Essay Two: Human-Centered Design
Design is in everyday life, implemented into things all around us. With design, comes communication and working with all types of people in order to create a finished product. Human-centered design is the process of working with clients and figuring out what they like and implementing that into the final design. It starts with communicating with people and ends up communicating to a larger body of audience. It goes back and forth between people one is working with and the actual design itself. Human-centered design is needed to successfully capture what message a client wants the design to convey.
The process of human-centered design is of three phases. The first phase is the Inspiration Phase where the designer is learning firsthand from their clients, hearing all ideas and what is needed. On Design Kit by Ideo.org, the Inspiration Phase is “learn(ing) directly from the people you’re designing for as you immerse yourself in their lives and come to deeply understand their needs”. The next step would be the Ideation Phase, where the designer will put together all their thoughts and what they’ve learned from the clients and start brainstorming. They will create many prototypes and work back and forth with the clients on ideas and how to improve until the implementation. This will lead into the Implementation Phase, the final step, where the designer will overcome obstacles and successfully melt together design and the client’s idea. The final design will be successful because the designer made sure to communicate what the people wanted by communicating with them.
When human-centered design is used, it can appease to larger groups of people. More people like what they see, or they see ideas they would’ve had themselves on items or services. It draws the public’s eye and grabs their attention. Knowing what the market wants and giving them what they want by talking with them and speaking with them allows for a more prosperous outcome. In the article “Why Human-Centered Design Matters” on Wired written by Dave Thomsen, he states “a human-centered approach fuels the creation of products that resonate more deeply with an audience — ultimately driving engagement and growth”. Participation within the community and with other people allows for a more overall accepted work.
Using human-centered design will have many benefits and advantages to a final product. Being involved with the users and clients increases sales and more attention. With communicating with clients, there is less of a high-risk human error, since everything was talked about beforehand, or is still being communicated with everyone on the project. Working with others, whether being other designers or clients, builds empathy. In the article “User Centered Design”, on the Interaction Design Foundation website, says that empathy is “essential in creating ethical designs that respect privacy and the quality of life”. One last advantage would be that when a designer is constantly meeting with people and building connections, they are also learning how to interact with different types of people. They can notice the diversity and learn new human values, which can be essential to designing and will be better people, nonetheless.
Human-centered design is all about working with the people, communicating with others, in order to reach making a more profitable/successful endgame. Human-centered design is a process that starts with speaking with the client and gaining all the information in order to create a design that will meet their expectations and building relationships with the public through the design. Meeting people and staying connected allows the designer to become a better designer and let them reach their design goals.
Dave Thomsen, Wanderful Media. “Why Human-Centered Design Matters.” Wired, Conde Nast, 7 Aug. 2015, www.wired.com/insights/2013/12/human-centered-design-matters/#start-of-content.
“What Is Human-Centered Design?” Design Kit, www.designkit.org/human-centered-design.
“What Is User Centered Design?” The Interaction Design Foundation, www.interaction-design.org/literature/topics/user-centered-design.
