Human-centred design is one of the most used terms in UX design, and it is not just there for technical reasons. It is one of the important concepts that a UX designer should familiarize themselves with to be the most sought-after designer. Even as a brand owner, HCD should be a part of the core concept to make designs that go beyond the target audience.
What, then, is HCD? It is any design that appeals to human problems. Unlike user-centred design, which targets particular users, the methodology focuses on understanding human needs, behaviour, and motivations to solve problems.
Brief background to HCD
- Professor John E. Arnold (Stanford University) is credited with proposing that engineering designs should be human-centric and creative. This shift in the engineering field from technical solutions to a more creative approach to satisfying user needs gave rise to HCD.
- The emergence of wicked problems by Horst Rittel also popularized HCD. Horst defined wicked problems as complex, multilayered problems that don’t have a definitive solution, which allows for continuous improvement, known as iteration.
- Design thinking is another theory that improved the application of HCD. Mike Cooley wrote a book titled “Human-Centered Technology, which gave a name to the concept that we all know as Human-Centred Design.
- The rise of digital products has shown a great need for designs that match the efficacy of physical products. UX Dei=sign has been tied to HCD to give a more holistic experience for users interacting with virtual products.
- Now, HCD is used to tackle social issues by focusing on societal needs and designing solutions for positive outcomes rather than just dumping any solution that might not favour the people.
The Benefits of Human-Centred Design to a Business
- User Satisfaction and Loyalty: Happy customers are the ticket to success. They come back and refer the brand to their loved ones. A brand that uses a design that seeks to listen to what people (stakeholders, users, consumers, or anyone at all) say about their needs and offers a solution that caters to their needs builds a bond with them.
- Increased Conversion and ROI: Humans become users, and users become customers. HCD will start overseeing the process of turning humans like you and me into users. Through research, it identifies difficulties that might cause users to abandon their journey. It creates methods to remove these difficulties, leading to a smooth experience that will bring users back in. This directly brings steady growth and revenue that your business can thrive with.
- Brand/business Reputation: Empathy is a tool for building trust and a core principle of human-centred design. It allows designers to listen to users and actively interpret their needs into solutions. This will make users see their needs not as negative but as a source of satisfaction they never knew existed. It gives users the impression that a brand sees and hears them; they know the brand as a business that cares, not a profit-oriented scheme.
- Reduced development cost: Focusing on human-centred products as a brand owner or designer will help you save development costs that would be borne out of assumptions and trying to be a genius problem solver. HCD recognizes that a design is not about the list of outstanding details or features but about what the user wants. So, it will save you the cost of building a product that nobody is willing to use, which can be a big failure.
Differences between UCD and HCD
Human-centred design and user-centred design are similar and can be used interchangeably depending on the context, but there are slight differences that are noteworthy if you are designing a product that is more usable to people than the target users. If you are trying to lead the industry with solutions that everyone can use, whether or not they need them, then these details are important.
Myths about UCD and HCD
- UCD is outdated, and HCD is new. (Myths)
- UCD lays the foundation of HCD, and so they are both in vogue (Truth)
- UCD brings more profit than HCD (Myth)
- UCD focus on target users, not necessarily for profit purposes, and HCD converts users, which is equally profitable. (Truth)
- UCD is only for digital products, and HCD is for physical products (Myths)
- UCD and HCD can be applied to any product, and their principles remain similar. (Truth)
Principles of HCD
Four popular principles of human-centric designs make them truly innovative and stand out from a UCD.
- People-centric: As a designer or brand owner, your solution should start with the people and end with them. You should consider their physical, emotional, cultural, and financial needs. The design should make them mirror themselves as individuals before seeing themselves as users or customers. It requires a high level of empathy built by familiarizing yourself with human psychology.
- Find the Core Problem: HCD sees complex and multilayered problems; hence, the principle of finding the fundamental problem is to solve the layers and symptoms. Addressing the root cause of the problem will help solve the layer problems, but focusing on a particular problem will just be an avenue to waste time and proliferate solutions.
- See the problem and solution as a system: When identifying and solving a problem, the focus should be on the bigger picture. This will help you understand the little structures that make up the problem and how the solution will also handle those little problems. These systems can be social, ecological, economic, cultural, or political.
- Iteration and Prototyping: Once the problems and possible solutions have been identified, the solution is tested for feedback and refinement. A comprehensive solution cannot be found on the first try, so iteration exposes hidden solutions that can be used.
Approach to Human-Centered Design
The approach to HCD is identifying what qualifies a solution, product, or service as human-centred. It is a design thinking approach to determine whether your product is human-centric.
