Human-centered design (HCD) is an approach to problem-solving and innovation that puts collaboration and empathy at the forefront of its work. The goal of HCD is to ensure that the outcomes of a design process are appropriate, beneficial and desirable to the end users and other stakeholders that a design is meant to serve. To that end, HCD seeks the involvement and perspectives of people from those groups — people whose lived experiences and contextual knowledge can inform and enrich solutions and innovations.

Although HCD prioritizes direct involvement with end users and stakeholders, it can also rely on observation or other methods of engaging with relevant perspectives. Tools and exercises such as journey mapping, role-playing, digital avatars, simulated or extended reality environments, or the study of personal narratives can provide valuable insights that guide a design process.

HCD for Health

The application of HCD to advance health-related objectives has been widely recognized for its power to help health professionals see past assumptions, understand barriers to desired health outcomes, and identify and refine solutions that are repeatable and scalable. HCD accomplishes this by inviting end users and other stakeholders to participate in design processes from the beginning — and, if needed, through multiple iterations.

When HCD is used to promote individual, community or global health, the end users and stakeholders involved can include patients, caregivers, clinicians, community members or health advocacy groups. The designers working with those constituents will usually be an interprofessional or interdisciplinary group of practitioners. If that group includes multiple people from the same organization, they will be selected in a way that avoids reinforcing organizational silos and hierarchies. While being inclusive in those ways, HCD teams are generally kept small so that they can be cohesive and agile in their decisions and actions.

Finally, HCD favors open-ended, in-the-field inquiry in which each member of the HCD team is considered a coequal contributor to the design project. This approach can help HCD teams avoid design outcomes that are negatively affected by entrenched ideas, power imbalances or considerations that are only relevant to some members of the design team, such as publication opportunities for those with academic careers.

HCD at Health Sciences Design

At Health Sciences Design, core courses give students an opportunity to learn key concepts from both human-centered design and design thinking, as well as apply those concepts in workshop-style course sessions. In addition, HSD’s Design for Health Innovation Graduate Certificate offers students a more in-depth graduate experience in HCD in a nine-unit, project-driven format. Prospective students can learn more by visiting the pages linked above or by emailing uahsdesign@arizona.edu.