THE FIELD GUIDE TO HUMAN CENTERED DESIGN
Graphic Design has vastly opened my eyes to a world of design I never thought to exist. Each and every day as a designer I find new ways to problem solve. Discovering, creating, sharing; All elements of design. Going into senior year, I want to create meaningful work during this crazy year that I can look back and see growth. Human Centered design can be loosely defined into three categorized phases: inspiration, ideation, and implementation. What makes me ready to dive head first into this type of design is the mindset one must have to be successful.Inspiration. Willingly make a bond with someone on a deeper level than any typical client. In order to"build deep empathy with the communities and individuals you’re designing for" one must immerse themselves fully. Ideation. To not be afraid of failure is something I have had to learn over the past few years. It is scary to think it is so easy to fail but that what makes us human. As designers we must try to make sense of everything that has inspired us to "generate tons of ideas, identify opportunities for design, and test and refine your solutions." Implementation. Through the rollercoaster of design, we get to the last phase. Connection and inspiration have crept in to give us opportunities to create a solution whether it is successful or not. I believe that this last phase is where all the light bulbs flicker on and the visions come to life.
The most exciting thing for me as a designer is to see how other people react to what I design. To have someone take in the ideas and work I put in is such a rewarding feeling. Human Centered design to me reflects how I want to interact with people in order to design and problem solve. The mindsets of these designers is how i strive to impact people in the future. I want to have those mindsets of Empathy, Optimism, Iteration, Creative Confidence, Making, Embracing Ambiguity, and Learning from Failure. I believe a truly great designer can embody all seven of these to create the solution they so willingly connected and worked for.
Source:
The Field Guide to Human-Centered Design By IDEO.org