Free Design Thinking Workshop Templates for Collaboration

Ever hosted a brainstorming session that felt more like a chaotic free-for-all than a productive workshop? Many teams struggle to turn creative ideas into actionable solutions due to a lack of structure and collaboration.

That’s where design thinking workshop templates come in. These pre-built frameworks help organizers guide teams through the design thinking process in a goal-oriented way. Think of it as your roadmap to innovative and collaborative problem-solving.

Whether you’re solving a customer pain point, improving a product, or reimagining a service, a solid template ensures every team member is aligned, engaged, and focused.

Let’s find out what design thinking workshop templates are, how to choose one, and the top templates you should explore to sketch out your design thinking workshop plan.

What Are Design Thinking Workshop Templates?

Design thinking workshop templates are pre-structured guides that help teams run collaborative, solution-focused sessions using the design thinking methodology. 

They break the process down into manageable steps, enabling teams to understand problems deeply, ideate effectively, and prototype with purpose.

Standard elements include:

• Empathy mapping: Understand user needs, emotions, and pain points to gain insight into their experience. Empathy mapping helps center the workshop around customer challenges
• Problem definition: Define the core issue you want to address. It helps you align the strategy in the right direction
• Ideation tools: Use structured prompts and creative exercises to generate ideas  and encourage innovation
• Prototyping section: Visualize and build simple, testable models. Prototyping brings vision to life and helps identify improvements
• Feedback loop: Gather insights through reviews and discussions to support refinement and improvements
• Timeboxes: Allot a specific time to each activity. This helps keep the team’s efforts focused and aligned

18 Free Design Thinking Workshop Template Examples for Innovation

Design thinking workshop templates keep the team focused, engaged, and productive, turning messy discussions into structured innovation.

Here are some of the best design thinking workshop template examples to help your team brainstorm creative ideas, solve real problems, and better understand customer needs:

1. Workshop Agenda Template

Hosting a successful design thinking workshop requires meticulous planning and organization of everything from goals and reference materials to attendees. 

The Workshop Agenda Template helps with a structured format, making it easier to plan an effective design thinking workshop agenda.

Plus, with ’s powerful suite of design tools tailored specifically for creative teams, you can enhance collaboration and boost overall creative productivity—all in one place. This way, your team can focus less on juggling logistics and more on delivering innovative, user-centered solutions.

Here’s why you’ll like it:

• List the relevant details about the workshop in a tabular format
• Visualize the timeline of the activities in the workshop with the Board View
• Mention the facilitator and attendees to notify them and keep the team informed
• Note if the meeting needs recording, and list key information sources
• Create a timeline with activities to be carried out, along with a brief explanation
• Track progress easily with notifications, task dependencies, automations, AI, and more

2. Virtual Workshop Registration Template

Seeking a structured way to manage workshop attendee details and plan effectively? The Virtual Workshop Registration Template streamlines planning and organization with customizable fields and a structured format.

It allows you to create customized workshop registration forms with questions such as participants’ questions, specific problems, and more, so you gather all the necessary details from every participant. 

With this template, you can also send post-workshop surveys and analyze the responses to identify areas of improvement and what went well.

Here’s why you’ll like it:

• Customize registration forms to capture specific details from participants
• Automatically send confirmation emails to all participants as they submit the form
• Organize attendee contact details and addresses in one place for easy reference
• Include the registration form details alongside the participant in the description tab
• Mention team questions alongside the list so nothing gets overlooked
• Categorize the form entries into new registrations, attending, and not attending

3. Workshop Application Form Template

The Workshop Application Form Template ensures consistency in the information collected from the workshop participants.

It allows you to create forms tailored to the event requirements, such as job title, work email, and any relevant ideas or questions they may have, ensuring that all required information is collected from team members. 

The details will be automatically filled in the appropriate fields, eliminating the need for manual work and errors.

Such an application process based on the design thinking approach ensures that the right team of like-minded individuals is assembled for the brainstorming session.

Here’s why you’ll like it:

• Keep track of all applicants and their current status with the Attendee List View
• Categorize attendees by workshop phase, such as ideation, prototype, and more
• Collect details like the job title, company, and contact details of attendees with the Workshop Application Form View
• Track progress on discussed ideas with comment reactions, AI, and automation
• Mark applicant status as a new application, in review, payment, rejected, and approved

4. Training Framework Template

Planning, structuring, and managing design thinking workshops will never be complex with the Training Framework Template.

