Human-Centered Design and Beyond

This is a DfI programme course.

Human-Centered Design and Beyond introduces the theoretical and methodological basis for Human-Centered Design (HCD). The course focuses on framing and formgiving while recognizing that design problems and goals are actively construed and reframed, and that design propositions often aim to intervene in complex systems and contexts to achieve intended effects. The course introduces HCD in its plural forms, discusses its application in various societal contexts, and addresses its current challenges, e.g. related to collective concerns, longer-term perspectives, or system-level interventions.

We also discuss how HCD is evolving by incorporating approaches that employ a systemic perspective, in order to play a prominent role in shaping sustainable and just futures.

The course:

• Offers theory and exercises to develop understanding of the co-evolution of framing and formgiving as a fundamental basis for HCD.

• Facilitates discussions amongst students on their perspectives on HCD theory and methodology.

• Offers a framework to deconstruct and design HCD processes, and to support students to master their design processes.

• Offers perspectives on how HCD approaches can attend to systemic perspectives, for example in relation to public governance and more-than-human entities (such as non-human organisms).