Human-Centered Design Explained: 3 Phases of HCD

Human-centered design, or HCD, is an approach to brainstorming that addresses how people think to improve a product or system’s functionality. As a form of human-centered problem-solving, HCD considers the abilities and experiences of real people to craft innovative solutions custom to their needs. Human-centered design is useful because it creates emotional ties with the people you serve while generating efficient products and solutions that meet real-world needs.

The creative approach of human-centered design, which prioritizes prototyping and case studies, can lead to technological and sociological breakthroughs. Systems created with human-centered design methods improve functionality, the user experience, and brand image. Consumers, employees, and businesses can all benefit from HCD. Consumers receive products that match their needs, employees work in systems that are more streamlined and easier to understand, and companies save money via structures that require less training, keeping the time spent on onboarding at a low cost.

The three-step human-centered design process iterates different ideas, prototyping, and case studies, all of which lead thinkers toward innovative solutions:

1. 1. Inspiration: This first phase of HCD involves innovators considering people’s real-world problems. Team members ground themselves in the needs of real people and empathize to understand what people most need to resolve issues.
2. 2. Ideation: Ideation is the generative phase of human-centered design. In this phase, design teams ideate solutions to see which ones—and which combinations of each—most efficiently answer the needs of the people. Case studies and rapid prototyping are critical features of the ideation stage. User testing and prototyping with real people help team members with problem-solving, allowing them to improve techniques, learn from mistakes, and perfect solutions.
3. 3. Implementation: Once a team refines a product or system, it is ready to be shared with the world. The solutions created out of human-centered design can allow you to formulate a business model for your non-profit or startup and offer consumers a product addressing specific, researched needs. Stakeholders on board with your methodology can then benefit from the ways your market and sell your ideas and products.

Human-centered design and design thinking are both problem-solving approaches. The most significant difference is that design thinking takes a macro approach, creating new systems and products to respond to current or future problems. Human-centered design, meanwhile, is more tied to details and improving pre-existing structures. Design thinking can be proactive, looking ahead to solve new problems, while human-centered design is more reactive, responding to inefficient systems and negative user experiences. The processes for each may mirror one another, but the end goals and reasons behind each approach differ.

As the tech industry boomed at the turn of the millennium, software developers looked for a new way forward to make their field more sustainable and efficient. The Agile Manifesto is a response to old ways of thinking and prioritizes the consumer, curiosity, and flexibility over rigid rulebooks and unchallenged systems.

The Agile Manifesto values customer satisfaction and accepts changes, even in the late stages of testing. Regular reflections and fresh thoughts about solutions are the norm, and as such, the status quo is always mutable. This philosophy has helped technology swiftly advance, and in many ways, the Agile Manifesto mirrors human-centered design principles while adapting those values to the software development field.

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