Once you’ve determined the objective of the design thinking workshop, the template helps you organize the material, team members, and workshop timeline seamlessly.

Track progress and evaluate effectiveness with recurring tasks, and plan the workshop timeline from brainstorming and ideation through execution and testing. 

Here’s why you’ll like it:

• Categorize each idea of the workshop based on the status, including To-do, In progress, Needs review, Active, and Complete
• Group the workshop material into file types, such as document and worksheet
• Assign the workshop tasks to your team members or send an invitation via email
• Attach the relevant materials for each activity to be carried out
• Organize and track progress on each training task with the Training List View

5. Trainer Notes Template

Maintain consistency in planning and organizing design thinking workshops with the Trainer Notes Template. With dedicated sections for every activity and a timeline of the workshop, the template ensures that all the necessary details are in one place, so nothing gets missed.

Add custom attributes to manage your training notes and easily visualize progress in each training session. Additionally, incorporating images and icons enhances the document’s visual appeal and maintains crisp formatting.

Here’s why you’ll like it:

• List activities from ideation to testing, along with a brief description and duration
• Lay out the objectives, conclusion, and summary of the workshop for quick reference
• Organize and visualize the different topics you’ll be covering using the Board View
• Include workshop learnings and how they helped improve the product
• Give productive feedback to the organizers and facilitators for improvement

6. Design Ideation Template

Ensuring that the product idea aligns with every team member is essential to ensure seamless collaboration and working. The Design Ideation Template facilitates collaborative brainstorming and idea structuring among your team.

Collaborate with team members to brainstorm ideas and create content using this whiteboard template. The template ensures effective ideation, from concept generation to narrowing down ideas to achieve the desired outcome. 

Set the estimates for the timeline, and use automation to ensure every activity is completed on time.

Here’s why you’ll like it:

• Categorize the ideas as product, process, and people, and mention the idea owner
• Visually chart out the different aspects of your design using the Design Ideation Diagram View
• Organize ideas using sticky notes and color-code by category for easy navigation
• Use connectors and flowcharts to map processes and relationships between ideas
• Add images and website cards to provide context for the ideas
• Turn selected ideas into tasks and assign them to the team

7. Squad Brainstorm Template

Experiencing chaos, confusion, and a lot of back and forth when organizing design thinking workshops? Consider the Squad Brainstorm Template, which is designed to remove complexity and make team collaboration seamless.

The template’s whiteboard format makes it simple for the team to present as many ideas as they can think of and brainstorm them with their teammates. 

With sticky notes, images, website cards, shapes, and text boxes, you get to create categories for every idea. Additionally, color-coded boxes and notes facilitate navigation, and connectors simplify the definition of relationships.

Here’s why you’ll like it:

• Use the Team Work Canvas View to collaborate with your squad and brainstorm ideas
• Convert ideas into tasks to ensure timely completion
• Add subtasks and checklists with dependencies for a smooth workflow
• Assign tasks to team members and set deadlines to keep everything in check
• Embed tools like Google Sheets, Docs, Figma, and websites for error-free data access

8. Empathy Map Whiteboard Template

Understanding customer needs and aligning ideas and processes can be complicated, but not with an organized format like the Empathy Map Whiteboard Template.

The template helps teams brainstorm customer pain points and categorize them for seamless analysis. Additionally, use sticky notes and text boxes to add all relevant information and customer experience research. 

Plan the questions to be asked of the users, analyze patterns, and discuss ideas with the team to find the right solution, all in one place.

Here’s why you’ll like it:

• Create a customer profile from the questions asked and the trends analyzed
• List the responses and ideas in the Board View to identify patterns
• Categorize and add attributes to manage your customer insights and easily visualize customer data
• Generate solutions and turn them into tasks, so nothing is missed
• Set priority labels, assign tasks, and add comments for effective planning

9. User Persona Template

To develop innovative solutions, you must understand your ideal customer’s preferences, and the User Persona Template helps you build that ideal persona.

