Does the ‘H’ in H.C.D stand for ‘Hubris’?
Nothing in this world is inherently good or bad. Just like anything else, pride is neither bad nor good. However, excess of anything is dangerous. John Ruskin, an English writer and philosopher, once said, “Pride is at the bottom of all great mistakes.” Looking at examples from the past, we can agree that this is fairly true. I say hubris is hazardous.
Humans are naturally egoistic creatures. We consider ourselves to be superior and more important than the rest. By no fault of our own, we have naturally wired ourselves to evolve into a selfish breed. Human-Centered Design (H.C.D) involves designing for these very humans. Just by looking at the term ‘human-centered,’ we can observe the underlying ‘self-centeredness’ of this concept. Even with this, I can’t say whether I agree or disagree with ‘hubris’ replacing the ‘H’ in H.C.D.
Instead, I look at the concept of designing for humans from an inside-outside perspective. Allow me to elaborate. Let’s consider the world to be a bubble. Within that bubble, we have all the entities and creatures on this planet. Amongst these entities, humans have a bubble of their own. The act (or the intent) of designing lies within this internal bubble, with us humans being at the center of it.
I feel like the overarching concept of designing for humans is highly self-centered. It is human-centered. We begin to think about empathetic design by thinking of humans first, making the concept highly ego-centric. Why don’t we consider the other entities? We do talk about space, environment, surroundings, nature, and more, but we consider them secondary. People say that design does not happen in isolation. However, when I look from the outside, I believe that we do design in isolation. We design only for us.
From the outside context, the intent of H.C.D is then reduced to only benefiting humans. It is for our comfort, convenience, and satisfaction. It makes our lives better at any cost. We dominate it. I am sure this statement screams loudly of ego. Here, H.C.D. does stand for ‘Hubris’ Centered Design. But I do not think that is what H.C.D. is about.
On the contrary, let’s have a look at our bubble from the inside. If we isolate ourselves from the rest and focus entirely on ‘human-centered’ design, we might start seeing this term in a softer light. When I look at H.C.D. with only people in the context (of course, they don’t go on without the ‘secondary’ entities), I view it as something empathetic and inclusive. For just us humans, we try to be highly inclusive. It feels like we are part of something bigger. And here is where we drop ‘hubris’ and bring in ‘human.’
Within our bubble, human-centered design is meaningful and necessary. Its intent is still the same, but it becomes much more humane. Yes, under this light, we have some dark spots as well, like shoddy experiences, malpractices, and exploitation, but its entire focus is on humans. When it is only about us, our competitive egos are no longer at play. With satisfied egos, we can start examining the true meaning of human-centered design. The intent then comes full circle, and we are back to looking at our surrounding entities and space, trying to make our design process inclusive and accessible.
H.C.D., for us, is an ever-evolving process. We are constantly examining and making changes to it. It helps to keep an open mind about it. With this perspective, I am keeping the door open for exploring and examining H.C.D. from both perspectives (outside and inside). They are like two sides of a coin. For me, the ‘H’ in H.C.D will never stand for ‘Hubris.’ I want to be clear that while making this statement, I am openly ignoring the double-sidedness of the concept and just looking from the inside.
As good designers, our intent is only to help people while also taking all otherworldly entities at pace with us. Optimum human-centered design will result in satisfaction and a harmonious future. Keeping pride outside of H.C.D. is a way to be more accepting of what the true meaning and intent of H.C.D. is. Its intent is pure and positive.
