ISO 13407: Human Centered Design

The purpose of message design is really to communicate meaning to someone whether that someone is one’s self or some targeted group of individuals. In order to best convey an intended meaning, a designer has to have answers to several key questions:

1. Who are the recipients of the message?
2. What assumptions can you make about the recipients’ ability to construct meaning from the message?
3. What elements can you incorporate into the design to best enable recipient comprehension of the intended meaning?
4. How effective were these design elements in enabling user comprehension?

ISO 13407: the human-centered design process was created in 1999 in order to help designers answer these fundamental questions using a standard process. ISO 13407 recommends 4 steps in integrating stakeholders into the design process:

1. Specifying the Context of Use,
2. Specifying User Requirements,
3. Creating the Design Solution,
4. Evaluating Designs in Use.

A human centered approach has long been advocated by Donald Norman in his books: The Design of Everyday Things, Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things,and The Design of Future Things: Author of The Design of Everyday Things. These books have seriously influenced my thinking about design, and have made me a better designer.


Specifying the Context of Use

The first phase of the human-centered design process is the planning phase in which one should:

1. Specify the intent (what the intended meaning or goal of you or your client in providing this message/set of messages is).
2. Identify the target audience of the message, often called “the stakeholders”.
3. Determine the characteristics of the audience. Where would people most likely want to see the message (context such as from home, school, work…)? What benefits could audience members receive from exposure to the message (entertainment, shopping info, education, awareness, health benefits, financial gain…)?

Ask a sample of the target population the questions from 2) and 3) above directly using either one-on-one interviews or focus group discussions. Surveys and questionnaires are also possible, but direct communication is better (more revealing/informative).

Keywords: goals, stakeholders, location, timing


Specifying User Requirements

The second phase of the human-centered design process is analysis. What prior knowledge, priming, sensitization, information, physical abilities… do people need to have in order to make sense of your message? What prior knowledge do we have about persuasion, about message design techniques, about designing messages to this particular audience? What individual differences do these people possess (high in risk taking or whatever)? What attracts these people’s attention? What motivates them? What media do they commonly use? What do these people think they want or need to be happy, healthy, and successful?

Create user profiles (identifying the traits of the typical audience member) and perform a task analysis (in which you identify people’s routine actions as relevant to the message).

Keywords: literature review, user profile, analysis, information gathering


Creating the Design Solution

In this third phase of the human-centered design process, a prototype or mock-up version of the design is created based on the data of the first two phases. This phase includes:

1. creating a storyboard (organization/concept),
2. creating labels/keywords (attention/focus),
3. designing copy, graphics, other media (conceptual design),
4. creating mock-ups/a trial version for user testing (physical design),
5. creating the final version of the message,
6. pinpointing locations/times for message dissemination (message dissemination strategy).

Make sure to include feedback mechanisms to ensure that users still have a voice/connection to the message even after the message has been disseminated.

Keywords: concept, mock-up, feedback, implementation


Evaluating Designs in Use

After the message has been disseminated in phase 3, users still need to have a voice in determining the effectiveness of the design. There are several measures that can be taken such as:

1. user satisfaction with the message and the media, location, timing used to disseminate it,
2. changes in user attitudes, intentions, or behavior (increase in sales, increase in favorable or negative opinions…)
3. suggestions for improvement.

Mechanisms for enabling user voice should be included in the design in phase three. Decisions to alter the message, media, location, timing… should be made based on user feedback for as long as the message stays in circulation.

Keywords: feedback, evaluation, revision


Side Note

If you find the human centered design approach interesting, you may also be interested in Participatory Communication. I was fortunate enough to work with Dr. Chike Anyaegbunam at the University of Kentucky who specializes in this approach. Do a google search, and see what you think.