Human-Centered Design and empathy in a global pandemic 🌎

First things first, what is human-centered design? 😬

You may have heard what Human-Centered Design is all about. If this is not the case, i can tell you that it is basically a 100% people-focused process. That means generating lots of ideas, sketches, prototypes, iteraries, sharing this with people and finally testing the designed solution.

I will try to give you my humble analysis for now and how we can put it into practice from our homes, remotely or with fewer resources. This is a process that consists of well-defined steps, and is used by some major corporations, there are 3 main steps that aim to build empathy with the people for whom your product is being designed (whichever it is). Here’s how it works:

Your job in this stage is to connect better with people, learn to listen and observe their lives. They will tell you their wishes, fears and hopes so that you can analyze and begin to come up with solutions that work Illustration by Thierry Fousse

At this stage everything you have heard or seen will make you have lots of ideas, helping you identify opportunities for possible solutions. Illustration by Thierry Fousse

At this point in the development process, you will be in a better position to have a vision of the product and the impact it can have on the market, you are now ready to take it to market. Illustration by Thierry Fousse

This whole process aims to sensitize us and put us at the shoes of the users or people who use our products; in other words, in other words this process tries to

Big brands have done this with this process or with others ( it’ s valid), but always trying to understand the situation and the world context at this time.

As creatives or product designers, entrepreneurs, marketers or simply as human beings; we must try to generate more empathy (again). It allows us to generate products or contribute to their conception.

There are some tools or methods we can apply to make this process more beneficial:

Photo by Akshar Dave on Unsplash

Interviewing people 👂

This allows you to get firsthand the testimony, needs, concerns or desires that a person has. You immediately feel connected to the story they have to tell. You can do this either by video call or simply by a chat on your phone.

Photo by BRUNO CERVERA on Unsplash

Teamwork 📞✉️

Surely (or more) minds think better than one. Under this idea, take advantage of this time to be more connected than ever with your teammates or people close to you. It helps to stay creative, generate ideas and propose new solutions to help not only a niche or business but the world.

Photo by Amélie Mourichon on Unsplash

Prototyping, share and repeat ✍️📝

Believe it or not, to shape your ideas in a tangible way allows to have a complete vision of the product or concept that is being developed. Sharing these hypotheses or concepts with people and receiving their constant feedback will allow you to constantly improve your product or service. However this process does not die there, it is important to iterate in order to create a more robust product that can better satisfy the needs of your users

Some important efforts that brands have put in place during this pandemic have been the following:

Louis Vuitton adds to this movement by creating face masks

NIKE Face Shields against COVID 19

Microsoft Bing Launches COVID-19 Web Tracker

These are some examples of how big brands are trying to generate products that will solve or clarify people’s needs during this pandemic. Many of these efforts are aimed at informing the population or safeguarding the effort that each medical staff makes every day.

The important thing is that all of us as individuals can apply these principles and try to help our society, staying creative and innovative regardless of the difficulties, in short what I can synthesize from this process is with the intention of motivating you to continue innovating, creating, sharing, and ultimately helping each other … being more empathetic