Whether launching a new product or trying to improve an existing one, the template makes it seamless to define customer needs.

Here’s why you’ll like it:

• List story, motivation, challenges, expectations, and other key customer details, and enhance them with an image
• Include supporting facts and information to identify solutions
• Build color-coded categories to make information easy to understand and refer to
• Brainstorm solutions and list responses alongside the persona
• Integrate task management to ensure ideas are effectively implemented

10. User Flow Template

Visualizing user flows is seamless with the User Flow Template. 

The template helps you understand how users interact with your product or website, and identify areas of improvement.

Teams can use this template to keep everyone on the same page when it comes to visualizing user journeys and optimizing customer experience.

Here’s why you’ll like it:

• Use connectors to define each step of the user flow on the whiteboard 
• Add images and icons to create a user journey map
• Create a user journey that is tailored to your needs
• Set recurring tasks to make regular updates to the user flow
• Add steps as tasks and assign them to the relevant team member

11. User Studies Template

The most effective way to enhance services is to gather customer feedback and pinpoint areas for improvement. However, organizing the input is complex; it can easily get lost in numerous chats. 

The User Studies Template offers a seamless structure for every step, from collecting feedback to organizing it and finding solutions.

This way, your team can turn raw feedback into actionable improvements, prioritize the most pressing issues, and continuously enhance the user experience with clarity and efficiency.

Here’s why you’ll like it:

• List the source—survey or interview—along with customer contact details
• Categorize the user type by profession and age group for easy tracking
• Define research steps as New entry, Validation, Analysis, Recommendation, Discarded, and Closed
• Track the progress of user studies with the Research Process View
• Prioritize issues and create actionable tasks with the Needs Action View
• Specify the right course of action for each valid issue identified

12. Usability Testing Template

Want to conduct usability tests? Use the Usability Testing Template, which helps you manage the entire process seamlessly and organize the feedback to find efficient solutions.

Define the steps users should follow for efficient usability testing of the required feature, and ask them to provide feedback or add screenshots. Include an About Me section and feedback sections for each step.

This whiteboard template ensures you can gather important feedback to design offerings that truly delight your customers.

Here’s why you’ll like it:

• Organize feedback from users in one place to brainstorm ideas
• Add flows, connectors, charts, and images to enhance the process and details
• Analyze customer feedback and brainstorm solutions as per the pain points identified
• Create tasks and set priorities and dependencies, to plan and follow accordingly 

13. Usability Testing Plan Template

Usability testing involves a series of carefully planned steps, from defining the target audience and identifying the ideal sample of people to gathering feedback, analyzing it, and more. 

Seems complicated? However, this is not the case when you have a structured approach, such as the Usability Testing Plan Template.

Here’s why you’ll like it:

• Create checklists with steps: Planning, Identifying samples, Getting materials, and Conducting tests
• Create subtasks like participant recruitment, analysis, and more
• Set priorities and assign tasks to team members, such as analysts, recruiters, and others
• Apply custom attributes to capture details such as the project name and description, test method, test lead name, and more
• Track progress automatically as you mark tests as completed

14. Problem Statement Template

Understanding your customer is easier with the Problem Statement Template. It helps you draft the survey to collect details about the customer, what they want to achieve, the problems they are facing, and their feelings.

It lets you send automated surveys to customers for design feedback, and, when customers complete the survey, categorizes problems to facilitate easy analysis.

The template also helps you organize the input and find the ideal solutions.

Here’s why you’ll like it:

• Identify the target audience and create a customer profile
• Create a summary of all the problems, requirements, and barriers identified
• Organize all the responses in documents, so you never miss any important feedback
• Divide customer problems into categories to keep track of progress
• Analyze problem statements and list solutions

15. Design Sprint Template

Before you begin with a design sprint, you need a comprehensive document that outlines the plan. Any misses in the plan lead to confusion and errors. The Design Sprint Template helps to avoid those errors.

The Folder template enables you to create distinct documents listing all necessary details for each step of the design thinking process. It also clearly defines the roles of each member, from note-takers to marketing experts and tech experts. 

Set up triggers to move tasks to different lists, including map, sketch, decide, prototype, and test.

