AI Era Requires 'Continuous Learning Power': X Design School Opens Fall 2026 Online Course Applications. Offers Three Learning Perspectives: 'Understanding People,' 'Envisioning the Future,' and 'Co-creating and Applying to Organizations.'

X Design Institute has opened applications for its social professional design school, 'X Design School,' for the Fall 2026 course. In this era of transformation, three online courses foster personal vision through dialogue and practice. These courses, offering the joy of learning and research, can be taken from home, from anywhere in Japan, and by individuals without specialized design education.

X Design School provides practical learning based on UX design, service design, design thinking, business design, vision design, user research, and more, with over 1,000 professionals having attended to date. For Fall 2026, marking its 10th anniversary, the school will offer three courses under the theme 'Adult Learning in the AI Era': 'HCD/Beginner Course,' 'Design Manager/Design Management Course,' and 'User Research/Design Anthropology Course.'

■ Background of the Fall 2026 Courses

AI has democratized knowledge; so what should humans learn? With the rapid evolution of generative AI, many intellectual activities such as information retrieval, summarization, analysis, and text generation are now supported or replaced. Traditionally, adult education focused on 'acquiring new knowledge and skills.' However, as AI dramatically facilitates access to information, it is believed that the crucial abilities now are the power to ask fundamental questions, to deeply understand people, to envision the future, and to co-create with diverse individuals and apply it within organizations. X Design School offers opportunities to learn these practical skills required in the AI era from a 'design' perspective.

From 'Reskilling' to 'Continuous Learning.' In recent years, interest in reskilling and recurrent education has been growing in Japan. However, in an era of rapid change, simply reskilling once is not enough. What is needed now is the 'power to continuously learn,' not just 'reskilling.' X Design School operates not merely as a place for knowledge acquisition but as a community for continuous learning through cycles of practice, research, and dialogue.

■ Fall 2026 Online Course Application Overview

The three courses for Fall at X Design School will commence in September:

- HCD/Beginner Course: Learn HCD/UX Design for the first time

- Design Manager/Design Management Course: Aim to become a leader who applies design within organizations

- User Research/Design Anthropology Course: Learn qualitative user research and design anthropology from the basics

■ HCD/Beginner Course: Learn HCD/UX Design for the First Time

- Course Overview: This is a practical course aimed at systematically understanding the fundamental concepts and processes of Human-Centered Design (HCD)/UX Design through exercises. Participants will learn the entire process step-by-step, including organizing target users, problem definition, interview surveys, analysis, idea generation, prototype creation, and usability evaluation. The objective is to understand the user-centered thinking process through practical exercises and acquire fundamental methods for product development and service improvement.

- Instructor: Toru Mizumoto (Human-Centered Design Organization, Nihon Fukushi University)

- Instructor: Kazuhiko Yamazaki (X Design Institute, Musashino Art University)

■ Design Manager/Design Management Course: Aim to Become a Leader Who Applies Design Within Organizations

- Overview: This course redefines design not as 'superficial output' but as practical knowledge that drives management, business, and organizations. It covers the connection between management strategy and design strategy, design organization structure, evaluation systems, collaboration with other departments, brand experience, vision design, and future design. Through actual corporate case studies and exercises, participants will learn concrete skills applicable to their own companies. Through case studies and practical exercises, participants will conceptualize and design 'design management implementable within their own companies,' ultimately developing a 90-day practical plan.

- Instructors: Yu Osaki (Consert), Kazuhiko Yamazaki (X Design Institute, Musashino Art University)

- Instructors: Naoki Isogai (Recruit), Sergio Daisuke Ito (Money Forward)

■ User Research/Design Anthropology Course: Learn Qualitative User Research and Design Anthropology from the Basics

- Overview: This course provides practical skills for 'research to deeply understand people' while learning across user research fundamentals, design anthropology, fieldwork, and narrative approaches. In addition to basic techniques such as observation, interviews, field notes, analysis, and insight extraction, participants will learn perspectives necessary for future design research, including design anthropology, ethnography, cultural anthropology, narrative approaches, and action research.

- Instructors: Soichiro Iga (X-Park), Kazuhiko Yamazaki (X Design Institute, Musashino Art University)

- Instructors: Hiroshi Nakamura (Design Anthropologist, Tama Art University), Takahito Uehira (Design Researcher, Ritsumeikan University)

■ Fall 2026 Course Details

- Application Period: July 5 (Sun) to July 24 (Fri)

- Application Catalog Website: https://www.xdesign-academy.com/

- Online Information Session (June 27 (Sat)): https://peatix.com/event/5033415

■ X Design Institute Overview

Name: X Design Institute Inc.

Website: https://www.xdesign-lab.com/

Overview: X Design Institute is a community for learning and research targeting professionals, based on UX design, service design, design thinking, vision design, and design management. Since its establishment in 2016, X Design School has had over 1,000 participating students.