Torrey Mortenson

April 22, 2021

What does Human-Centered Design really mean?

Human-centered design, a too formal way to design for people. Designing for people is something that is often a lost art. Beyond most digital designs like apps, websites, or digital services intent on mining every conceivable marketing vector from you, we don't see many examples of trying to design for people. Whether capitalism is to blame, or a trend to be less concerned with others true human-centered design isn't done much. I grew up in a small, rural "city" and a sense of community always necessitated a familiarity and interaction level with our neighbors that I wasn't comfortable with. I tend to be more introverted and as such this model of community didn't appeal to me much. The years I spent in the mines of retail sales certainly didn't help my interest in communicating with people outside of my very small bubble. Since I've gotten older, I have redefined and reframed community in my mind. To me, community is about working together to build a life that supports everyone. "Life has bad UX" has become somewhat of an accepted reality to me, but it shouldn't be. Most of life is designed by people, for people. So why is so much of these unavoidable systems and interactions garbage? 

John Amaechi released a brief video on privilege last year and his reference to wheelchair users and how our infrastructure fundamentally does not support them and makes their life harder was impactful to me. Certainly, those decisions were made with a purpose in mind and those infrastructure designs serve an important purpose. However, what I wonder is what purpose is more important than ensuring the positive use and experience of the people in our society? After all that's the whole point, isn't it? We are in this millennium-spanning experiment of societies, governments, tribes, and towns because we are striving to create a better situation than we would have on our own, so why can't we do that? Why can't we prioritize the positive interactions with these parts of life? I'm not referring to unavoidable suffering like cancer, or, less important, my unavoidable inconvenience that I still must talk to people. I'm talking about, "why does the DMV suck?" Why is it such a shit show to get my special needs daughter the services she needs? Why do wheelchair users have to be inconvenienced by sidewalks? All of this seems too stupidly, and wastefully unnecessary. 

I remember the moment where I realized why I wanted to work in the broader field of UX design, human-computer interaction, etc. I was at speech therapy with my daughter at a new therapy center that was built in our town. While we were waiting for her therapist, I noticed a boy sitting under the stairs, his face red-splotched and damp with recently shed tears, and an adult woman (his therapist) sitting with him. She had collected some toys and other things for him, and I was stunned to realize she was doing his therapy appointment under the stairs. What was this?! No overly plush couch, MUZAK, or taupe-tinted walls of an office? No. I had asked about it and was told that at this facility the entire building is for therapy so they will work with kids wherever they feel most comfortable. This stunned me. An entire business, a service to individuals in our community who are often underserved, and the entire building was focused on a flexible design that allowed for a tailored situation for each patient. This was also around the time I realized that the building was incredibly well lit in a warm and diffuse way. No harsh fluorescents or focused light, as many of the patients had some sensory processing sensitivities. In one large, gymnasium-like, area there were rooms made from stacked shipping containers. The thing I noticed here was that all the edges and potentially rough surfaces were meticulously ground smooth. This included surfaces that were impossible to reach. Again, the commitment to designing an experience that enabled everyone to find their needed stimuli and interact with it in a way that is safe and focused on them. That experience had a tremendous effect on my overall view of the world. I always tended to notice some poor designs or clunky interactions, but now the awareness of them filled me a more urgent drive to solve these problems and commit to making all the experiences we have to engage in more like that therapy center. 

Sure, it might be costly for a project, piece of software, or equipment design but what is the ROI on happiness and on true community where we are building something with all of us for all of us.