Human-Centered Design initially sounds like a convincing ideal: solutions are developed in a way that puts people's needs, goals, and expectations at the center. In practice – particularly within companies – however, this ideal cannot always be fully implemented.
Numerous studies have already examined how Human-Centered Design can be permanently integrated into organizations. Time and again, they show that implementation is associated with various challenges.
But this raises another question: Does every project really have to follow a Human-Centered Design process? And how realistic is this, particularly for small businesses, start-ups, or agencies with limited resources?
How does the Human-Centered Design process work?
In theory, Human-Centered Design is divided into four central steps: understanding the context of use, specifying user requirements, developing design solutions, and evaluating design solutions. It is important to understand that these steps do not necessarily have to be carried out strictly one after another. The process is iterative. This means that individual steps can be repeated and that designers can also return to an earlier step when new insights emerge.
1. Understanding the Context of Use
The first step is to understand the context in which users interact with a website or a specific feature. This could be the checkout process, online payment, shopping cart, or another interaction within a website. Designers consider questions such as: Who are the users? What do they want to achieve? Where, when, and how do they use the application? To answer these questions, target-group analyses, user research, market research, interviews, or direct contact with users can be used. The goal is to first understand as precisely as possible who the solution is being designed for and the context in which it needs to work.
2. Defining User Requirements
Once the context of use has been understood, concrete requirements must be derived from it. It should be clear what users want to achieve and which needs must be taken into account during the design process. The insights gained previously are therefore translated into concrete user requirements. The actual design process can then begin on this basis.
3. Developing Design Solutions
The third step is where the creative design process begins. Based on the needs and requirements identified previously, initial solutions are developed. These may include initial concepts, wireframes, prototypes, or concrete designs. The design should not be based exclusively on the designer's personal preferences, but rather, wherever possible, on the insights previously gained about the users and their context of use.
4. Evaluating Design Solutions
The solutions developed must then be evaluated. It is not enough to create a solution and assume that it will work for users. Therefore, methods such as user tests or usability tests are used. These tests determine whether the developed solution actually meets users' needs, whether it is understandable, and whether users can achieve their goals with it. At the same time, feedback is collected, which can then lead to changes in the design.
This is precisely where the iterative nature of Human-Centered Design becomes apparent. If new problems or needs become visible during the evaluation, individual steps can be repeated. A concept is adapted, tested again, and revised if necessary. The process therefore continues for as long as necessary for the respective project.
The Problem Begins in Business Practice
In theory, this process sounds logical and clearly structured. In practice, however, difficulties can quickly arise, especially in small companies or agencies where there may be only a single designer or a very small design team.
A single designer can hardly carry out a comprehensive Human-Centered Design process in isolation. They depend on the support of other departments, such as management, development, project management, and sometimes also sales or marketing. At the same time, clients themselves play an important role. Designers and developers need to work closely together, resources must be made available, users must be reachable, and decisions must be made in a timely manner. Added to this are the typical constraints of everyday project work: limited budgets, time pressure, deadlines, technical dependencies, and client requirements. A designer may still be in the first phase and want to understand the context of use in greater detail, while the client is already expecting results or the developers have already started implementation. This is exactly where the theoretically structured HCD process meets the reality of a project.
Human-Centered Design Requires Organizational Support
This highlights an important aspect: Human-Centered Design is not exclusively the responsibility of a designer. For a user-centered process to work, the appropriate conditions must exist within the organization.
Management must be willing to provide the necessary time and resources. Developers should be involved as early as possible, and clients must also be willing to support analysis, research, or evaluation phases. Human-Centered Design therefore becomes not only a question of design, but also an organizational issue.
This point is particularly relevant in smaller companies, where fewer resources are often available and individual people frequently take on several responsibilities at the same time. As a result, a theoretically complete HCD process can quickly reach its practical limits.
Does Every Project Therefore Have to Be Fully Human-Centered?
This brings me back to the question from the beginning: Does every project really need a complete Human-Centered Design process? In my opinion, no. It depends on the project in question.
For a new client, a user-centered approach can be particularly useful. Goals, user groups, and requirements can be defined together from the outset. With smaller projects or long-standing client relationships, the situation is often different. If an agency already knows the client, product, and target audience well and only minor changes need to be implemented, a complete HCD process is not always necessary.
What matters, therefore, is not whether every project is implemented entirely according to HCD, but how much Human-Centered Design makes sense for the particular project.
