A Student Reflection on Human Centered Design
THERE ARE MANY WAYS IN WHICH TO PURSUE GOALS, embracing the journey can make any achievement taste even sweeter. Often our society conditions us to think failure is negative and never giving up is the only mentality to maintain, however, this theory couldn’t be further from the truth. Learning how to create and design life’s journey and tailor your time to what suits you best is a model worth crafting to perfection, because really a person has nothing to lose and everything to gain.
There are three main components to the design process: inspiration, ideation, and implementation.
The elements that make up each component are opportunity specific and truly give the designer tools in which to accomplish objectives. Failures are only temporary setbacks and should be considered the foundation of success, although many have coined this phrase, seeming cliché, the design process takes it a step further. The art of letting go and reframing is a powerful technique and is surprisingly difficult. People are reluctant to give up sunken time, costs, and efforts, yet keeping an open mind and soliciting feedback will shed light on what may have seemed like the best idea in the universe.
The inspiration phase encourages us to frame our design challenge, think through an empathetic lens, embrace ambiguity, conduct interviews, draw sketches, and define the audience. Let creative confidence lead the way and believe anything is possible, this is the mindset which can unlock doors never imagined.
The ideation phase helps to narrow and organize all the ideas and learnings from the inspiration phase. There are various methods to discover what design path to take, just remember the journey counts just as much as the end result. During this phase, radically collaborate, brainstorm, find common themes, create insight statements and design principles. This phase will also guide you to determine what to prototype, ask for feedback, and integrate that feedback towards the next steps.
The implementation phase is where the design comes to life. The foundation has been laid from the previous two stages and the fruits of hard labor are starting to bloom. This is a chance to develop live prototypes, pilot programs, build partnerships, and roadmaps. Keep iterating and accept that solutions are never really finished, fail fast and embrace the lessons learned during the process.
I found that creating a life that truly compliments one’s character and goals can really improve a person’s well-being and the human centered design process is a proven method to guide people towards a life well lived with harmony and balance.
Reference:
Design Kit is IDEO.org's platform to learn human-centered design.
