Human Centered Design Perspectives

Jack McCann
Design is all around us, any organisation can leverage design
thinking. Both startups and established businesses must pursue
disruptive innovation alongside operational excellence. We dont
need divine powers of insight and creativity to accomplish
innovative breakthrough. We can commit ourselves to attitudes and
practices that have worked throughout history.
Redesign materialises in many different ways. It may concern
tangible products for consumption; actions during a service
interaction; visual design and communication elements or
environments and systems.
Consider a fundamental law of innovation, that the only certainty is
uncertainty. Innovation is therefore a constant effort, one that
always has exciting possibilities to offer. Dont think of creativity as
pulling a rabbit out of a hat. Creativity is often building on existing
ideas or the mingling of different ideas to serve new purposes. In
design, creativity should be approached with the end user in mind.
This approach enables us to produce a solution of true value, one
that they may not have even considered.
We enact this approach by using a scientific method for qualitative
understanding, testing and iteration.
1. Determine the actual user and core human issue
All products and services are inherently based on human needs. A
deep empathic understanding of our user can unlock new ideas that
deliver new value.
Cultivate a genuine desire to understand the basis of your users
perspectives. In doing this, we are paying little attention to our own
identity and belief systems. We are using an intentionally naive
inquisitiveness to appreciate their perceptions, values, priorities,
experiences, technical understandings and so on.
Watch how your user navigates their environment and makes
interpretations. Consider what underlying emotional needs might be
governing their actions. Reflect upon what they find valuable in
products and services and more importantly, why?
2. Brainstorm and develop one or more product / service
concept(s)
During this phase, dont worry about structure, sequence or
hierarchy. Bounce from idea to idea until you cant think of anything

else. Try not to become fixated on the obvious solutions and

experiment with different points of view. Perhaps you will approach
a challenge with the bold curiosity of a child or absolute beginner.
Combine your best ideas to form a product / service concept. You
can then build a low or high fidelity prototype based on this concept.
Try and speak directly to the unmet needs and underling emotions
that are uncovered through research.
3. Create a prototype to test your design assumptions
The different components of your design should seamlessly
complement each other. Your interaction design concerns the tasks,
navigation and flow of the interface. The visual design concerns the
overall look and feel and will consider elements such as the layout,
fonts and use of color. A prototype is an embodiment of an idea. It
might be a physical construction or a digital wireframe mockup.
A storyboard prototype for example, can be take users step by step
through a service interaction or the stages of a service. A Wizard of
Oz prototype simulates complicated back end programming to
evaluate user experience. A person will control the responses that
would usually be system generated.
Rapid prototyping enables us to fail, a crucial aspect of innovation.
The sooner we find what doesnt work, the sooner we find out what
does work. Prototyping repeatedly allows us to systematically prove
or disprove our many design assumptions, as though each one were
a hypothesis.
4. Observe user behaviour to uncover preferences,
unarticulated needs and underlying emotions
Here we are relying on our intuition and our capacity to pay
attention to body language. Encourage storytelling by asking openended questions. When people give generalised statements with
words like typically or usually, politely ask for a specific
example.
You may choose to have them describe everything theyre doing and
thinking. Or perhaps its best to simply watch them and write down
everything we notice, helping them only where they get stuck.
When offering help, narrate what theyre doing instead of instructing
them, I can see that youre They will be more likely to tell us
what theyre thinking or trying to do.

Humans are highly sophisticated pattern recognition machines; we

try to derive meaning from just about everything. When analysing
prototype feedback, utilise this innate skill.
Look for discrepancies or contradictions in what was gathered. Look
for broad themes or reoccurring issues that can be grouped together
in diagrams. Consider whether any particular personas (user
stereotypes) or journey maps can be established. Once we have an
empathic understanding of the human issue we are designing for,
we can continue to co-create with our user.
5. Cycle between design refinements and user testing as
often as possible
By placing constraints on time and resources we can propel
ourselves into creative action. This occurs through a process of rapid
iteration between user feedback and increment design
improvements. We may also generate multiple refined product
versions at one time, so that testing happens constantly. This
process of rapid iteration allows us to build something that offers
genuine value to our users, something that can be scaled.