An important step in the Human Centered Design process is developing relationships with those you are designing for. This often involves interviews with strangers, which can be an intimidating task at times. I think as students, it’s quite beneficial for us to engage in activities that familiarize us with the process.

Our mission for this exercise was to redesign the gift-giving process for our partner. We conducted short interviews to identify a problem they were experiencing. For my partner, she was having problems giving gifts that were thoughtful and creative amidst a pandemic that limits in-person shopping. This problem is a unique one, as most of us haven’t ever run into an issue of this sort before 2020. However, attempting to solve this problem to improve my partner’s shopping experience felt productive in the sense that this is a relevant problem for many people all over the world right now, not just my partner in this hypothetical exercise.

I found that it was important to ensure my questions resulted in answers containing substance. Yes or no questions often don’t provide enough information to come up with solutions that are desirable, feasible, and viable. Having an excess of information allowed me to narrow it down to what was most important for my partner.

To achieve successful Human Centered Design, building relationships with those you are designing for will help to reach an innovative solution.

08.28.20