Key takeaways
1. Human Centered Design is not something new. There is proven science behind it and its benefits. 2. It focuses on people's everyday thinking, emotions and behavior. 3. Not all people associated with an organizations product or services might be users, but that does not mean they do not have a stake in the product.
Human Centered Design is an approach to designing technology interfaces that aims to make them usable and useful by focusing on the users, their needs and requirements, and by applying human factors/ergonomics, and usability knowledge and techniques.
This approach enhances effectiveness and efficiency, improves human well-being, user satisfaction, accessibility and sustainability; and counteracts possible adverse effects of use on human health, safety and performance.
Human-centered design lets organizations better understand people’s needs, motivations, and concerns, but it also makes for a more efficient, more flexible design process. Aim, too, for consistent omni channel or cross-channel experiences—something of particular importance in hybrid digital˗physical environments
People make mistakes. People do not know how certain things works, but the bottom line is people need to complete their tasks and organizations need to make sure that they can do so in the most effecient, productive and positive way. Only a empathetic, human centered approach will help betteter understand people’s need, everyday thinking, emotions and behavior. It is important to observe people in context in the environment in which they perform these tasks.
Per The Interaction Design Foundation, Human-centered design has four principles: - People-centered: Focus on people and their context in order to create things that are appropriate for them. - Understand and solve the right problems, the root problems: Understand and solve the right problem, the root causes, the underlying fundamental issues. Otherwise, the symptoms will just keep returning. - Everything is a system: Think of everything as a system of interconnected parts. - Small and simple interventions: Do iterative work and don't rush to a solution. Try small, simple interventions and learn from them one by one, and slowly your results will get bigger and better. Continually prototype, test and refine your proposals to make sure that your small solutions truly meet the needs of the people you focus on.
Summary
A recent survey outlined that companies that have invested in experience design outperformed others by 228% in S&P.
Organizations with engaged employees has outperformed those with lower engagement by 202%.
The major areas where organizations can experience a higher return on investment from better experience design process are
Increased conversions
Enhanced customer retention and loyalty
Improved team productivity
Reduced support costs
Reduced development costs
