‘Before you dream up a solution, you need to put yourself in the user’s shoes first’
In the course of Human Centered Design, second-year students of Communication and Information Sciences work among other things on developing their empathic abilities. The idea behind it is that you understand what people experience as a problem and to put yourself in those people’s shoes. What do these persons need? What are the circumstances? How do these persons talk to themselves? Only then can you begin to design a solution that really meets their needs.
By: Melinde Bussemaker
Assistant Professor Simone Ashby teaches the course together with Supraja Sankaran. Ashby: “In Human Centered Design, students learn about the entire process from conducting research on the context of use, to ideating on possible novel solutions, to transforming these ideas into prototypes.”
They learn to collaborate in a team, to give and receive feedback, to communicate, and write academic texts: skills which they will profit from in their career, no matter where it takes them.
The course reflects all three pillars of the Tilburg Educational Profile: knowledge, skills, and character.
How is Human Centered Design structured?
“At the beginning of the semester, we introduce ten themes in the field of social innovation, for instance, issues like loneliness among the elderly, food waste, the safety of women walking alone after dark. In groups of four or five, the students choose a theme and formulate a problem statement. Every student investigates part of the problem so they can ultimately propose a solution to the overarching problem together.” Students do so by adopting the perspective of the persons for whom they are designing a solution. The students conduct qualitative research and learn how to analyse interviews and other qualitative research outputs. For instance, they interpret data based on affinity diagramming, a method to organize various data sources into themes. One group subsequently presents their research results to the other and vice versa, and they give each other feedback. This is where they are taught how to give constructive feedback to their peers without making it personal. These are examples of how Ashby and Sankaran combine knowledge and skills.
How do students then work with their idea?
Throughout, the students assume different roles within the group, including the role of a project manager/facilitator, a user research lead, creative, development, and content management leads. Ashby:
We challenge them to choose a role that is outside their comfort zone, so they can obtain new knowledge and skills, and grow their professional profile.
Student groups work together to create preliminary design artifacts, such as personas, storyboards and journey maps, all the while working towards a final proof-of-concept. “This process provides students with multiple opportunities for learning from each other as the project takes shape.” Ultimately, every student makes their own design portfolio. They can later show this portfolio after graduating, for example in a job interview. It is tangible evidence of their human centered design experience.
Besides this tangible result, what else can we see coming out of this course?
It is about awareness raising and development: character building. Ashby and Sankaran give students ample freedom to experiment with new ideas and approaches, and to take risks, even when it means making the occasional mistake. “When a designer says ‘this is it’ once the first acceptable idea is conceived, they limit themselves from achieving bold new solutions. The rideshare service Lyft was once considered a crazy idea, but has now assumed a dominant position in the market.” In this sense, the course touches on entrepreneurship. One example of an original student idea relating to the theme of ‘connecting with the elderly and increasing civic engagement’ involved the creation of STIRR, a platform for engaging young and elderly people to cook together. The point of some of the ideas can be: starting a dialogue, planting a seed.
How do students react to Human Centered Design?
“Students experience an end-to-end design process, and the opportunity to grow in their role on the design team, which they really enjoy”, according to Ashby. Some students see themselves working in developing design ideas, although they have not really trained as developers. In Human Centered Design, they see that different roles may be an option for them. In the course, students are also encouraged to take a critical look at interactive systems, and technology in general. How far is too far when it comes to the design of systems and services that enable people to live better lives, in harmony with the environment? Algorithmic bias, the privacy of online data, and persuasive technologies are cases in point. The latter can have a positive impact if used to influence healthy lifestyles, but:
A good designer should remain critical and consider possible negative consequences of their solutions as an integral part of the design process.