Just like the name suggests, these are designs created with the perspective being of that of the consumers. Meaning the original idea was created due to a need. These designs are meant to provide a solution to a certain problem.

Most companies, businesses, and brands now understand the importance of human-centered design both in the business and for the consumers. They also understand to achieve this goal, there are certain principles and methods that must be followed. Check them out below.

Human-Centered Design Principles

User design is based on certain fundamental principles that help companies and product developers meet the users’ expectations. They include;

  • The very first principle is to ensure users are involved in the thought and design process right from the beginning. Before they can make any critical decisions, they evaluate how they will impact the end-users.
  • Another important principle is to align users’ needs with business needs. As much as the consumers are in the middle of the whole process, the design must also be able to meet and achieve business interests.
  • User experience is also in the heart of product designers. The designers constantly work to improve user experience, even if it means introducing changes as they gain more knowledge and understanding about the needs of the end-users.

Human-Centered Design Stages

Besides the principles used in human-centered product design, there are certain methods involved in the process, these include empathizing, defining, ideating, prototyping, and testing. Human-centered design can be applied in all of these stages.

It simply means understanding the context and concepts of product use, specifying user requirements, brainstorming product design ideas, design solutions, and evaluating the requirements. Here are the strategies offered by consumer product design company used in the whole process;

Research

Research is the first and foremost element in the process. After all, without research, how will the product team identify a problem or even figure out what solution best fits the problem at hand? The goal here is to understand the audience they are designed for.

Creating Personas

The next important stage is to create personas. Personas are simply a representation of the real audience the design is being made for. This includes everything the potential consumers look like and their goals, needs, pain points, skills, behavior, attitudes, and more.

Sometimes it may even include deeper details like age group, demographic, and such. Personas help designers understand the real user requirements and create a better user experience and decisions on important elements such as product features, interactions, visual design, and navigation.

User Journey Mapping

This paints a picture of the whole consumers’ journey. From when they realize they have a certain problem, the process of finding a solution, and actually “buying” the solution. It is understanding the user interactions with the product.

Visualizing a users’ journey allows the product designers to see the product from a consumer’s point of view. This will help them make the necessary changes and adjustments to better the user experience as well as help in other areas of the whole product design process.