Human-Centered Design
December 12, 2019

REFLECTING ON: Human-Centered Design



Over the course of the past semester, I learned about the potential role of a designer through a class titled Human-Centered Design. From data transparency to design research, we as designers have the capacity to intervene in the world around us beyond just the aesthetic. Human-centered design isn’t just for design researchers, though. Coming into the semester, I had the tendency to approach graphic design as the design of purely aesthetic experiences and, admittedly, I prioritized my own aesthetic preferences. I felt the most fulfilled when I created something visually appealing. However, after coming to know the values and mindsets of human-centered design, I’ve learned that there is more fulfillment in designing for the improvement of the world around me and even more so in the improvement of the lives of those around me. Before, I had a very black-and-white idea of the different types of career paths a designer could take. I was shocked to learn how many paths a designer can take, even within the human-centered realm, from data visualization to commercial design research to UX design.




This post exists within a series of reflections on topics and coursework from my Human-Centered Design class, taught by Marty Maxwell Lane at the University of Arkansas.
Mark