Human-Centered Design (HCD) is a cyclical problem-solving approach that places users’ needs, emotions, and behaviors at the core of every design stage. By gaining deep insights into user challenges, HCD creates products, services, and experiences that are intuitive, accessible, and meaningful. I, Neeraj Aneja, share Human Centered Design approach to help you create products that truly meet your users’ needs.
Example: Designing a Mobile Banking App for Elderly Users
A bank wants to create a mobile banking app that is easy for elderly users to navigate. Using Human-Centered Design (HCD), the team conducts interviews and usability tests with seniors to understand their challenges, such as difficulty reading small text and confusion with complex navigation.
Based on insights, they design an app with larger fonts, simplified navigation, voice assistance, and a step-by-step guide. They then test prototypes with elderly users, gather feedback, and refine the design until it becomes intuitive, accessible, and effective for their needs. This ensures that the final product truly improves the banking experience for elderly users, making it both user-friendly and impactful.
Human centric design points that you need to take care of while designing any application.
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- Understand users deeply by engaging with them and observing their behaviors.
- Conduct user research to uncover real needs, motivations, and pain points
- Actively involve users throughout the design process through interviews, usability testing, and feedback loops.
- Design is an ongoing cycle of prototyping, testing, and refining based on user feedback.
- Rapid iterations help in identifying issues early and improving the solution.
- Define the problem from the user’s perspective, ensuring that the solution aligns with their needs.
- Use techniques like “How Might We” (HMW) questions to explore possibilities.
- Encourage cross-functional teamwork to generate innovative solutions.
- Create low-fidelity and high-fidelity prototypes to test ideas quickly.
- Gather feedback from real users and refine the design accordingly.
- Understand how a design fits into a broader ecosystem.
- A successful design must be desirable (user needs), feasible (technically possible), and viable (business-sustainable).
