Human-centred design is exactly as it sounds, the practice of putting humans at the centre of the design process. By understanding user needs, goals, pain points and questions, designers are able to create products and services that are tailored to those users.
Human-centered design process
As a human-centred design agency, we are experts at involving users at every stage of the design process. During an initial discovery phase we typically conduct multiple kinds of user research in order to better understand the target audience, whether that is surveys, interviews, or focus groups. Those insights are then used to do our initial human-centred design thinking and formulate a product or service strategy.
Later and throughout the design phase, we return to users by conducting user tests with prototypes of various fidelities. A prototype can be anything from a simple wireframe, to a fully designed and clickable mock-up, to a coded solution. With each round of testing we gain more confidence in our design hypotheses and further validation that our solutions will help solve user needs.
Human-centered design principles
Well known user scientist, Don Norman, who is often credited with helping to popularise the practice, talks about human-centred design having 4 key principles.
How is human-centred design different than user experience design?
Whereas user experience design typically focuses on a digital product, human-centred design is a broader practice or method of thinking that could apply to any challenge, digital or otherwise. As a methodology it is used to create new products, improve services or even solve significant global problems.
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