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Development by Design (DxD): Power, Perception, and Human Systems

Learn to see and reshape the hidden forces shaping human behavior—within yourself, your relationships, and your environment—through a Development by Design (DxD) approach grounded in neuroscience, systems thinking, and critical theory.

Taught by Tricia Douglas

Live Online6 sessions x 90 min

Course Overview

Most systems are designed to produce outcomes, but in the process, they also produce people.

This course introduces Development by Design (DxD), an approach to understanding and intentionally shaping how humans think, relate, and behave within systems. Rather than focusing on products, users, or surface-level interventions, we turn inward and outward simultaneously—examining the internal, relational, and environmental conditions that shape development.

We begin with the brain. Under stress and uncertainty, human cognition narrows—favoring binary thinking, short-term decision-making, and simplified narratives. These are not failures of intelligence, but adaptive responses. From there, we explore how culture, history, and power extend (or constrain) what we are able to perceive and imagine.

Drawing from neuroscience, developmental theory, and critical social thought, we will examine:

How survival-based cognition limits perception and reinforces binary thinking

How dominant narratives obscure alternative ways of knowing and being

How power operates through visibility, absence, and proximity to harm

How time is often flattened into linear progress—and what is lost in the process

How environments shape not just behavior, but identity and relational patterns

Participants will learn to map systems they are part of—organizations, communities, platforms—and identify the developmental conditions those systems produce.

This is not a traditional design or systems-thinking course. It is an invitation to shift how you see—so that what you build, lead, or participate in begins to reflect a more expansive understanding of what it means to be human.

Who Is This Course For?

This course is designed for:

Care workers (educators, mental health professionals, etc.) seeking deeper frameworks for understanding behavior, identity, and development

Designers, product thinkers, and strategists interested in human systems beyond “users”

Community organizers and leaders navigating complex relational and cultural dynamics

Researchers, writers, and thinkers working at the intersection of systems, power, and human development

Anyone who feels that dominant narratives about behavior and progress are incomplete—and is seeking more expansive ways of seeing and acting

No prior experience in design or neuroscience is required—only curiosity and a willingness to question inherited assumptions.

What You'll Learn

Identify how survival-based cognition (e.g., binary thinking, reactivity) shapes perception and decision-making
Analyze systems through a Development by Design (DxD) lens across internal (self), relational (team), and environmental (culture) layers
Recognize dominant narratives and surface the “shadow” dynamics they obscure
Apply long-term and cyclical thinking to challenge linear assumptions about progress and change
Map a real-world system and articulate the developmental conditions it produces

What's Included

Live Sessions

Interactive classes with your instructor

Session Recordings

Lifetime access to all recordings

Community Access

Connect with fellow learners

Certificate

Proof of course completion

Real-World Project

Participants will create a Development by Design (DxD) System Map of a real environment they are part of (e.g., organization, school, platform, or community). This project will include: • Identifying dominant narratives shaping the system • Mapping hidden or marginalized dynamics (“shadow”) • Analyzing behavioral and relational patterns produced by the system • Assessing how time, power, and perception operate within it • Proposing shifts that could create more expansive developmental conditions Participants will leave with a tangible artifact they can use in their own work, leadership, or practice.

About the Instructor

Tricia Douglas

Designing human development across systems, relationships, and culture

I am a research and design leader working at the intersection of human development, systems, and education. My work explores how environments—schools, organizations, and platforms—shape how people think, relate, and act. I am the founder of Bloom Collective and the creator of Development by Design (DxD), an approach that examines how development is not accidental, but produced through the conditions we create. Drawing from neuroscience, developmental theory, and critical social thought, I focus on helping people see beyond surface behaviors to the deeper systems and narratives at play. Through teaching, writing, and applied work, I aim to support more expansive ways of thinking, relating, and building in a rapidly changing world.

Frequently Asked Questions

Development by Design (DxD) is an approach that examines how environments—organizational, cultural, and relational—shape human development. It focuses on intentionally designing conditions that influence how people think, relate, and act.

Not in the traditional sense. While designers may find it highly relevant, this course focuses on how systems shape people, rather than how to design products or interfaces.

Not at all. Concepts from neuroscience and critical theory will be introduced in accessible ways and connected directly to lived experience and real-world systems.

Yes. Whether you work in education, design, organizing, leadership, or research, the frameworks in this course apply to any environment where human behavior and relationships are shaped.

You will leave with: • a new lens for interpreting human behavior and systems • a structured method (DxD) you can apply across contexts • a completed system map you can build on beyond the course

Get Notified

Format

Live Online

Class Size

25 students max

Sessions

6 sessions

Duration

90 min each

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