The HCD approach
These topics align with a Human-centered Design approach to problem-solving.
EMPATHY: The capacity to step into other people’s shoes, to understand their lives, and start to solve problems from their perspectives. Researching the audience you are trying to reach allows teams to leave behind preconceived ideas and takes subjectivity away from the deliverables created.
EMBRACE AMBIGUITY: If we knew the answers now, what do we have to learn? How could we come up with creative solutions? Where would the people we’re creating for guide us?
DESIGN THINKING: Everyone is creative. A creative mindset is not specific to artists and designers but is a way of approaching the world. We want to build confidence in the entire team to think like a designer.
OPTIMISM: Every problem is solvable we must embrace possibility. We don’t know the answers now, but they’re out there and we can find them
Agile Practices in HCD
It is very important to remain agile in with an HCD project as to always be seeking feedback and being able to make changes in direction quickly and efficiently. This 'Feedback Loop' diagram illustrates how the project phases are done in a continuous cycle.
Typical Process phases
Discovery (Listen): talk to people to learn as much as we can to build empathy
Strategy (Plan): synthesize feedback and ideate to define communication strategy
- Deliverables (Create): implement strategy and refine through continual feedback loops
Watch this short introduction video about Human-centered Design (HCD):
Resources for further information:
HCD Defined: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human-centered_design
Foundation of HCD Methods: http://www.designkit.org/human-centered-design
Design Thinking Defined: https://www.ibm.com/design/thinking/
Applying HCD to Process: http://www.evolvingmedia.net/inside-emn/blog/human-centered-design/
Agile Design Overview: https://designshack.net/articles/business-articles/understanding-agile-design-and-why-its-important/