3 Weeks
·Cohort-based Course
Master GenAI-powered human-centered design process using the Make it Toolkit for behavioral-informed product and service design.
3 Weeks
·Cohort-based Course
Master GenAI-powered human-centered design process using the Make it Toolkit for behavioral-informed product and service design.
Consulted at
Course overview
TL;DR: You'll learn the step-by-step process for conducting a Behavioral Design Sprint, leveraging the Make It Toolkit from behavioral challenge statement to visualization of a behavioral-informed solutions concept with supporting behavioral design hypotheses. All GenAI-powered + Human in the Loop!
We took the original Design Sprint process and made it more human-centered by integrating the Make It Toolkit for behavioral design into it - we call the new and improved process The Make it Toolkit Behavioral Design Sprint:
STRATEGIZE TO FORMULATE CHALLENGE
🛍️ Choose a Product or Service
📈 Define expected organization and user outcomes
🎯 Define target behaviors to encourage or discourage
💬 Formulate a behavioral challenge statement (our starting point)
MAP THE BEHAVIORAL USER JOURNEY
🔚 Start at the end — map the behavior journey
📜 Utilize the Make It Toolkit Five Laws of Behavior to analyze the journey
🚧 Identify Make It barriers to progress
💡 Identify and prioritize opportunity points (design interventions)
BRAINSTORM IDEAS & INTERVENTIONS
💡 Generate ideas using Make It Toolkit strategies & tactics
🔄 Refine ideas by evaluating combo/trade-offs across Make It strategies
🧪 Formulate a set of behavioral design hypotheses
🎨 Visualize your solution concept (sketch, storyboard, journey map, simple mock-up)
The PROTOTYPE & BUILD and TEST & VALIDATE phases are not covered in this course as we've found these to be very specific company standards, processes, and toolsets.
The entire process is taught GenAI-powered with a Human in the Loop, to help individuals and teams evaluate the fastly evolving methods of design. We've found by testing these boundaries, cohort participants gain real-life experience regarding where and where not to apply GenAI-powered methods.
The course is Case Study-based, and we've hand-picked three specific case studies (e.g., healthcare, educational services, and financial services) to guide your learning journey.
It's going to be an amazing course! We cannot wait to share with you these practical and empowering methods and tools for GenAI-powered behavioral design efforts!
01
Design Sprint facilitators looking to better align teams on more focused customer outcomes via a behavioral challenge statement.
02
Product managers wanting to make sure the products and services they design are behavioral informed and more likely to succeed.
03
Designers wanting to have better context around the users they are designing for and the specific behaviors that need to be influenced.
04
Behavioral scientists seeking to better integrate applied behavioral science into the design process.
05
HR or L&D professional seeking to improve employee engagement or design better employee experiences.
06
CX Journey Manager seeking new ways to improve overall customer journeys and experiential outcomes.
07
Together, aligning a team around a set of behavioral design hypothesis to influence customer decision making & progress moving forward.
The GenAI-powered Behavioral Design Sprint (Human in the Loop)
The step-by-step process for conducting a Behavioral Design Sprint leveraging the Make It Toolkit from behavioral challenge statement to solution concept.
Introduction to the Make it Toolkit for Behavioral Design
How we made the Design Sprint process more human-centered by integrating the makeit toolkit into it. Starting with a behavioral challenge statement.
Introduction to the Five Laws of Behavioral Science
The Five Laws of Behavior B=f(P,E) Kurt Lewin, B=f(S1,S2) Daniel Kahneman, (A->B->C) B.F. Skinner, (B=MAP) BJ Fogg, and B=f(I,E) Deci & Ryan to inform behavioral design.
Behavioral Journey Map vs. Traditional Journey Map
The core differences between a behavioral journey map and a traditional journey map (focus, design objective, orientation) and the five core components to a behavioral journey map (prompts, behavior, consequences, barriers, and opportunity points).
Conducting a Behavioral Audit of a User Journey (select 1 of 3 case studies)
Leveraging the Five Laws of behavior to perform a behavioral audit of a user journey (behavior, prompts, consequences, barriers to progress, opportunity points). Case studies for healthcare, financial services, and learning & development.
Ideating leveraging the 15 makeit Behavioral Design Strategies
As part of the case study based exercise learning how to leverage the fifteen (15) makeit behavioral design strategies and associated tactics to ideate on how to better influence customer progress and design a better experience.
Formulating a Behavioral Design Hypothesis
Formulating a behavioral design hypothesis to drive prototyping and validation with consumers or customers aligned with the original behavioral challenge statement.
Vizualizing your Solution Concept
Learn different methods (sketching, storyboarding, journey, simple mock-up) for visualizing your behavioral-informed solution concept using GenAI-powered tools.
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.
5 live sessions • 41 lessons
Aug
12
Aug
14
Aug
19
Aug
21
Aug
26
Vitaly Friedman
Eden Brownell
Ersan Temizyurek
Don Young
Lara Rajkovic
Balakrishna Murthy, CCXP
Ching-Feng See
John Gusiff is the Managing Partner for Customer Centric Solutions LLC.
He is a makeit toolkit Certified Instructor for Behavioral Design.
He is passionate about improving the lives of customers via human-centered design and design thinking methods. He leverages customer jobs-to-be-done (jtbd) insights research along with applied behavioral science when consulting with his clients.
He has worked directly with executives in marketing, sales, product development, customer service and support functions to help them rethink how they better service their customers and implement the processes, organization, and technology to support it.
Clients have included: American Honda, Canada Goose, Citibank, Ecobee, G Adventures, Gympass, Humana, Porch, lululemon, Royal Ambulance, Shaklee, and TransAlta.
Mahnaz Hajesmaeili is a strategic AI/UX/Product Designer with a Master’s in Media Design and Human-Computer Interaction, blending empathy, curiosity, and data-driven insights to create impactful, user-centric solutions. Skilled in generative AI integration, prototyping, and inclusive design, she excels at crafting designs that deliver measurable value and operational efficiency.
As co-instructor of the Maven course on GenAI-powered Experience Design leveraging the Make It Toolkit, Mahnaz applies her expertise to teach participants how to design, prototype, and validate behavioral science-informed AI-driven solutions.
Join an upcoming cohort
Cohort 1
$950
Dates
Payment Deadline
4-6 hours per week
July 15th to 29th, 2025
Tuesdays & Thursdays
10 am - 12 pm PST
LIVE Cohort sessions with hands-on exercises. All sessions recorded.
LIVE Sessions on 7/15, 7/17, 7/22, 7/24, and 7/29
Showcase Project
A single Showcase Project to share with fellow participants during Final Session (7/29) to highlight the Make it Toolkit behavioral-informed solution concept you've created as part of your case study.
Active hands-on learning
This course builds on live workshops and hands-on projects
Interactive and project-based
You’ll be interacting with other learners through breakout rooms and project teams
Learn with a cohort of peers
Join a community of like-minded people who want to learn and grow alongside you
Join an upcoming cohort
Cohort 1
$950
Dates
Payment Deadline