12.0.0 Designing Social Change
Human-centered design is a creative approach to problem solving. It’s a process that starts with the people you’re designing for and ends with new solutions that are tailor made to suit their needs. Human-centered design is all about building a deep empathy with the people you’re designing for; generating tons of ideas; building a bunch of prototypes; sharing what you’ve made; and eventually putting your innovative new solution out in the world.
Embracing human-centered design means believing that all problems, even the seemingly overwhelming ones, are solvable. Moreover, it means believing that the people who face those problems every day are the ones who hold the key to their answer. Human-centered design offers problem-solvers a chance to design within communities, to deeply understand the people they’re looking to serve, to dream up scores of ideas, and to create innovative new solutions rooted in people’s actual needs. Being a human-centered designer is about believing that as long as you stay grounded in what you’ve learned from people, your team can arrive at new solutions that the world needs.
Human-centered designers are unlike other problem solvers—we tinker and test, we fail early and often, and we spend a surprising amount of time not knowing the answer to the challenge at hand. And yet, we forge ahead. We’re optimists and makers, experimenters and learners, we empathize and iterate, and we look for inspiration in unexpected places. We believe that a solution is out there and that by keeping focused on the people we’re designing for and asking the right questions, we’ll get there together. We dream up lots of ideas, some that work and some that don’t. We make our ideas tangible so that we can test them, and then we refine them. In the end, our approach amounts to wild creativity, to a ceaseless push to innovate, and a confidence that leads us to solutions we’d never dreamed of when we started.
Embracing human-centered design means believing that all problems, even the seemingly overwhelming ones, are solvable. Moreover, it means believing that the people who face those problems every day are the ones who hold the key to their answer. Human-centered design offers problem-solvers a chance to design within communities, to deeply understand the people they’re looking to serve, to dream up scores of ideas, and to create innovative new solutions rooted in people’s actual needs. Being a human-centered designer is about believing that as long as you stay grounded in what you’ve learned from people, your team can arrive at new solutions that the world needs.
Human-centered designers are unlike other problem solvers—we tinker and test, we fail early and often, and we spend a surprising amount of time not knowing the answer to the challenge at hand. And yet, we forge ahead. We’re optimists and makers, experimenters and learners, we empathize and iterate, and we look for inspiration in unexpected places. We believe that a solution is out there and that by keeping focused on the people we’re designing for and asking the right questions, we’ll get there together. We dream up lots of ideas, some that work and some that don’t. We make our ideas tangible so that we can test them, and then we refine them. In the end, our approach amounts to wild creativity, to a ceaseless push to innovate, and a confidence that leads us to solutions we’d never dreamed of when we started.
12.1.1 Section 1 Objectives
By the end of this topic, students should be able to:
12.1.2 Section 1 Content
12.2.1 Section 2 Objectives
By the end of this topic, students should be able to:
12.2.2 Section 2 Content
12.3.1 Section 3 Objectives
By the end of this topic, students should be able to:
12.3.2 Section 3 Content
12.4.1 Section 4 Objectives
By the end of this topic, students should be able to:
12.4.2 Section 4 Content
12.5.1 Section 5 Objectives
By the end of this topic, students should be able to:
12.5.2 Section 5 Content
12.6.1 Section 6 Objectives
By the end of this topic, students should be able to:
12.6.2 Section 6 Content
By the end of this topic, students should be able to:
- explain the central concepts of Human Centered Design
- discuss the benefits of working collaboratively and cooperatively
- understand the stages of design thinking and the design process
- understand the role creativity, empathy and innovation plays in design thinking
- list common applications for the human centered design process
- summarize the inspiration phase of human centered design
- summarize the ideation phase of human centered design
- summarize the implementation phase of human centered design
- list and define the different mindsets of a human centered designer
- apply the principles of design thinking to solving a variety of challenges
- understand the importance of practical application of human centered design
- welcome and accept differing viewpoints and perspectives from others
- summarize the characteristics of a thoughtful, personal interview
- apply note-taking skills as interviews as part of the interview process
- define the term “prototype” as it relates to the design process
- list and explain a wide variety of forms of a prototype
- recognize the importance of offering quality feedback and reflection
- recognize the importance of sharing research results with others
12.1.2 Section 1 Content
- What Is Human-Centered Design?
