Human-Centered Design
Human-centered design is a framework and set of methodologies that focus on deeply understanding people’s lived experiences in order to inform the development of the public services that work for everyone.
From Principle to Practice
Human-centered design (HCD) focuses on learning about and deeply empathizing with people’s lived experiences, needs, and context through immersive research. This involves learning about and defining core problems, creating prototypes to test out solutions, and evaluating experiences. By continuing to test and refine product and service experiences through ongoing research and iteration, an HCD approach can help ensure that solutions are meeting people’s actual needs and fitting into their contexts.
On this page you will find information about HCD that you can bring to your organization in order to help learn about your residents’ needs and experiences seeking services while also helping to improve processes for frontline staff.
Subtopics
Explore our 7 human-centered design subtopics below.
Built Environment
Customer Experience (CX)
Facilitation
Graphic and Visual
Service Design
User Experience + Product (UX)
User Research
How to Get Started
We recommend these resources as a starting place for people-first delivery of government services.
Human-Centered Design Guide Series
A series of guides from Digital.gov to help you understand and practice human-centered design
Practica: Learn to Design Institutions That Put People First
Online courses from Civilla regarding human-centered design for public institutions.
Civic Service Design Tools & Tactics
Website with various articles regarding civic service design tools and tactics, case studies, and other articles.
Human-Centered Design for Public Benefits
Blueprint for a Human-Centered Safety Net
Describes the Principles of a Human-Centered Safety Net: Many Welcoming Doors, Easy to Understand, Clients Can Make Informed Decisions, Responsive to Changing Needs, Simple Actions
The Qualitative Research Practice Guide
This guide touches on everything from Code for America’s core research philosophy, to our approach to ethics and trauma-informed research, to specific research methods. It also includes plenty of practical tips on planning and executing research, as well as how to synthesize your findings into action.
Starting Small with Human-Centered Redesign: Approachable Ideas for State and Local Public Benefits Agencies to Improve Applications, Renewals, and Correspondence
This guide highlights approachable ideas for state and local public benefits agencies to improve applications, renewals, and correspondence. As outlined in this resource, even small improvements can be transformative for residents and caseworkers alike.
Discover All of Our Human-Centered Design Resources
Below you can see the latest items and the most popular. Click View More to see all resources and examples.
