d.MBA - Online MBA for Designers

What is the impact of the course on designers work?

In six weeks, you will become fluent in the language of business. You will understand the relationship between business and design. This means that you no longer base your decision solely on aesthetics and what is good for the customer but try to look for the balance between customer and business goals. You will also learn the most important and widely used business frameworks (Porter’s Five Forces, Competitor Analysis, Blue Ocean Strategy, Three Generic Business Strategies, Sales Funnels etc.). It is not uncommon that participants use newly learnt tools and host workshops with their colleagues days after learning them at d.MBA.

“I run a client workshop a week after learning about it at the d.MBA.” - Lucas Coelho, Roam Collective, d.MBA alumni

How is d.MBA different from the regular MBA?

There are three main differences:

It focuses on business knowledge that designers need to have. Traditional MBAs cater to a much wider audience and are thus much broader in their topics and include many topics (e.g. accounting, economics etc.) that are not relevant for designers.

In the d.MBA we always talk about the relevance of business knowledge for designer's work. For example, when we cover common business strategies, we also explain what designers role is in each of these strategies.

“By the way, my girlfriend who studied business and heard d.MBA videos the other night said that It was greatly presented, very synthetic and very efficient. She said that this kind of subjects are studied with much more clutter in business schools!” - Nathan Delavictoire, Air Liquide, d.MBA alumni

A cohort consists only of designers. All discussions, questions, and experience sharing is thus much more focused on designers' use case.

What do previous students say about the d.MBA?

How much time will I need for the course?

The course was designed for busy practitioners who have full-time jobs. So, the d.MBA requires roughly 8-10 hours per week. Most participants find the time for the course on weekends but some get a day or several hours off their weekly schedule to invest in the course.

"My schedule is extremely busy during the week, so I was concerned about having enough time for d.MBA. But once the program started and I met my cohort, I was motivated and enjoyed investing the extra time on weekends to complete assignments." - Julia Olson, Bain&Company, d.MBA alumni

How do I apply for the d.MBA?

Once applications open, you will need to fill out a simple form, introducing yourself and why you want to join d.MBA. Based on that, we will choose 30 participants and invite you to join the course and make the payment.

Be among the first ones to know when applications open. Sign up for the 7-day mini MBA to see if d.MBA is right for you and get notified.

What are criteria for choosing participants?

This course is for design professionals. Regardless if you are working in an agency, as an in-house designer or a freelancer, this course is for you. On the other side, this course is not for you if you are not a designer or if you are a business professional trying to become a business designer.

While more working experience improves your chances, the main criterion remains your motivation. Focus on that in your application. If you can showcase that you are willing to learn, put in the time, share your experience, and generously share feedback with other participants, you’ve done your job.

How does the payment process work?

The tuition fee is paid after your applicantion has been accepted and you are invited to join the program. We will follow up with the further instructions. The payment can be made by a participant or by the employer. There are no further costs. We currently accept credit card payments and bank transfers.

Can I get the d.MBA investment reimbursed?

Roughly 50% of d.MBA participants get their investment reimbursed by their companies. If you are in a position to tap into the educational budget, try to speak to your boss and make the case for why you want to take the d.MBA.

Is this program certified?

The d.MBA is not accredited as it is not an official MBA program. The focus of the d.MBA is on practical knowledge and network. After graduation, participants receive the d.MBA certificate and become part of the alumni group, where they can ask work related questions (even after the program), join d.MBA local meetups and receive content updates.

Will I be out of office?

No, the d.MBA runs completely online. There are no in-person meetings and hence no travel necessary. This means that the time investment from the perspective of employer is much lower than other alternatives (conferences, in-person trainings etc.), which you can bring up when making the case for getting the program investment reimbursed.

Should I have any prior business knowledge to join this course?

No. You don’t need any prior business knoledge. We will start from the ground up, avoid business jargon, and build a holistic understanding of business.

I live in Europe/America/Asia/Australia. Can I join?

Definitely. The course is designed for remote learning; all assignments are done individually, and interaction with the community can be done asynchronously. There are only three calls where showing up is necessary: Greet&Meet, the Midpoint check-in, and the Graduation call. All in the afternoon CET.

Each week on Sunday, there will be optional co-working sessions held in the afternoon CET time. For those located in the Americas that is Sunday morning and for those in Asia, a co-working call would take place late in the evening.

What are the deadlines and important meetings within the program?

Program is designed to be as flexible as possible, however, there are deadlines to ensure that a group get benefits of group dynamics (feedback, discussions etc.).

In order to successfully finish the program and join the alumni network, you have to finish all assignment within the 6 weeks of the program. Additionally, each Sunday is a project assignment deadline. Each participant can submit one assignment late but they loose the right for feedback.

The only three meetings that participants are asked to book their time for:

Greet&Meet - the first call where participants get to know each other and learn about logistics of the program.

Midpoint check-in - participants are divided into smaller groups and discuss how learnings can be applied to their work.

Graduation call - reflection in smaller groups and graduation ceremony.

For exact times look under the calendar section.

What is the level of collaboration with other participants?

All assignments are individual so you are very flexible.

Even though you do not collaborate with other participants on assignments, you have access to the community at all times. For example, there is a Slack community where you can ask questions, join discussions, share resources, and talk about your challenges.

Additionally, in week 3 and week 6 (final call) there is an additional call with group discussions. In these calls, participants are divided into smaller groups (of 5) based on the product they are working on (b2b, b2c, consulting), and talk about how they can apply knowledge acquired to their work.

How does the course content look like?

The course consists of videos and additional course materials. Each week, you’ll receive around 50-70 minutes of video material, weekly assignment, and materials for further exploration. Some chapters include additional frameworks or tools. For example, Competitor Analysis comes with a spreadsheet, which you can use on your projects.

In this first video, you can see an introduction of a concept called Blue Ocean Strategy, which is a part of the Business Strategies module.

In the second video, you can see the explanation of Discovery-Driven Planning, the corner stone for the Prototyping with Numbers module.

What is the size of an intake?

The size of the intake is limited to 30 participants to ensure the best mentor to participant ratio and to foster engagement among participants. The goal is to learn and build your network for the future.