Human Centered Design

I am a human centered design practitioner and have been for over 20 years. I like to say that I have been practicing UX, UCD, HCD or what ever you choose to call it, before it even had a name. I owe passion for this work to Paco Underhill, who long ago studied Why We Buy (and how, and what we do while buying and browsing). Similar to Mr Underhill’s work which has evolved to include the study of food and women, user centered design has evolved to encompass a vast array of products, services, process, workflows, and frameworks - nearly anything involving humans can benefit from a human centered design approach.

We tend to become narrow in our definition of HCD and UX, focusing simply on the digital experience, while the human-machine, human-technology experience encompasses so much more and are equally in need of human centered design intention. Technology and adoption continue to accelerate challenging processes to design and deliver ethical, safe and inclusive products and services.

During this period of rapid technological growth, two things have become obvious. One, that user centered design drives greater revenue, growth, and customer loyalty, and two, user centered design must be balanced with business objectives to work. They must not compete because each rely on the other for survival. This is most true today. As our reliance on technology expands, affecting practically every aspect of our lives, the need for human-centered approaches to product and service design becomes increasingly essential.