Human-centered product design in action

1. Human-centered product design in action

2. Human-centered design requires attention to several factors such as environmental, social and economical considerations. A closer look into what motivates consumers will offer insights as to how we can influence customers to make the choices you need them to make. There are three things to consider when creating human-centers products • Bridging the automation gap • Putting expertise in the foreground • Nurturing the super customer

3. Applications for design agencies Sometimes a great product idea starts with a problem someone is looking to solve for their audience. Maybe it starts with a simple insight into the life of your customer and the environment they are in. This application is projected in Banathy’s Process Lens categorizing different interdisciplinary processes to ensure a holistic and balanced approach for a design problem.

4. Applications for design agencies Transformation processes Transformation processes Output processes Input processes Operations striving to convert input into output so that the system or product is maintained, developed or changed. In product design, this includes the entire iterative product design cycle & change management and user feedback loops. During the identification and assessment of purpose relevant output and also rolling out the final results into the market environment. In product design, processes include usability testing, scope definition as well as quality checks. When the product is in the market, you put maintenance processes into account for user feedback, adjustments for improvement. In product design, this will include administrative closure, final project reviews and final product evaluations. Operations provide for interaction between the product system and the environment. In the context of product designing, this includes mapping functional and user needs, comparative analysis, environmental considerations and feedback.

5. Interdisciplinary design frameworks Having standard protocols for working with various product design challenges can help teams consider the project from all angles and steer clear of superficial solutions. In the present concept of sustainable, human-centered, interdisciplinary design, the following interdisciplinary framework can serve as a useful guide for product design. Analysis Conceptualization Design Production Delivery Closure

6. CATWOE analysis Customer is the recipient of the outputs from the business system Actor is the role that performs the business system processes Transformation is the core process that delivers the outputs to the customer Weltanschauung is the underlying worldview for the transformation Owners are the stakeholder with the overall authority for the business system Environment is the regulations and constraints surrounding the business system

7. Standardizing human-centered designing workflows There are a million ways to consider human needs at the end of your product life cycle, but without a clear formal process to move to user-centric design, your product will be left with big blind spots in the user experience. Whereas standardized process and workflow leads to faster, more appropriate work, which effectively addresses pain points and delivers products in a timely manner. It may not be an easy or quick process, but it is effective and necessary. Otherwise, you could be sending your products out to land on deaf ears.

8. Stages of human-centered design Build & Test Release & Manage Watch & Plan Various prototypes are created based on previous conceptualization from stakeholders using CATWOE Analysis using Transformation Processes, Output Processes from Banathy’s Process Lens and Design & Production stages of the Interdisciplinary Design Framework Model. Consider all factors from the CATWOE analysis to gather comprehensive feedback using Output & Management processes from Banathy’s Process Lens. If you are releasing a product, you will look into the Delivery & Closure stages of the Interdisciplinary Design Framework Model. Observe the customers to understand their behavior, documenting bottlenecks and input processes for all relevant stakeholders from the CATWOE analysis. This corresponds to the Analysis and Conceptualization stages in the Interdisciplinary Design Framework Model.

9. To illustrate, our hypothetical character Leslie, is a founder of a start-up “Drink Fit”. We are writing from the perspective of one of the senior designers on her team. We know Nikki has a knack for great go-to-market campaigns and encourages critical discussions that shed light on how the team can work better together. However, funds have been tight lately and “Drink Fit’ is stuck in the Watch & Plan stage.

10. How the idea came about As part of a community supported agriculture initiative, Nikki had been having conversations with her friends in the sustainable agriculture space for a while. While she saw a lot of businesses cropping up as ‘organic food stores’ the idea of a zero-waste setup really intrigued her. However, most businesses needed plastic or aluminum packaging.

11. How to tackle a volatile market As the economy has not been so positive for businesses lately, market research allows us to perceive an idea of consumers' reaction to potential new products. It is the key to understand the new and existing products that are on the market. Research helps you focus on the audience and the market segments & pinpoint the general areas of consumer interest.

12. How to handle mixed reviews User experience is generally the attitude and emotional feedback of the user that they give when they use the product. It works as the path that guides users through the product and decides the entire journey until they take a final action. Some complained about the drink being too salty, while the others said the tetra-pack wasn’t easy to use.

13. Going big while staying green When the product was in its initial phase, Drink Fit had to appeal to the masses. The responsibility was to include taking care of the climate degradation, sustainable products, and zero-waste ideals. At this point, the bamboo boxes were really getting damaged in transport, with users complaining about the taste changing over time. The team had to make a decision to stick to the glass bottles with the recycling program offered as an add-on.

14. Even after the delivery and closure stage, periodically evaluate product design in order to see if the product is working the way you intended it to work when it goes to market and ‘lives’ out its life cycle in the real world! The Drink Fit team used theoretical frameworks to guide their design and marketing process. It is entirely possible to design products without the use of these frameworks, using them helps streamline the design process.

15. Read more about Nikki in our blog http://www.vantageites.com/sustainable-product-design-process

16. Thank You! Got Questions? www.vantageites.com