Week 1
Assignment Due 8/31/22: UXD Principles & Concepts | Masters program
What is HCD?
As a working UX professional, everything I do is centered around my user base’s thoughts, goals, motivations, and actions. As a strategist, I use the framework of human-centered design (specifically critical thinking and problem-solving) to put all the puzzle pieces together from every data point. I try not to take anything (even in everyday life) at face value. I often come off as pessimistic about how critically I question simple project requests. If someone doesn’t provide enough information, I usually ask things like: “What is the goal of the project?”, “What are our key performance indicators (KPIs)?” and “Who is the audience, and how does this benefit them?” I generally dig deeper into any data points (more than what’s asked of me) and collaborate with analysts to be thorough and ensure nothing goes unanswered.
Start with why
I’ve learned that quantitative data is excellent: you get the who, what, where, when, & how questions answered. But the one thing you can’t get from quantitative research is the WHY. You are finding the answer to “WHY” is at the heart of human-centered design and the design thinking methodology. If you can’t answer why a user does something a certain way, why they are struggling, or why they need more from your product or service, you may still be missing something that can help improve your user’s experiences.
The adoption of Design Thinking
I think more organizations are adopting design thinking methods because they see others reaping the financial benefits & customer rapport. The hardest thing is selling an organization on design thinking or user experience research. Organizations run on rigid timelines, processes, and budgets. Before mudding up their workflows, they need to see the return on investment (ROI) for user experience design. Most companies fail to see that the design thinking process (although it can add time for proper research and testing) can help save the company money in the long run. They don’t understand that researching and testing before you launch a new product or feature can save development/engineering time and headaches from customer complaints and potential loss of revenue.
What UXD is not
Many companies also don’t understand what UX design is. I often see companies hiring for a “UX designer,” but they want a graphic designer or web developer. Good visual design can be a part of design thinking, but making flashy things shouldn’t be the only thing a designer focuses on. Designers must focus on creating USABLE, VALUABLE, and INCLUSIVE products or services that fit the needs of everyone who will use it. They can do that through empathizing with users (through research and testing), defining the problems, ideation through collaboration, prototyping, testing, and repeating when necessary.
Human-centered design is such a passionate topic for me. I love helping people, and this field, although challenging as it can be, is gratifying when you find you have helped someone or made their life easier.
Assignment submitted 8/28/2022 by Shannon Kelly.