Human Centred Design (HCD) has been a leading approach to design for everything from packaging to medical devices to digital apps since the 80s.
It puts the end user squarely at the focus of the product, and considers their entire experience from their first exposure, to their daily interaction with it.
However, the process that makes HCD so effective for the end user often comes at a cost to other systems, eg: water or air quality, non-human life, and waste management – user experience design rarely factors anything but the user’s experience with using the thing.
The emerging trend which has come as an extension of HCD is around planet-centred design, where focus is still on the user, but without the cost to those other systems.
This is where concepts like circular economies come into the spotlight – we design things like the end-of-life scenario, responsible sourcing of raw materials, and alternate uses for a product right at the beginning of the design process.
It’s an awesome shift in thinking that was very needed – read more about PCD here.
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