Apply Behavioral Science to the Design Sprint process using the Make it Toolkit
✨ Course Overview
Apply Behavioral Science to Your Design Sprints with the Make It Toolkit
Most design sprints focus on features. This course goes deeper 🔍.
You’ll learn a proven step-by-step process for running a Behavioral Design Sprint—combining behavioral science 🧠 with the Make It Toolkit 🛠️ and GenAI-powered methods 🤖 (always with Human in the Loop 👤).
By the end, you’ll know how to:
🎯 Translate business challenges into behavioral challenge statements
🗺️ Map user journeys through the lens of the Five Laws of Behavior
🧩 Spot and prioritize hidden barriers to progress
💡 Generate behavioral design interventions that actually change behavior
📐 Prototype solution concepts through sketches, storyboards, journey maps, and simple mockups — turning ideas into tangible, testable outputs
You’ll work on real case studies (🏥 healthcare, 🎓 education, 💰 financial services) so you can practice applying these tools in contexts that matter.
⚡ This isn’t theory. It’s a hands-on, case study–driven experience designed to help you uncover hidden barriers, generate stronger solutions, and leave with validated hypotheses ready for prototyping.
👉 Reserve Your Spot Today – Limited Seats Available
What you’ll learn
Master GenAI-powered human-centered design process using the Make it Toolkit for behavioral-informed product and service design.
Turn vague business problems into sharp behavioral challenge statements that direct the entire sprint.
Define precise target behaviors—what you need users to start, stop, increase, or decrease.
Apply the Five Laws of Behavior to uncover friction, hidden barriers, motivations, and abilities.
Identify exactly where users struggle or succeed across the journey so you know where to intervene.
Use the 15 Make It Strategies and Tactics to brainstorm behaviorally informed solution ideas.
Spot trade-offs and combinations that strengthen interventions and improve behavioral impact.
Link design decisions to measurable behavioral outcomes using a clear hypothesis structure.
Create testable explanations of how and why your intervention should influence user behavior.
Translate behavioral insights into sketches, storyboards, journey maps, or simple mockups.
Turn abstract ideas into tangible, testable outputs ready for iteration in a sprint environment.
Learn where GenAI accelerates ideation and behavioral scenario generation inside a sprint.
Gain confidence in using AI responsibly—knowing when human judgment and expertise must guide decisions.
Who this course is for
Design Sprint facilitators looking to better align teams on more focused customer outcomes via a behavioral challenge statement.
Product managers wanting to make sure the products and services they design are behavioral informed and more likely to succeed.
Designers wanting to have better context around the users they are designing for and the specific behaviors that need to be influenced.
What's included
Live sessions
Learn directly from John Gusiff & Mahnaz Hajesmaeili in a real-time, interactive format.
Lifetime access
Go back to course content and recordings whenever you need to.
Community of peers
Stay accountable and share insights with like-minded professionals.
Certificate of completion
Share your new skills with your employer or on LinkedIn.
Maven Guarantee
This course is backed by the Maven Guarantee. Students are eligible for a full refund up until the halfway point of the course.
Course syllabus
5 live sessions • 41 lessons
Week 1
Jan
13
Session 1: The Behavioral Design Sprint (Formulating Challenge Statement)
Make It Toolkit Behavioral Design Sprint
The Behavioral Challenge Statement
The Make it Toolkit (An Overview)
The Five Laws of Behavior
Key Differences between Traditional and Behavioral Journey Mapping
Overview of Case Studies (Select One)
Five Core Components of a Behavioral Journey Map
User Task Analysis for Behavioral Design
Group Exercise: Behavioral Journey Mapping and User Task Analysis
Identifying Prompts (Internal and External)
Group Exercise: Identifying Prompts associated with the Behavioral Journey
Jan
15
Session 2: Map the Behavioral User Journey (Prioritized Opportunity Points)
Consequences of Behavior
Group Exercise: Identifying Consequences associated with the Behavioral Journey
Make it Toolkit Barriers to Progress
Group Exercise: Identifying Barriers associated with the Behavioral Journey
Opportunity Points
Group Exercise: Identify Opportunity Points for Design Interventions
RICE Prioritization of Opportunity Points
Group Exercise: RICE Prioritization of Opportunity Points
Homework Assignment: Behavioral Strategy Canvas
Week 2
Jan
20
Session 3: Brainstorm Ideas and Design Interventions (Behavioral Design Hypothesis)
Make It Toolkit 15 Core Strategies
Group Exercise: Ideation leveraging the 15 core Make It Strategies
Group Discussion: Removing Layers of the Behavioral Journey Map
Combos and Tradeoffs Process for Idea Refinement
The Behavioral Design Hypothesis
Group Exercise Formulate Behavioral Design Hypothesis
Jan
22
Session 4: Sketch Solution Concepts and Visualize Experiences
Overview of Design Methods and Fidelity
Solution Concept Sketching
Storyboarding and Journey Mapping
GenAI Prototyping of Solution Concepts
Reflecting on your Behavioral Design Hypothesis
Free lesson
Instantly Improve Any Product with Behavioral Design
Get an Exclusive Overview of the Make It Toolkit
Understand the behavioral science behind the toolkit and why it’s a game-changer for designing impactful products.
Identify and Overcome Behavioral Barriers
Learn how to conduct a rapid audit to uncover psychological barriers to optimal decision-making and behavior.
Practical Examples of the 15 Make It Strategies in Action
See how behavioral design strategies can transform products—making them easier, more engaging, and more immersive.
Schedule
Live sessions
10 hrs
Five LIVE cohort sessions; group exercises and discussions; all assignments performed during live sessions.
Tue, Jan 13
7:00 PM—9:00 PM (UTC)
Thu, Jan 15
7:00 PM—9:00 PM (UTC)
Tue, Jan 20
7:00 PM—9:00 PM (UTC)
Projects
4 hrs
Final project assignment selecting specific design interventions to ideate around, then AI prototyping exercise to visualize Make it Toolkit behavior-informed solution concept.
Async content
2 hrs
Articles and videos supporting the course curriculum.
Frequently asked questions
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$950
USD