What is human-centric design and why does it matter?

"We have a growing problem making our institutions work for humans. Across society, and especially in business, humans are increasingly treated as resources to be squeezed rather than as individuals to be served. Employees become "human capital" to be optimized; customers become "users" to be converted or upsold. This tendency predates AI, but AI threatens to accelerate it dramatically-automating the depersonalization, scaling the indifference, and introducing another layer of abstraction that separates real human beings from real human beings."

"Yet there is an alternative path. Human-centered design is often dismissed as a soft or unserious discipline, a distraction from the serious business of maximizing the commercial income to be extracted from every interaction. But it is actually the most practical route to value creation available to organizations today. When you design around real human needs-those of both customers and staff-you build the bridge between internal transformation and external results."

"In The Design of Everyday Things, design expert Donald Norman articulates a deceptively simple idea: pay close attention to the needs of human users when defining design goals. This principle applies far beyond product design. It is foundational to how organizations create value. Faisal Hoque's books, podcast, and his companies give leaders the frameworks and platforms to align purpose, people, process, and tech-turning disruption into meaningful, lasting progress."

There is a growing problem of institutions failing to work for humans, with people treated as resources to be squeezed rather than as individuals to be served. AI threatens to accelerate depersonalization by automating indifference and adding abstraction between real human beings. Human-centered design offers an alternative path that prioritizes real human needs and creates practical value. Paying close attention to human users when defining design goals applies beyond product design and underpins organizational value creation. Aligning purpose, people, process, and technology enables internal transformation that translates into better customer experience, increased revenue, and improved employee execution and retention.

Read at Fast Company