Human-Centered Design Vs. Design Thinking: Similar, But Not the Same
“Human-centered design” and “design thinking” are popular terms in the experience design space. They’re often used interchangeably, or otherwise incorrectly.
This isn’t surprising — the two concepts are so intertwined that it’s hard to peel them apart. Those of us in this space are partly to blame for the lack of clarity. We don’t all agree on what separates the terms (or what they mean in the first place).
But the Venn diagram of these 2 terms isn’t a perfect circle. Let’s shed light on the theoretical and practical differences between human-centered design and design thinking.
Understanding human-centered design
Human-centered design is an approach that centers on the human perspective.
This means that you’re always considering the end user* of the consumer experience. You’re designing with empathy for that person and an understanding of their needs, behaviors and emotions.
*In this content, the “end user” refers to the consumer, employee, patient, community member or other stakeholder at the core of the experience. While user experience (UX) is an element of human-centered design, Cast & Hue focuses on holistic experience design — not just what happens on the screen.
Putting it into practice
What could human-centered design look like for a brand?
- Conducting consumer research through in-depth interviews
- Journey mapping in a collaborative setting that includes the end user
- Developing personas based on human needs (we call these demand profiles)
For example, a brand with low survey scores might interview people to find out where they’re missing the mark. Then, they gather a team of consumers, employees, leadership and other stakeholders to collaborate on solving those issues. Together, they ideate, design and test possible solutions.
By incorporating a range of perspectives, they design solutions that are meaningful and effective for the humans involved. Those people are left satisfied.
Human-centered design is clearly beneficial to consumers, but what about the business? Learn how taking a human-centered approach helps your business.
What is design thinking?
Design thinking is a tactical problem-solving framework with 6 defined steps.
The process aims to understand human needs in order to design solutions that are:
- Feasible: Possible for the business to create.
- Viable: Aligned with business goals.
- Desirable: Wanted (and likely to be used) by people.
Solutions that sit in the “sweet spot” of feasibility, viability and desirability are more likely to be effective and successful. These kinds of solutions are the byproduct of design thinking.
What are the 6 steps of design thinking?
Design thinking is an iterative process. It involves continuous refinement of ideas and solutions through 6 key stages:
- Empathize: Understand your users and their needs.
- Define: Clearly articulate the problem you want to solve, and validate that it’s truly the problem from the end user’s point of view.
- Ideate: Brainstorm a range of possible solutions.
- Prototype: Build tangible representations for a subset of ideas.
- Test: Run small-scale trials with users to refine and improve the solutions.
- Implement: Strategically roll out the solution to the general audience.
Here is how that looks:
Similarities between design thinking and human-centered design
What do design thinking and human-centered design have in common? Both concepts leverage a collaborative problem-solving model that accounts for human needs.
Each one begins with design research, which helps teams gain an understanding of consumer needs, motivations and emotions. Simply put, they are both driven by empathy. Empathy is the very first step of design thinking and is a core tenet of the concept of "human-centered" design.
With each model, solutions are designed in the presence of a variety of perspectives, not in a vacuum (or in a boardroom). This is important — it helps teams avoid designing from assumptions or bias.
Human-centered design and design thinking also have the shared goal of creating solutions that are satisfying and meaningful to the end user. As a result, brands can:
- Drive customer loyalty
- Differentiate themselves
- Find opportunities for innovation
Is there a difference between design thinking and human-centered design?
That’s a lot in common. So what’s the difference? Let’s look back at the definitions.
Human-centered design is a design approach that’s focused on the human perspective. Design thinking is a tactical problem-solving framework.
The main difference between them is subtle, but clear. Human-centered design is a guiding principle, while design thinking is a structured process to follow.
This distinction is about more than semantics, though. Human-centered design vs. design thinking is:
- Insights-focused vs. solution-focused: The magic of human-centered design comes from the information uncovered, while design thinking is meant to rapidly generate solutions.
- Meant to ensure desirability vs. feasibility and viability, as well: Human-centered design answers, “Is this something that people want?” Design thinking also answers, “Is this something that we can actually offer?”
Review how the models compare.
The bottom line: It’s not one or the other
Whether you engage in design thinking or begin a human-centered design initiative, you’re developing empathy for the end user with the goal of designing solutions that better serve them.
Effective design thinking is human-centered. Successful human-centered design projects incorporate many of the stages of design thinking. They’re so closely intertwined because they both have helpful concepts and ideas to pull from.
Learn both — or work with a team who already knows them — and you won’t go wrong.
Cast & Hue is your CX design resource
Our human-centered approach guides everything we do at Cast & Hue. And we often facilitate design thinking workshops to execute on that principle.
Looking for strategists and designers who can help with both? Start the conversation now or receive our updates to learn more about our work.
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