Feasibility
Feasibility simply refers to how practical a theory, concept or solution is. How easy is your solution to implement? Are the resources available to aid in implementing the solutions? Are these resources gotten through legal and safe means? Will your product stay relevant and in demand?
These questions can help you determine if your solution is human-centric. They will serve as a checklist while designing and make you envision your design solution as a reality.
There are several feasibility that you can consider:
- Technological Feasibility: The ability of your product to leverage existing technologies and bring technologies that can be replicated.
- Economic feasibility: It considers cost-effective ways to implement the solution on a large scale while considering whether users can afford it.
- Business feasibility: Your solution must align with business objectives and generate a sustainable ROI.
- Legal feasibility: Identifying legal constraints that might hinder the reality of the design and ensuring compliance with the rules to help your solution remain viable.
Viability
It is the extent to which a design will be profitable and successful. This is important because a widely used solution is part of what consider the product human-centric. How can a human-centric product be bounded by certain geographical locations or cultural differences? It becomes a UCD and not an HCD. The point is that such a product would need revenue to transcend those boundaries and limitations to reach more people.
So, the solution should be something the initial users are willing to pay for. The price they pay should be equivalent to the problem it addresses. The viability of a design would require deep market research, financial projections, and cost and revenue analysis. This requires collaboration between the business development and design teams to make it possible.
Desirability
This is the main approach because it focuses on human psychology. It is an element that attracts humans to the design and makes them use the product repeatedly. The design has to solve problems that are intuitive and easy to use. It has to break through big technical steps and come down to their level to meet their needs.
UX research comes into play when creating a human-centric design. The research should inquire about users’ needs(Important), wants(Extra luxury), values(motivations), and behaviour with similar products. An HCD has to fill in the space of these areas for humans to drive positive user outcomes.
The HCD Mindset: How to Achieve A Human-Centric Design
- User Empathy: Every designer has come across this word more than any other concept throughout their design journey; this is to highlight the importance of empathy. To build an HCD, the user should always be on your mind; this will familiarize you with them mentally and emotionally to design the best experience they can ever have. Did you know that almost 9 out of 10 online shoppers won’t return to a website if they’ve had a negative experience? To keep your customers coming back, it’s important to empathize with their previous negative and positive experiences when designing and developing your products or services.
- Collaborative Designing: The power of collaboration should not be downplayed when solving problems. Why are surgeries usually performed by a group of surgeons comprising generalists, specialists, in-house surgeons, outsourced surgeons, and even surgeons in training? Human life is valuable, and the same theory applies to HCD. Every user is valuable; collaboration is the best way to provide proper solutions. HCD requires key players from design, development, business, psychology, customer success, etc., to decide on human-centric solutions.
- Rapid prototyping:
Case studies: HCD in Action
These are live examples of products that can be said to be human-centric
Spotify
Spotify is one of the most popular audio streaming services in the world. Spotify started as a source of audio entertainment, and since then, it has been improved based on user recommendations. Spotify qualifies as an HCD due to its intuitive and personalized interface, but the most outstanding features are the lyrics translation, personal recommendations and the most trendy “Spotify wrapped.”
Netflix
Netflix analyzes user data to track the kind of movies users watch and, when they do, to build their recommendation algorithm to personalize their experience and suggest content they want to watch. Netflix shows top movies countrywise to keep users in the loop about what is trending. Finally, the options for parental control and accounts for children have made it usable for almost everyone in the world.
Conclusion
You have understood and seen examples of how top brands consider humans as individuals in their products. You can leverage the principles, mindset, and approach of human-centred design to create solutions beyond specific users and start looking at the bigger picture. Remember that HCD is not a one-time success; it comes through constant feedback and refinement. It also takes a virile group to make it work.
Yellow Slice is equipped with talented human resources to help design solutions that meet human needs. We have what it takes to build desirable, viable, and feasible designs, so your next project cannot miss out on the value we bring. Take bold steps to make a human-centric product and schedule a call with our expert.
FAQ
1. What will the role of HCD be in emerging technologies?
HCD will be the model for ensuring that new technologies like Artificial Intelligence and Virtual Reality are user-centric and go beyond the regular users; it will identify and build the digital divide among humans.
2. Who else can benefit from learning HCD principles?
HCD principles are valuable for anyone involved in product development, marketing, customer service, and business strategy. Understanding user-centricity can lead to more effective solutions across various disciplines.
3. Is HCD applicable to physical products?
Yes, HCD applies to both digital and physical products or even social programs or initiatives. Its goal is to solve problems and bring solutions, so it is applicable to any concept that aims to bring global solutions.
