Social Innovation based on human centered design thinking

Title: David Kelley: Human-centered design

Social innovation is a solution to social problems related to groups of people or communities. This solution should help people or communities handle their issues. Also, since new technologies and solutions are developed and used by humans, social innovations or solutions should be based on human centered thinking.

People like new solutions or technologies that make their life easier. However, getting a great idea for solutions is difficult and takes a lot of time. For example, Apple's first mouse and iPhone's one touch button look simple. If people had thought the design of those product is simple, why did people not develop one button mouses and phones before Apple? If some people had developed one button mouses and phones before Apple, they would have taken the first mover advantages. The bottom line is that simple designs are not simple. In this blog, I want to share some guides on how to apply human centered design thinking.

According to Fred Dust and Michael Maness, the future relies on changes you make now (Hu, 2013). Compared to the past, we use smartphones to check emails and make payments. We do not need to sit in front of computer monitors and type the keyboard. Instead, we touch screen of phones. In rural areas, we can make changes by setting up a wireless router and providing Wi-Fi phones so that people in remote areas can communicate with one another within LAN. 

In addition, Fred and Michael said, “don’t ask them, observer them.” Spending time with users and observe their behaviors continuously will give a chance to get to know more about them. Based on this observation, social innovators can find ideas to be applicable to communities of the users. This way will work. If I ask my friend what he or she wants, they say what they might want not what they really want. Thus, instead of asking them what they want, observing them is more viable ways to find their needs.

Lastly, human centered design is the answer for all product design. When we develop a new product, we conduct market, user, and product analysis to identify needs of customers and the level of competitiveness of market. Marketing, designs and technical solutions are aimed at individuals, groups, and communities. In other words, new innovations or solutions with human centered design thinking are more likely to be successful and appealing to people because they care about how people react and what they want.

*IDEO partner Fred Dust joined Kinght Foundation Vice President/Journalism and Media Innovation Michael Maness

Works Cited

Hu, Elise. "Knight Foundation."Knight Foundation. Kinght Foundation, 11 Feb. 2013. Web.

03 Sept. 2013. <http://www.knightfoundation.org/blogs/knightblog/2013/2/11/how-human-centered-design-thinking-can-transform-community-media/>.