Why I Practice Human Centered Design
User Experience. Human Centered Design. Human Computer Design. User Centered Design. There’s dozens of ways we can refer to what most settle on as UX, but truly, it’s as much a philosophy as it is a practice. Though many methodologies and practices are iterations and derivatives of each other, the practice of centering people and their needs to best provide meaningful solutions remains at the core definition. Since I moved into the world of healthcare, I’ve found myself describing myself as a practitioner of human-centered design.
Human Centered Design, as described by the Interaction Design Foundation, focuses on the people and their context in order to create solutions that are appropriate for them. Given the varieties of entry points you can have in healthcare, it’s essential to consider the individuals in healthcare, and what is driving them to engage.
Continued in the Interaction Design Foundation’s definition, there are Four Principles of Human-Centered Design: People-Centered, Solve the Right Problem, Everything is a System, and Small & Simple Intervention. The methods we use in user experience help capture these, from research techniques to craft personas to Jobs to Be Done canvases to understand the target job of a person. These methods allow us to amplify our emotional intelligence and back it with scientific methods to best serve our communities.
Healthcare is an evergreen and essential industry. According to the U.S. Center for Disease Control, over 1 billion Americans visited a physician’s office in 2021. About 88.1% of individuals in the US have a usual place for medical care. Considering the types of care that exist, from a CVS Minute Clinic to laboratories for biopsy and blood analysis to an established primary care physician, the entries to healthcare are wide and diverse, and only growing with populations.
The scenarios that drive people to care are just as diverse as the people who seek it. Some individuals are proactive for their own health or on behalf of children, spouses, or family members. Many may be injured or identified an anomaly to be cared for by a clinical team. The motivation for seeking care may vary, but the outcomes are generally consistent for healing and wellbeing.
So how does this all connect to human centered design? As a designer, it is important to recognize that there is a broad, contextual journey for a person to become a patient, receive care, and become an outpatient. We must consider the “why” a person chooses to seek care, such as if a symptom or injury motivates a person for care, or routine care such as an annual exam. There are issues that a person may face individually when accessing care, whether it is due to health equity challenges or general wellbeing. We often do journey maps to best understand how each service line patient may engage and what their outcomes may look like.
We leverage human centered design by practicing processes and methodologies that align what what our solution recipients need. We practice the mindsets of Empathy, Optimism, Iteration, Creative Confidence, Making, Embracing Ambiguity, and Learning from Failure. I highly encourage diving more into these and other detailed practices accessible through the IDEO Design Kit.
With human-centered design, the emphasis is on a deep understanding of the needs of the person and how to guide them through a journey that can be at times feel stressful or frightening. Wellness to some may even feel like a chore. The key consideration is empathy and doing the research to best support individuals along the way. This ensures that when we design digital tools for our target populations, we are truly making an impact for not just their tech engagement, but their overall wellbeing.
Curious to learn more about my healthcare user experience philosophies and techniques? Reach out and let’s connect!