Human-Centered Design

Designing with empathy

Human-centered design (HCD) prioritizes the needs, desires, and behaviors of the people who will ultimately use your product, service, or system, leading to more effective and user-friendly experiences.

“Government’s service delivery should be driven by the voice of the customer through human-centered design methodologies.”

2021 Federal Executive Order on Customer Experience and Service Delivery

Insights + Recommendations

Know your audience

Conduct user research to gain a deep understanding of the needs, desires, behaviors, and challenges of the people who will use a product, service, or system.

Problem definition

Synthesize research findings to create a clear and focused problem statement that will guide the design and development priorities.

Design for edge cases

Public sector audiences contain a wide range of individuals with differing needs. Knowing your edge cases and designing to meet them creates an inclusive, friendly experience for all customers.

Improve CX

Tailor your designs to effectively address user needs and challenges, and ultimately create meaningful and impactful experiences that drive engagement and satisfaction.

Accessibility

Ensure that products and services are inclusive and accessible to all users, regardless of their abilities, backgrounds, or circumstances.

Unbiased and informed

Ensure that the content and tools your customers interact with are aligned with their actual needs rather than internal, stakeholder priorities or biases.

Reduce risk

Gather user feedback throughout the design process to identify and address possible pain points before they become larger issues.

Ethical design

Create solutions that respect the rights, dignity, and well-being of users. This includes addressing issues of privacy, accessibility, inclusivity, and social responsibility.

Increase engagement

Products and services that are designed with empathy and understanding of user needs are more likely to be embraced by users, resulting in higher adoption rates.

Ethical Design

In the public sector, ethical design isn’t just an option – it’s a necessity. Creating digital experiences with humanity at their core ensures that government services are inclusive, accessible, and respectful of individual rights. Ethical design fosters trust, empowers participation, and ultimately serves the diverse needs of all citizens, promoting fairness and accountability.

Methods

Ensuring every customer has a satisfactory experience requires an intentional, informed design process.

User research and testing

User/customer journey mapping

Content strategy

Custom experience design

Wireframing and prototyping

Scalable design systems

Information architecture and navigation

Visual design

Accessible UX / UI patterns

Mobile-friendly, responsive design

Multilingual interface

Human-centered design