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UX glossary · engl. Human-Centered Design

Human-Centered Design

Human-centered design is an approach in which people, their tasks and their environment shape the entire development process. The standard ISO 9241-210 describes it with six principles.

Imagine a medical practice introducing new scheduling software. The practice manager chose it after a product demo. On the first Monday, ten people are lined up at the front desk, the phone won’t stop ringing, and the staff need twice as long for every appointment as before. Nobody had asked how the front desk actually works.

This is exactly where human-centered design comes in.

Explained simply

Human-centered design (HCD) means building a product from the start around the people who use it or are affected by it. Their tasks, their environment and their limits drive the decisions, not the technology or the team’s personal taste.

Think of a tailor. A tailor takes your measurements first, has you try things on and then adjusts. An off-the-rack suit might fit too, but only by chance. HCD is the measuring and fitting for digital products.

The approach is set out in the international standard ISO 9241-210, currently in its 2019 edition. Its predecessor was ISO 13407 from 1999. You’ll often hear “user-centered design” as well. The word “human” is usually explained as a way to include people who don’t operate the system themselves but are affected by it, like the patients waiting at the practice in the scenario above. Note that ISO uses the British spelling “human-centred.”

The six principles of the standard

ISO 9241-210 lists six principles, paraphrased here:

  1. The design is based on a clear understanding of people, their tasks and their environment.
  2. People are involved throughout design and development.
  3. Evaluation with people drives and refines the design.
  4. The process is iterative, meaning it runs in loops.
  5. The design addresses the whole user experience.
  6. The team brings together different disciplines and perspectives.

The standard also describes four activities that repeat: understanding the context of use, specifying requirements, producing design solutions and evaluating them. Practical methods include user research and usability testing. Related process models such as design thinking follow a similar logic.

An example

Back to the medical practice. Before: the software was bought from a feature list and rolled out without any testing.

After: for the next switch, a small team spends a morning at the front desk watching how appointments are made. It turns out most requests come in by phone and need to be entered quickly. Two systems are tried out with real tasks, and the team picks the one the front desk handles fastest. Two weeks after launch, the team checks in again and adjusts the settings.

In practice

  • Go where the product is used. Observe people in their real environment. Many problems only show up in everyday work, not in a meeting room.
  • Think about everyone affected. Don’t just ask who operates the product. Ask who lives with the consequences. You can read more in What Is User Experience?.
  • Build loops into the plan. Decide in the project plan when you’ll test drafts with real people and when you’ll make improvements.

Related terms

User Research, Usability Testing, Design Thinking, Persona

Sources

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