Design For Humans

It’s not good enough to just have a working or functional product.
 
With all things being equal, people will choose great design and a great experience over a mediocre experience every time!
 
Without good design, it’s a large ask for people to be loyal users and referral sources that help the product grow. 

Successful companies have earned billions by recognizing the value of integrating human centered design strategies into their processes.
 

Human-centered design is an approach to problem-solving that deeply considers & includes the perspective of the target audience.  

 
Design can and should be used as a distinguishing factor to adjust to the ever changing needs of users.  Companies such as Apple, Microsoft, Disney and IBM have proven that human centered design is a competitive advantage that impacts profit, virality and drives business growth.

Ive included 3 reasons why your team needs to implement human-centered design processes today!

1. Reduce Reworks and Development Cost

A lot of money in a software project are spent to fix things. Redoing things because the company didn’t get it right the first time.  So not only are you wasting money but time as well.
 
Adopting a user-centered approach to design can reduce the need for revisions and rework by maximizing the probability for getting it right the first time.
 
Roger Pressman in his book “Software Engineering: A Practitioner’s Approach” states
 

“ROI for every $1 invested in user-centered design (UCD) is between $2 to $100” 

 

By bringing a design team onto your project–and using HCD research methods in the very early stages–you’ll make more informed decisions based on research and facts… rather than assumptions. HCD allows you to remove the guesswork and know for sure what your building is desirable for the user group.

2. Superior User Experience

HCD, at its core, enables teams to better define customer and user pain points, motivations, and needs. In turn, customers are happier because their needs and wants are being recognized and prioritized making them more loyal and likely to tell their communities.
 
Any design process that takes into account the needs of the users, involves them during the development, and values inputs from stakeholders is bound to result in better quality output as opposed to a design process that does not.
 
Collecting feedback, reviewing it and prioritizing objectives should be a regular and iterative step for any business.
 
Never stop asking questions and learning from your users.

3. Increase Team Alignment

By aligning teams and goals, you can immediately avoid the merry-go-round of decision making. Additionally you will be able to increase team buy-in throughout the entire process.
 
Involving your entire cross functional team in projects at an earlier stage will increase efficiency for all team members, encourage collaboration and make for a more well rounded solution. Teams generally work better and produce better products when everyone is on the same page and focusing on the same goals. One team, one goal.

Next Steps

As you can see, there are many benefits associated with user-centered design. At this point you might be wondering how you can start to implement human centered design on your team. Here’s a list of ways to start on your HCD journey
 
  1. Gather as team when we starting projects and do research. Facts and data will lead the way.
  2. Build an in-house research and design team.
  3. Invest resources into design leadership at the C – level
  4. Invest in corporate coaching and workshops.
Double down on human centered design and incorporating it as resource to solve complex problems and test design solutions.

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