- The Design Process
- Mindsets of a Human-Centered Designer
- Design Thinking for Social Innovation
12.2.1 Section 2 Objectives
By the end of this topic, students should be able to:
- summarize the inspiration phase of the human centered design process
- understand the criteria for selecting a challenge suitable for the design process
- identify and resolve constraints or barriers to a variety of design challenges
- understand the role of the intended audience in any design challenge
- recognize how trust will impact the validity of any design challenge
- list a variety of methods of collecting information for a design challenge
- summarize the characteristics of a thoughtful, personal interview
- apply note-taking skills as interviews as part of the interview process
- conduct secondary research on a variety of different topics
- identify objectives of a design challenge and use them to guide research
- recognize the importance of offering quality feedback and reflection
- recognize the importance of sharing research results with others
12.2.2 Section 2 Content
- Overview of Inspiration Phase
- Step 1: Choose a Design Challenge
- Step 2: Plan Your Research Methods
- Step 3: Build Your Interview Guide
- Step 4: Additional Research Methods
- Step 5: Capture Your Learnings
12.3.1 Section 3 Objectives
By the end of this topic, students should be able to:
- summarize the ideation phase of the human centered design process
- identify themes and insights from observations and research
- define the term “synthesis” as it relates to the ideation phase
- understand the importance of freely sharing ideas within a team
- list the types of details that should be captured/shared during the ideation phase
- explain the role of active listening during the download process
- explain the role of providing visual markers during the download process
- apply a variety of organizational strategies to categorizing information
- discuss the techniques of finding themes, relationships and connections within a large body of information
- use HMW questioning to generate new insight innovate new solutions
12.3.2 Section 3 Content
- Overview of Ideation Phase: Synthesis
- Synthesis: Turn Learnings into Opportunities for Design
- Step 1: Capture Your Learnings
- Step 2: Search For Meaning
- Step 3: Create “How Might We” Questions
12.4.1 Section 4 Objectives
By the end of this topic, students should be able to:
- summarize the ideation phase of the human centered design process
- define “prototyping” as it relates to the ideation phase of human centered design
- define “iteration” as it relates to the ideation phase of human centered design
- list and discuss the five steps of the prototyping process
- understand the role that failure plays in the ideation phase
- identify key elements of a productive brainstorming session
- list specific rules for effective brainstorming
- summarize techniques for identifying, bundling and selecting promising ideas
- list and explain a wide variety of forms of a prototype
- explain how prototypes will help teams share ideas
- define “user experience” as it relates to the ideation phase
- explain the importance of testing and seeking feedback
- summarize traits needed to receive honest and useful feedback
- use feedback to evaluate and evolve a prototype
12.4.2 Section 4 Content
- Overview of Ideation Phase: Prototyping
- Prototype: Make Your Ideas Real
- Step 1: Generate Ideas
- Step 2: Select Promising Ideas
- Step 3: Determine What to Prototype
- Step 4: Make Your Prototypes
- Step 5: Test & Get Feedback
- Step 6: Integrate Feedback & Iterate
12.5.1 Section 5 Objectives
By the end of this topic, students should be able to:
- summarize the implementation phase of the human centered design process
- understand the impact a solution might have on an audience
- predict likely outcomes of implementing an innovation
- discuss using the 2x2 Matrix in finding a balance of solutions
- explain the differences between revolutionary thinking and incremental change
- create an appropriate action plan implementing change
- list and discuss the five key elements of creating an action plan
- summarize the process of launching a solution into the marketplace
- apply a variety of techniques to gathering quality feedback
- discuss the importance of measuring and evaluating performance
- understanding the steps of scaling a project up for wider impact
12.5.2 Section 5 Content
- Overview of Implementation Phase
- Step 1: Understand Your Target
- Step 2: Create an Action Plan
- Step 3: Launch Your Solution
- Step 4: Keep Getting Feedback and Iterating
- Step 5: Scale Towards Impact
12.6.1 Section 6 Objectives
By the end of this topic, students should be able to:
- explain the central concepts of Human Centered Design
- discuss the benefits of working collaboratively and cooperatively
- understand the stages of design thinking and the design process
- understand the role creativity, empathy and innovation plays in design thinking
- list common applications for the human centered design process
- summarize the inspiration phase of human centered design
- summarize the ideation phase of human centered design
- summarize the implementation phase of human centered design
- list and define the different mindsets of a human centered designer
- apply the principles of design thinking to solving a variety of challenges
- understand the importance of practical application of human centered design
- recognize the importance of offering quality feedback and reflection
- recognize the importance of sharing research results with others
12.6.2 Section 6 Content
- Learn From Failure
- Creative Confidence
- Embrace Ambiguity
- Be Optimistic
- Interviewing
- Storyboarding
- Iterate, Iterate, Iterate
- Live Prototypes
- Integrating Feedback
- Build Partnerships