Human Centered Design Methodology

Human Centered Design Methodology is used in creating a purposeful tool or product to serve a community’s needs and human abilities (physical, cognitive, emotional etc). The key is to accommodate the product to the community’s behaviour and not the other way around, aspect taken in consideration throughout the entire process.^[1]

See also: Learner-centered approach,Needs Analysis

During the first stage the designer is doing the research aiming at knowing the community and its needs. The designer is relying on various ways of getting to know the community and its needs: interviews, self-documentation, and time spent within the community. It does not consist in observation and interpretation only; instead it involves heavily the community members who act as participants in this first stage, they being the ones sharing the community’s issues with the designer.

Second stage starts once all the information about the community has been gathered and consists in creating solutions for the community’s issues based on that information. During this stage the community members can be involved in shaping the solutions being co-designers or not, in which case the solution are created empathically. However, although the community members sometimes are not co-designers their feedback will be requested continuously along the creating stage.

Third stage starts once a first prototype of a project or solution is tried out within the community and all the improvements that follow afterwards aiming at a purposeful final product that serves well the community.