Nobody ever designed a good thing from the comfort of their desk.

Being a good designer means experiencing the world. You can’t choose the best materials unless you played with them and saw their weak points. You can’t help a single mother in Ethiopia unles you witnessed her trying to feed five children while walking five kilometres every day to get water. You can’t innovate without connection.

Getting out of our heads, observing and experiencing the world, those should be the core focus of every maker. Here’s how I go about it.

Nobody ever designed a good thing from the comfort of their desk. — © Simon Doble

First, a little experiment. Imagine you are a designer sitting in a design studio in Sydney, Australia, surrounded by industrial designers. Can you design a chair for people who sit in front of a computer 8 hours a day?

Absolutely! That’s a pretty straightforward thing to do. There's no reward for that.

But how about solving a problem for a mother in Ethiopia? She’s trying to feed five children and walks five kilometres every day to a solar water pump to fill up 8-10 gallons of water and walks all the way back to her hut.

Probably not.

You cannot understand what it is like until you’ve done that. Unless you’ve experienced it, physically done it. How can you help these people from a cosy studio in Sydney?

Experiencing it firsthand, with empathy and vulnerability, that’s human-centred learning and design.

The human-centred approach takes into account the complexities of real-world problems and uses empathy as a key value.

Human centred design is about observing

I learn by watching and analysing social behaviour. Seeing how people interact with each other, or with other creatures, with tools and the environment. That’s my encyclopedia. The real world, observed with curiosity.

In my mind, human-centred design is about that. About how we interact with each other and the world. How do we create solutions that make human interaction and evolution easier, especially for the ones that are suffering the most.

That’s what gives my work its meaning.

As a tool, the human-centred approach produces solutions grounded in human science pedagogy. It takes into account the complexities of real-world problems and uses empathy as a key value, allowing for adaptation and truly impactful solutions.

I was incredibly lucky to grow up in conditions that have allowed me to explore my curiosity and interests. Now, we aim to provide such an environment for millions of people around the world.

Practical steps to leverage HCD

Several points highlight a successful human-centred approach:

Focusing on core issues: Ask why. Lasting solutions are not treating the symptoms but the core causes. They try to understand, they appreciate the complexity and possibility for human error not as a flaw, but as crucial data for improvement.
Learning from people: Many solutions put technology first. It’s understandable, technologies are often simple and easy to understand. But in order to deliver impactful change for all people’s lives, we need to ask everyone involved for their needs, understand their position, and respect their culture, beliefs, or background.
Holistic understanding: In order to solve granular problems, understanding the entire activity concerned is key. Every system has a multitude of stakeholders and feedback loops. Unless every one of them is considered, there is a big potential for failure.
Prototype, adapt, iterate: Initial solutions are often incomplete, imperfect, or too difficult to implement. Thorough testing, stakeholder negotiations, feedback, and rapid iterations are key to a successful design process.

Going one step further and allowing others to learn

By implementing these steps, you’d be on the right track to having a successful product. But great solutions go one step further.

They not only build on thorough observation, analysis, and empathy but also allow the people using them to learn and adapt.

Because masses are always made up of unique individuals with their own strengths, interests, and predispositions, the ideal end product is adaptable and able to accommodate every individual and situation. It learns from individual needs but also allows to be moulded into individual circumstances.

It recognises that the activity it is trying to help is only part of the holistic process, only a fraction of the lives of the individuals. What distinguishes a great product or a tool from a good is how it fits into the entire ecosystem of activities.

Plus, great solutions are built with a collaborative and growth mindset.

Only when multiple feedback loops are in place and you make sure to truly listen to the experience of the people using it can you put in place processes that overcome challenges and are dedicated to improvement.

How we put human-centred learning into use

I was incredibly lucky to grow up in conditions that have allowed me to explore my curiosity and interests. I spent my childhood constantly tinkering in our garage and improving things around me.

I was also lucky to have been surrounded by people who supported my efforts and inspired me to pursue a career in helping others.

Now, at Barefoot Citizens, we aim to provide such an environment for millions of people around the world.

To help build conditions that not only allow them to tackle the fundamental challenges—be it access to drinking water, electricity, or education—but also contribute to building safe spaces that allow them to learn and grow and be an active part of the solutions.

To equip everyone with the tools and knowledge to explore, improve, tinker, and pursue their passions. Because a sense of agency and inclusivity is crucial in building a future where everyone has the chance to thrive.

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Let’s continue to work together, harnessing the power of human-centred design to create a brighter, more equitable future for all.

If you want to join our journey or need help starting your own, reach out to me here or at barefootcitizens.com/contact-barefoot-citizens.

Simon

Human-Centred Design: Creating Solutions with Lasting Human Impact