Human-Centered Design (HCD)
Definition: A design philosophy that puts human needs, capabilities, and behavior first, then designs to accommodate them. It is a process (set of procedures), not an area of focus.
Relationship to design specialties (Table 1.1): industrial design (form/material), interaction design (understandability/usability), and experience design (emotional impact) are areas of focus; HCD is the process that ensures all of them match real human needs. They are compatible — HCD adds deep study of human needs to whatever the focus.
Core principles:
- Start from a deep understanding of people and their needs, gained primarily through observation — people are often unaware of their own true needs and difficulties.
- Avoid specifying the problem as long as possible; iterate through repeated approximations and rapid tests rather than committing early.
- Designers focus on the cases where things go wrong, not just the happy path — that is where the most satisfaction (and the hardest design) lies.
- "We are all designers" — everyone designs their lives, rooms, and workarounds.
Two embedded commitments (ch.6):
- Solve the right problem (see The Double-Diamond Model of Design, Root Cause Analysis and the Five Whys).
- Meet human needs and capabilities (see The HCD Iterative Process — Observe / Ideate / Prototype / Test).
Reality check: in practice, schedule/budget pressure (Norman's Law) and feature/technology-driven companies often override HCD. See Featuritis and Creeping Featurism.
Confidence
1.0 — explicitly defined philosophy.
Sources: ["DOET ch.1 'Human-Centered Design' p.8-10; ch.6"]