Human-Centered design
In this essay, human-centered design will be discussed, the definition of the term, and then follows the supported facts and examples to support my argument in this argumentative essay about how to successfully design for humans.
What is human-centered design? According to DC Design (2017), human-centered design is a concept based solely on a philosophy relating back to empowering a product, service, system, and/or experience, that addresses the main idea of the problem. Mainly focusing on us, humans- design around humans. To design successfully for humankind, we need to understand the problem, the circumstances, and who we are designing for. We need to take into account ergonomics and anthropometrics, especially in the interior design field that includes the space a human needs to be functional in.
When designing a workspace for someone specific, the human-centered design focuses on the needs of the specific subject we are designing for.
The argument; To be able to successfully use the human-centered design concept we need to understand the specific group of people we are designing for e.g. their needs, concerns, and wants. And to be able to achieve a successful human-centered design, we need to follow a three-phase process for the most promising outcomes, the phases; Inspiration, Ideation, and implementation. There are also a few required research techniques that can only contribute in a positive way towards supporting my point. Lastly, I will discuss the importance of understanding the wants and needs of the consumer when designing a product for them while using the human-centered design concept to show how important it is to understand the consumer who we are preparing and designing for.
How do ergonomics and anthropometrics play a role in human-centered design?
What is anthropometrics? Anthropometrics is the standard dimensions that particular objects are designed to. (Dictionary.com)
A few things to think about when you are looking at anthropometrics to design a space (M.Foulis, 2020);
What equipment will be needed for this workplace to function?
What movement will need to happen in this space?
What type of work will be conducted in this space?
A perfect example of anthropometrics to describe the concept in a more visual way; Anthropometrics can usually be adjusted by doing a few small things to help develop the functionality and comfort of the space.
Fig 1. ResearchGate, n.d
What is ergonomics? This is the conventional way that a human uses and moves around in a specific space, and how efficient can you be in that space. (Dictionary.com). A simple way of explaining this is to think about how much space do we as humans take up in a certain area? This concept plays a big role in my argument, to achieve a successful human-centered design we need to understand how the space will be utilized and if the design will promote efficiency, productivity, and comfort.
Fig 2. Workplace Ergonomics, 2020
We as designers need to understand who and what we are designing for to be able to reach a point where we can create a space that can be used to its full potential. The design needs to be specific to the client's needs and wants.
The argument statement is still valid, there are a few questions you can use to ask the client to successfully design a workspace (Dahir, 2017);
How does this business operate?
Do you want to include relaxation areas?
At what rate is this business growing?
What amenities should be included?
How will the different departments interact with each other?
What is the average age group of the employees?
Will collaboration and sociability be implemented in the workplace?
What type of privacy will the employees need?
These questions above are to support my statement of understanding what type of workspace will need to be designed for the most efficient outcomes for the business.
How to address and research the following concepts to help the design process along; According to a video from Nisecorporation, 2014, They explain the process of human-centered design quite well.
The video explains that there are 3 phases to the concept;
Phase 1: Inspiration, Being open, and listening to the possibility of new ideas and concepts. You need to listen to the people you are designing for and then build inspiration based on their requirements.
Phase 2: Ideation, In this phase, you are ideating, making, sketching, and building a prototype. This is an important phase because you will then be able to communicate your idea back to your client. Based on the statement that you need to understand and communicate with the client in order to successfully design for their personal needs.
Phase 3: Implementation, Getting the idea out there, and following through with your design.
The terminology you would need to understand to be able to design a human-centered design for the workplace;
-Product, What product will be developed in this workplace, how will the product influence the space you are designing?
-Service, What service does this workplace provide and how will it influence the workplace?
-System, What systems will be run in this company, and how can we design for it?
-Experience, What experience and growth are in this workplace, we need to consider this in the design.
These are normal questions you can ask yourself if the company's workplace has special requirements you will need to consider in the human-centered design process.
A few helpful research easy we can use to gather all the information they fulfill the requirements of the client;
Research retrieved from, Indeed Editorial team, 2021.
Applied research; Identifying the problem and then ideating some ideas to solve this problem. This research can include studies on how successful the solution will be and if you need to revisit the ideation stage.
Qualitative research; Using this method of research, focus groups, surveys, interview, will help you to gather more information on the problem to conduct successful applied research.
Exploratory research; Looking at what you already know and doing research to add to that information, you would conduct exploratory research if you are unfamiliar with a certain concept or area of design, that is applicable to your problem and/or solution.
Field research; This type of research is conducted when the location of the subject is involved, where the area needs to be considered in the design process.
Inductive-/Theory Building research; This research is exactly what it is called, to collect data based on the theory of the solutions you came up with. This will help to demonstrate if your ideas and/or solutions will be successful.
How to use human-centered design successfully in product design, what research is needed?
As stated above the same process will need to be followed. My argument statement is still valid; We need to understand who we are designing for to be able to use the human-centered design concept successfully. According to an article written by P. Singh, 2020 the article states that the product needs to be successful from a user point of view, p.1. In order to create a product like this, we need to understand the patterns and behaviors of the user of this product. In your ideation stage, mentioned above, the designer will create a prototype and this is where the user experience will be tested, to capture feedback from the user, and then this feedback will be utilized to better the design flaws in the product. Who better to test a product than the consumer who will use the product? A successful human-centered design will be able to satisfy the user's needs.
When designing for humans psychology plays a big role in the design process, to explain this we can ask ourselves the following question, Now that I focused on human-centered design, what makes this product stand out amongst similar products.
In this article, they give a good explanation of the concept of human-centered design, p.6, Human-centered design is the concept that can be explained easily, Design a product, service, system, and experience by using the ideology phase that empowers the design team.
In conclusion, the argument was to fully understand the needs and requirements of who the client and or the consumer we are designing the product/service/system/experience/workplace for to successfully use the human-centered design concept, by looking at the research provided above this statement is indeed true. We as designers want to design for humans, we need to follow the requirements of designs daily. Human-centered design is the right way of designing, remember to do thorough research and find the best way to design to your clients unique requirements. In this manner, we are able to say that the argument "understand who you are designing for, to be able to successfully use the human-centered design concept" is indeed correct.
