Human - Centred Design
The Design Process (Photo Credit: IDEO)
DEFINition
Human - Centred Design is a creative approach to problem solving. It consists of three phases: inspiration (learning directly from the people you’re designing for), ideation (making sense of what you’ve learned, identifying opportunities for design, and generating possible solutions), and implementation (testing and eventually adopting new ideas / solutions). Definition from IDEO.
We partnered with a social innovation class at Mount Royal University and asked students to create a video explaining one social innovation ‘term’ and connect it to an organization in Alberta that is doing this work well. Here is an explanation of human centred design and how Telus Spark uses this practice.
Created by Mount Royal University students Ashley Latter, Alycia Pankiw, Meagan McIntosh, Paige Stubbington, Rachelle Verge, and Keegan Ziemer.
Related Terms
Design thinking brings together what is desirable from a human point of view with what is technologically feasible and economically viable. Definition from IDEO.
Resources
IDEO Design Kit
Learn about human-centred design mindsets, methods, and case studies.
Acumen+
Participate in this free online course to learn and apply the human-centred design process.
dSchool at Stanford University
Access online courses, resources, and guides for design thinking from dSchool.
Design Thinking: Alberta CoLab Info Sheet
This info sheet highlights what, why, and when to use design thinking as well as some design thinking methods you can apply to your work.
David Kelly Ted Talk
Watch this video to get an overview of human-centred design.
Open Innovation Toolkit
Browse this community-sourced set of tools and principles to help you incorporate human-centred design into your work.
Design Thinking for Social Innovation
Read more about design thinking for social innovation.
Design Thinking for Changemakers
This online webinar workshop explored the foundational skills and mindsets of design thinking that changemakers, teams and leaders can put in place to make the world better — by design.
Alberta Examples
Skills Society Action Lab
Uses human-centred design principles in their initiatives to generate long lasting impact.
AHS Design Lab
Helps health service providers use human-centred design and design sprints to address messy problems.
Social Impact Lab
By blending human-centred design practices with systems thinking, the Social Impact Lab creates opportunities, learning, and impact in the community.
Trico Changemakers Studio
Offers facilitation services using a human-centred design approach.
Outside Alberta examples
IDEO.org
Learn from the forerunners of human-centred design, IDEO.com’s, sister non-profit organization IDEO.org.
IDEO.com
Learn from the forerunners of human-centred design, IDEO.com, the for-profit side of this company.