Here’s why you’ll like it:

• Map out the design sprint process in a Board View, including sprint stages such as Brainstorming, Prototyping, User Testing, etc
• List steps in the map list and add notes and map files
• Include solution notes, ideas, and sketch files in the list
• Use the Calendar View to plan out the timeline and tasks for the design sprint
• Conduct tests and list user ratings and feedback in the test list

16. Workshop Feedback Survey Template

So you’ve hosted your first design thinking workshop and now need feedback to identify strengths and areas for improvement. Try the Workshop Feedback Survey Template, designed to help you do just that.

It allows you to organize all feedback in one place, using cards to ensure comprehensiveness and easy understanding. Leverage the input received to enhance your next workshop plans.

Here’s why you’ll like it:

• Customize the feedback form with questions related to the service and service providers
• Use automation to schedule reminders and test the survey before sending it out
• Capture essential data with Custom Fields such as Service Provider, Date of Purchase, Customer Tier, and Overall Rating
• Evaluate services and service providers using the Service Rating View and Provider Rating View, respectively
• Utilize the Overall Recommendation View to get an overview of participant feedback, and the Feedback View to review detailed feedback

17. PPT Design Thinking Workshop Template by Slidesgo

The PPT Design Thinking Workshop Template by Slidesgo makes planning a design thinking workshop simple. The template’s visually appealing format offers an engaging way to brainstorm and learn.

This downloadable design thinking workshop template can be saved in Google Slides, PowerPoint, or Canva. Add as many slides as you need or make adjustments to the existing ones based on the design thinking project to ensure an effective session.

Here’s why you’ll like it:

• Include ideas, facts, and supporting information, so everyone is aligned
• Customize the slides using icons, flat icons, graphs, images, timelines, and mockups
• Assess scenarios with user persona, ideation, cause-effect relationships, and Q&A

18. Design Thinking Workshop Template by Miro

Want to move from just a concept to a proposal? The Design Thinking Workshop Template by Miro supports each step in the process.

It allows you to select the most suitable method from the multiple options listed and proceed with brainstorming ideas to find the right solution for each aspect.

Whether you want to create a prototype or presentation, interview people, try affinity mapping, build a Difficulty/Importance matrix, create empathy maps or others, the template makes it seamless and structured.

Here’s why you’ll like it:

• Use sticky notes to add relevant information for each idea, technique, and step
• Create mind maps, user cards, tables, and timelines to present information
• Integrate with tools to gather accurate data, make calculations, analyze, and more
• See previous summaries and discuss new ideas with the team in comments

What Makes a Good Design Thinking Workshop Template?

A design thinking workshop template supports your goals and is easy for participants to follow.

Here’s what you should look for when choosing a design thinking workshop template:

• Alignment with goals: Look for a template that fits your workshop objective, such as user research, ideation, or prototyping
• Clarity of stages: Choose templates that clearly represent each phase of design thinking—empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and test—for a seamless flow. Dedicated spaces for different sections prevent confusion
• Built-in suggestions: Opt for templates with prompts, instructions, or sample examples to nudge your team in the right direction
• Collaboration-friendly: Use templates that allow real-time input and teamwork. This keeps teams aligned and ensures effective collaboration
• Easy customization: Ensure the template can be tailored to your team size, industry, or timeframe. A customizable template makes it easy to present information
• Automations: Consider templates with automation for calculations, reminders, and moving tasks to the next stages. This reduces manual work and keeps the workflow smooth and accurate
• Creative tools: Choose layouts that encourage open thinking, use sticky notes, allow for sketching, and facilitate feedback sharing. This boosts creative thinking and ensures seamless collaboration

Make Brainstorming Sessions More Productive With

Design thinking workshop templates offer an efficient way to brainstorm creative ideas, analyze customer needs, discover solutions, test them, and refine them.

Whether you’re launching a new product and want to assess the customer experience or want innovative ideas to meet user needs better, these templates streamline the creative thinking process. 

, the everything app for work, makes planning and organizing design thinking workshops easier. With collaborative tools and customizable templates, brings clarity without limiting creativity, helping teams collaborate, stay aligned, and make faster, smarter decisions grounded in real-life user insights.

Turn scattered ideas into structured solutions. Sign up for today!

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