What is a Human Centered Design Process?

Pondering how an actual user will experience and interact with a product is invaluable. Solving a technical problem without considering if it will work for a user will often lead to circumnavigating one problem with another.

Human centered design is an approach to problem solving that focuses on people and their experience while trying to accomplish a task or achieve a goal. Human involvement in the design process typically takes place in observing the problem within a specific context, brainstorming, conceptualizing, developing, and implementing the solution.

What is human centered design used for?

The most effective use of human centered design is to create a product or service that deeply resonates with the user. When research and development keep the end-user in mind, what you get as a result is a product that reflects the fact that customers were included in every stage of the process. This ultimately drives more engagement and growth for the company and its product.

Human centered design can often be overlooked. It is often helpful to understand how not implementing a human centered design can impact your business. If you take two architecture companies, for example, one uses human centered design and the other doesn’t. The company that does not utilize human centered design might create a mighty building, with lots of rooms with a spa and other desired amenities but the user may never find themes since they are on unmarked floors. Keeping the user in mind all of the amenities means they will be clearly labeled, easy to find, and accessible by all. Your project might be ready to launch, but if you don’t take into account human centered design, then you are not guaranteed success.

What are the key principle of human centered design?

Reducing this design process to one key principle would hinder the best understanding of the concept entirely. Rather, we are going to explore four key principles of human centered design in hopes of better fleshing out the concept.

People centered:

Empathy is key to human centered design. This design process focuses on how the end user feels about their experience. A person's feelings (their emotional response) dictate the choices they make. Focus on the user and their context around the problem. There will be plenty of issues and kinks to work out over time, but making sure the user experience is airtight is priority number one.

Everything is a system:

Everything is interconnected. Think of your business, product, service, etc. as a system of parts that all need to work together in order to be successful.

Understand the right problems:

Have your team dive deep to find the root of the problem. Multiple issues could be solved by fixing the system or process from which they derive.

Create simple solutions:

Do not rush solutions or try to fix every major problem all at once. When you begin to see everything as a connected system within your business, it will be easier to fix smaller problems that will eventually lead to solving bigger ones. Constantly brainstorm and create prototypes to test, this will keep fresh solutions coming in and allow your team to have the confidence and experience to fix future problems with less hurdles.

What are the 3 factors of successful human centered design?

Three critically important factors in creating a successful human centered design revolve around the three I’s: Inspiration, Ideation, and Implementation. Inspiration hones in on the process of deeply understanding what people want and finding problems that you need to solve to make their lives better. Inspiration inherently implies a sense of discovery, meaning that your team needs to find out what your target audience wants, and what are their main obstacles. Ideation is where you can fully immerse yourself in the barriers you have identified within your target audience. Gather your team to brainstorm potential solutions and create prototypes to test. After crafting prototypes and testing solutions, it then comes time to implement those solutions. Fully explore the extent to which your prototype solutions can solve a specific problem.

Learn to craft unique user experiences with Moser Consulting

Moser Consulting believes that technology is a tool to help you achieve your objectives regardless of its location; in your data center, in the cloud, or on mobile. But the right people to handle that technology is the key to unlocking its potential. Learn more about how Moser Consulting can work alongside your team to teach key principles or develop an app, all while ensuring the project is a success.

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