ai-for design leadership

ONLINE COURSE DATES: MAY 8 - JUNE 30, 2026

This intensive 8-week program is about redesigning how design works. It is meant for design leaders who want to:

  • Integrate AI at a systems level
  • Reduce repetitive work
  • Redesign team roles for the AI era
  • Move beyond cost-cutting toward capacity creation

    You will need AI experience for this course. You can follow it simultaneously with AI Augmented Footwear Designer for an attractive bundle price.
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Course Lessons

is this course for you?

AI for Design Leadership is for professionals who are responsible for how design works — not just what gets designed.

This program is designed for leaders who want to rethink workflow architecture, integrate AI responsibly, and create long-term strategic value instead of short-term efficiency gains.

You belong here if you:
  • Lead a design team or influence design decision-making at an organizational level
  • Want to integrate AI beyond experimentation and isolated tool usage
  • Are willing to redesign processes rather than simply optimize them
  • See automation as a way to create capacity for innovation, sustainability, and long-term value
  • Want to introduce AI governance and structure without creating fear or instability
  • Are ready to challenge subjectivity and bring more clarity to design decision-making

This program is suitable for:
  • Heads of design
  • Design managers and directors
  • Innovation leads
  • Founders building design teams
  • Independent consultants who want to guide brands through AI integration and workflow transformation

Consultants will gain structured frameworks, governance models, and system redesign tools that can be directly applied in client engagements.

course format and requirements

AI for Design Leadership is an 8-week, cohort-based program focused on strategic AI integration at an organizational level.

Each Friday, a short pre-recorded briefing (30–60 minutes) introduces the week’s key frameworks, followed by a live cohort session every Tuesday from 17:30–19:00 CET/CEST.

Sessions are interactive and discussion-driven, with structured feedback and peer exchange. The expected weekly workload is approximately 2–4 hours, centered on mapping, reflection, and system design. The program concludes with an individual leadership presentation in which you present your AI-augmented workflow, governance framework, defined agent concepts, and a realistic 6–12 month implementation roadmap. This can be done under NDA, if required. A certificate is provided upon completion.

Requirements
If you have little experience with AI, it is strongly recommended to complete AI Augmented Footwear Designer first.
AI for Design Leadership assumes familiarity with generative AI and comfort working with large language models, as the focus is on leadership, system architecture, and responsible integration rather than beginner AI usage.

Participants will need access to at least one advanced Large Language Model (such as ChatGPT Plus or Team, Claude Pro, or Gemini Pro) for strategic reasoning and agent development. Access to a collaborative whiteboarding tool such as Miro Business is strongly recommended for mapping workflows and governance structures. No generative image platforms are required, as this program concentrates on strategy and system design.
COURSE LICENSES

new: enrol your whole team!

Would you like to enrol multiple people at once for one or more courses? Please fill out the form and we can make you a custom offer for several licenses. This means you can simply purchase a number of seats and assign them to people of your choice.

course schedule

WEEK 1 
AI leadership reality
We begin by addressing the real impact of AI on design organizations. What tasks will change? What responsibilities increase for leaders? This week sets the ethical, legal and strategic foundation for the program, reframing AI not only as an efficiency and cost-reduction tool, but as a capacity multiplier. You will reflect on how AI affects your team, your role, and your long-term innovation potential.
WEEK 2 
mapping current system
Before redesigning your system, you must understand it. This week focuses on mapping how design actually functions inside your organization: where time is spent, where repetitive work dominates, and where subjective decision-making slows progress. Which data do you use now and why, which data would you like to have access to? You will identify bottlenecks, inefficiencies, and hidden friction — creating a clear picture of where AI can add real value.
WEEK 3
AI-augmented system
With clarity around delegation and responsibility, you will design your future-state workflow. This includes defining AI insertion points, decision checkpoints, feedback loops, and governance structures. The goal is not to automate randomly, but to architect a coherent, AI-augmented design system, where there is optimal synergy between humans and AI.
week 4 
building AI systems I
Now that we have a clear idea of what processes could potentially be automated and improved with the use of AI - which can be different for each participant, we start working on building automatic processes with Claude Cowork and Code. In this first class we build a basic structure.
WEEK 5 
building AI systems II
Now we ar ready to work on more advanced systems, from system for trend forecasting, to systems for tech packs, systems for sorting and managing files that were collected or generated.

Each course participants can work on their own system, depending on their priorities and needs.
WEEK 6
capacity reallocation
This week introduces agent-based thinking at a structural level. What is an AI agent? How does it function within human oversight? Where can repetitive cognitive tasks be delegated safely and responsibly?
Which current tasks can be optimized by (semi-)automated AI agents and which tasks that you could not perform before might be possible now in collaboration with AI agents?
WEEK 7
opportunity and cost
 This week focuses on opportunity and cost. How much will it cost to implement AI (in steps) and how can AI free up capacity for work that is not done now, such as innovation, sustainability initiatives, material experimentation, customization programs, or data-driven refinement. AI becomes a strategic enabler, not just an efficiency tool.
week 8
change management
Redesigning systems requires redesigning roles. What new positions emerge, can these be fulfilled by people in your current team? How do responsibilities shift? How do you manage fear and resistance within teams? This final week addresses change management, upskilling, and cross-functional alignment to ensure AI integration strengthens your organization rather than destabilizing it.

meet your instructor

Nicoline van Enter is the founder of Footwearology and has spent her career bridging innovation, technology, and footwear design. Over the past years, she has worked directly with international brands on AI integration, workflow redesign, and strategic innovation initiatives.

The frameworks and methods covered in this program are typically part of her consulting work with companies. They have not previously been offered in a structured course format.

This program represents a rare opportunity to access the thinking, models, and strategic tools normally reserved for private consulting engagements — adapted into a cohort-based learning experience for design leaders ready to rethink how design works in the AI era.