Why our approach to design is human-centred
5 MIN READ
Anyone who knows me, will know the practical approach I take with everything from managing design projects to preparing a fruit platter.
So, it’s with little surprise when I sit here to formalise what human-centred design is, that I focus on the practical aspects.
What is human-centred design? It’s an approach to problem solving that puts the humans we are designing for, at the centre of the process.
If you’ve ever worked with a graphic designer on creating your branding elements for example, you may wonder how they create something out of the conversations you verbalise, or (hopefully) write in a brief. I’ve received incredible comments that humble me, like:
“Magic!”
“It’s beyond what I could ever quite imagine.”
“A real design superstar!”
What happens in these types of projects, is design thinking. With your help, a graphic designer empathises with your story, defines your needs, ideates concepts, prototypes to help you visualise the final product and then tests it out on your graphic design deliverables – all before it’s released into the wild!
Animation: An example of how we breakdown the brand elements within a logo to a client in the ideation phase.
Human-Centred Design dives deeper
Human-Centred Design (HCD) is designing with intent. It takes the guesswork out of designing for business. It turns the subjective (“I love the rain!”) into the objective (“It's raining”).
It gives you insight into your customers, based on specific, personalised questions, which are then turned in to tangible tasks to improve how you run your business at each touch point.
What it looks like
HCD is a non-linear approach. It is tailored to suit your business and challenge your assumptions. Each methodology encourages an open mind so you can learn from a customer’s experience. They all have their own outputs and outcomes.
At Minta, we emphasise empathy.
Regardless of what methodology is the right fit for you, we’ll host a workshop, invite you to answer all kinds of (comfortable and uncomfortable) questions about how you work with your customers, and ask to you empathise with how they think and feel.
While success feels good, failure is an incredibly powerful tool for learning.
Sorting out what doesn’t work, is part of finding out what will.
It’s by reviewing the results of the workshop and creating a report, we can begin to understand how your brand can be future-proofed.
Graphic designers are a great fit for HCD
Image: Example of how we used HCD to prototype Assembld’s website, before it was developed into a live website.
Why? Because we have experience in how to design for visual mediums and can apply this design thinking to designing for humans.
When you collaborate with a designer you trust on HCD, the value is the insight you get from the people you work with, your customers and even your customer’s customer’s (who could be potential customers!) What you’ll get is a clear road map to future proofing your brand.
And as an added bonus, a graphic designer has the skills for when it comes time to create the tangible assets following the human centred design process. We can seamlessly continue your projects, keeping momentum and gaining a better understanding of your business all at the same time.
If you’d like to learn more about how we can help you future-proof your brand, book in a time to chat.