Human-centered design is a phrase we keep hearing over and over again through out this quarter, and these ideas sound like they should be innate but for some reason they are not. At its core, a designer is creating things for people to use or view. However, and Karen has made this a point of emphasis in a few quarters now, designers these days find themselves in their computer and internet bubbles. The internet is vast and full of information, but this information can only take a design so far.
For the design of something to really shine, the designer should start with connecting at some level with the people that the design is meant. Would I start on a design for website about high diving when I have never been apart of that activity or talk to anyone in that field? No, that does not make sense.
This post on human-centered design on Design Kit is helpful and reinforces these ideas. The second line is exactly on point, “It’s [human-centered design] a process that starts with the people you’re designing for and ends with new solutions that are tailor made to suit their needs.” It seems so obvious, but of course we start with the people we are designing for, and after gaining empathy we can design something that fits and helps people on a real level. This is the first step in the process, can called the Inspiration Phase.
After that stage, we move to Ideation and this is where ideas, good and bad, are given light and flushed out to see the applicability. And then when you had narrowed down to the best ideas and prototyped them out, the last stage is Implementation where you put it out in the world and have it tested. Now, if the thing fails, we do not force it out anyway but rather return to the beginning and find out why. I think this is my biggest hurdle. After hours down a road that ends up a dead end, it is so hard mentally and emotionally to turn around and start all over. In the mindset section, Tim Brown, CEO, talks about learning from failure. I tell myself failing is good, but actually committing to starting over on a failed idea is sometimes daunting and I find myself putting more work into a half-thought out idea hoping it will work. My dad told me when I was young to never do something half-assed because then you will have to do it again and double the work and time, when you could have done it correctly from the beginning. This applies in the failing realm, where when you fail, start over and do the process correctly instead of trying to force an idea to work. Otherwise you will be doing lots of work for no reason.
I also think that David Kelley, Founder, has a good idea in his section on creative confidence. He says to have the big ideas, but also be able to act on them. A big and great idea is only good if you can follow it to a conclusion and make something from that idea. I liked the Mindset section of DesignKit.org a lot.
SOURCES:
ideo.org. “What Is Human-Centered Design?” Design Kit, http://www.designkit.org/human-centered-design
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