-Centered Problem Framing | Identify meaningful challenges, understand the people affected, synthesize research, and define or reframe problems based on evidence. |
| 2. Creative & Iterative Solution Development | Generate and select ideas, create prototypes, incorporate feedback, iterate, and evaluate potential solutions. |
| 3. Professional Communication & Application | Communicate their work clearly, explain decisions and trade-offs, reflect on learning, and articulate how their skills transfer to professional settings. |
| 4. Responsible & Effective Use of AI | Show sound judgment about when and how to use AI, critically evaluate outputs, recognize limitations, and explain the role of human decision-making. |
Ten competencies
Your project portfolio is reviewed against ten applied competencies, grouped under the four standards. Three are critical competencies, which evaluators look at especially closely.
| # | Competency | What it looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Standard 1 · Human-Centered Problem Framing | ||
| 1 | Framing the Challenge | Describe a real challenge, its context and the people affected, without jumping to a solution. |
| 2 | Understanding People Critical | Use research or observation to learn about people's needs, experiences and perspectives. |
| 3 | Making Sense of What You Learned | Turn research into meaningful insights and patterns, not just raw notes. |
| 4 | Reframing the Problem | Show how what you learned shaped or changed the problem you're solving. |
| Standard 2 · Creative & Iterative Solution Development | ||
| 5 | Generating & Selecting Ideas | Explore several directions and explain how you chose or combined ideas. |
| 6 | Prototyping & Learning Through Making | Build prototypes that help you explore an idea or answer a question. |
| 7 | User Testing & Iteration Critical | Gather feedback, learn from it, and use it to improve your solution. |
| 8 | Evaluating & Evolving the Solution | Weigh trade-offs and limitations, and propose evidence-based next steps. |
| Standard 3 · Professional Communication & Application | ||
| 9 | Communicating the Work | Explain your challenge, insights, decisions and learning clearly for your audience. |
| Standard 4 · Responsible & Effective Use of AI | ||
| 10 | Responsible Use of AI Critical | Show where and why you used AI, or chose not to, and how your own judgment shaped the results. |
Four assessment components
Each component gives evaluators a different kind of evidence. Together they show whether you've met all four standards.
Portfolio
Document how you applied design thinking to a real-world challenge. Your portfolio can include written explanations, research notes, sketches, photos, prototype documentation, testing results and presentations.
Role: the main evidence of your applied skills, reviewed against the ten competencies.
Knowledge Check
26 questions, 16 multiple-choice and 10 short-answer, taking about 45–60 minutes. They cover human-centered foundations, the design thinking process, creative problem-solving mindsets, workplace application and responsible AI use.
Role: you need at least 80% on the multiple-choice section. Short answers add supporting evidence.
Professional Articulation
A 3–5 minute recorded explanation of your project: the challenge, key insights, decisions, feedback and iterations, what you learned, and how your skills apply to future work.
Role: required, and adds evidence for clear professional communication. It's about your reasoning, not presentation polish.
AI Reflection
Four short written responses about how you approached AI: where you used it or chose not to, its benefits and limitations, and how your own judgment guided your decisions.
Role: required, with its own passing requirement.
How the credential is awarded
Scores from the different components aren't simply added together. Evaluators look at the quality and consistency of evidence across all four components to decide whether each standard has been met.
To earn the credential, a candidate must:
- Demonstrate all four performance standards
- Meet the Knowledge Check multiple-choice requirement
- Pass the AI Reflection
✅ Credential awarded
All four standards demonstrated and all requirements met.
🔁 Additional evidence required
One or more areas aren't fully demonstrated yet. Gaps can be addressed with targeted additional evidence or a reassessment.
⏳ Not yet awarded
Requirements still aren't met after review and reassessment opportunities.
Who evaluates your work
Credential decisions are made by trained evaluators with relevant industry expertise, using defined standards and scoring guidance together with their professional judgment.
Evaluators complete an orientation and calibration sessions, practising on real submissions, so that everyone applies the criteria the same way. Portfolios are scored independently, and differences between evaluators are reviewed and discussed.
What evaluators do and don't look for
- They look for your understanding, reasoning and judgment.
- They don't reward the amount or sophistication of AI use.
- They don't penalize speaking style, accent, confidence, recording quality, visual polish or imperfect grammar.
Ready to start?
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