Why humans matter in user-centered design process

Putting user at the centre of the design process, understanding their needs and listening to their concerns is what user centered design is all about. However, after our exercise redefining the gift giving experience through user centered design, I am left with questions about this process and limitations in community based policy making. I am unsure if policy makers are able to empathize with complex community needs and translate those needs into meaningful solutions by placing the user in a community through this process.

One of the key limitations of the process is the designer’s attachment to their own solution. A series of interviews allows the designer to better understand and empathize with the user, but this also adds to the designer’s bias and inclination towards their proposed solution. As result, user centered design process at times ends up imposing ideas and solutions that may not clearly understand the needs of the user. I personally struggled to understand and empathize during the workshop, and it made me think: what does this mean for policy implications and translating community needs into policy prescriptions with fiscal and time constraints?

Instead of imposing a solution, policy makers not only need to work with, but empower the communities that wish to bring about change. User centered design process in community based policy making should create environments that enable community members to be movers and shakers of their own change. As a result, community needs and concerns would not get lost in translation when designers try to empathize with the users.

When thinking of community based policy making, it is important to remember that the “user” in user centred design process is a human with unique needs situated in a complex context. Policy makers should also be mindful of the power structure user centred design process can establish between the community members and the policy makers. Weistein and Janzer propose “situation-centred” design practices which may be the answer to some of the limitations outlined above. The practice of community based policy making needs to be aligned with the user (in this case community members), rooted in history and social context.