Human-Centered Design Lab

??Want to more deeply understand the experiences of your users??? Human-centered design (HCD) is an innovative approach to creating new products or services and designing interventions/changes to existing processes and systems. What makes HCD so different from traditional approaches is its emphasis on grounding all design decisions in the experiences of the people (or "users") who will be affected. Hence, the tools of HCD help us to deeply understand users' experiences and align understanding across teams and departments. User stories are one such tool for aligning teams around user needs, ensuring that innovations are built with the right focus. While their structure is simple, crafting and applying them effectively requires practice. The true power of user stories emerges when paired with user journeys—a visualization of the full experience, revealing pain points, emotions, and untapped opportunities. Both are frequently used in Agile workflows, but they provide an insightful framework that is useful in all work contexts. In this interactive workshop, you’ll learn how to: ? Write compelling user stories?that capture needs from the user’s perspective. ? Map user journeys?to gain deeper insight into the experience. ? Foster empathy and alignment?within teams to drive meaningful innovation. Whether you're a?designer refining your approach?or a?non-designer looking to innovate, this hands-on session will help you build the mindset and skillset to create impactful solutions. Join us and start seeing your users—and your ideas—in a whole new way! Register here! https://lnkd.in/e7Mx_Xf5

??Our first Learning Lab workshop is in the books!?? This was part 1 of our "Foundations of Human-Centered Design" series. Our design challenge was "Helping busy professionals achieve their New Year's resolutions." In pairs, we generated research questions and interview questions, then practiced interviewing one another. We crystallized our findings in needs statements then translated them into How Might We statements as a launch pad into part 2: Design. For some, these were new methods. For others, this was valuable practice with a familiar approach. In the spirit of innovation, we piloted 3 new things in this workshop: ? Starting with guided connecting/networking activities to warm everyone up ? Ending with a "Community Time" to imagine together what we can do as a professional community ? Going for ice cream afterwards! All 3 pilots were a success and will be staples of our events going forward! If you're in Greater Boston and are interested in being part of a professional community about design + innovation, we warmly welcome you to join one of our events! Stay up-to-date through our LinkedIn or Eventbrite. Hope to see you soon!

??What is human-centered design (HCD)??? So far 60 people have signed up for our hands-on workshop to learn some foundational concepts and to connect with other professionals who are passionate about design + innovation! In this workshop, you'll get a taste of the HCD discovery process, which includes framing a problem, setting up your research, conducting interviews, and synthesizing (making sense) of your research data. Whether you're new to human-centered design or are a professional designer, this should be a fun experience for everyone. We're almost at capacity, but even if we're full, just come! The structure of this workshop is flexible for additional people to join. Hope to see you there! Wednesday (2/26), 6-8pm The Foundry (101 Rogers St., Cambridge, MA) https://lnkd.in/evxGj-CZ

?? A big shout out to the 28 incredible people who braved the rain to kick off the HCD Lab with us! ?? The room was abuzz with energy around connecting with one another and building a professional community that we all want to be part of. Here are a few highlights: We want to be a community that: ? is supportive, collaborative, and safe. ? is creative, has shared goals, and grows together. ? builds trust and has a positive impact on others. Some of the things we want to do together are: ? Hosting workshops or hack-a-thons that experiment with new design techniques. ? Group trips to learn and explore (e.g. GSD, MIT Media Lab, Eastie Farms) ? Partnering with non-profits, local governments, schools, and healthcare providers to make our world better ? Learning skills to more effectively navigate work-related situations ? Sharing skills/expertise with one another and with others outside the community (e.g. volunteering, mentoring) If you're in Greater Boston and are interested in being part of a professional community like ours, we warmly welcome you to join one of our events! Stay up-to-date through our LinkedIn or Eventbrite. Hope to see you soon! https://lnkd.in/enizTtsN

???? We're already at 46 registered for our Kickoff next Wednesday! ???? Even if you're not able to get a ticket on our Eventbrite, still come! All are welcome and we've got a lot in store for you. If you're planning to attend, here are 2 important details: REFRESHMENTS:?We'll provide light refreshments, but please plan to?eat dinner before or after the event. We have a surprise for you at the end, but it won't be dinner. TRANSPORTATION:?The Foundry?is about a 10 min walk from both the Red Line Kendall stop and Green Line Lechemere stop. Parking is very limited. Your best bet is to find street parking east of The Foundry. I've included a map below, with street parking marked in green and The Foundry marked with our HCD Lab logo. See you at 6:00pm next Wednesday (12/11)! https://lnkd.in/gpBS_kmF

?? The HCD Lab is here! ?? Building on the excitement from our prototype workshop on User Journeys, we're officially launching the HCD Lab with our Kickoff—December 11, 6-8pm @ The Foundry Consortium. The HCD Lab is a vibrant community of professionals who learn together, support one another, and have a positive impact on our communities. Register for the kickoff on Eventbrite (it's free!) and share this with everyone you know! ABOUT THE EVENT: Human connection is our most basic need, both personally?and?professionally.. Through connection with others, we get energized, learn new perspectives, and find new opportunities. Often our professional community is limited to the company we work for, and learning opportunities are limited to what we can find at work or online. The Human-Centered Design (HCD) Lab aims to change that. The HCD Lab is a vibrant community of professionals who learn together, support one another, and have a positive impact on our communities. We host hands-on workshops, led by members of the community, to share skills and perspectives on design and innovation, while coming together to solve real world problems in our local communities. Members of our community come from any and all spaces where thoughtful design is needed. This includes, but is not limited to: - Design + innovation (e.g. service design, UX design, architecture) - Community engagement / activism - Government - Non-profits - Healthcare - Social impact start-ups This kickoff marks the start of our journey together. Come see the vision for this community and have a hand in making it something you’ll love. AGENDA: 6:00 | Check-in + Connecting 6:30 | Introduction + 3 Pillars of the HCD Lab 6:45 | Co-design activity 7:20 | Group Discussion 7:30 |. Wrap up + Next steps 7:45 | Clean up + Connecting ABOUT THE FACILITATORS: Evan Chan?is a civic designer, researcher, and facilitator who is passionate about improving government services and fostering equitable outcomes. He has worked as a public servant and as a consultant, navigating complex bureaucracies and centering the voices of residents and frontline workers at all levels of government. Before coming to design, he worked as a Christian youth minister with a university student organization, mentoring students and fostering a vibrant community. The values of compassion and care that he developed then still ground the work he does today. Sylvie A.?is a service & systemic designer, design educator and coach. Her work focuses on complexity and care, blending behavioral psychology and systems thinking to create experiences that foster habit, prevention, and connection as foundations of wellness. As a career transition coach, Sylvie also the human-centered design principles to help folks navigate transitions and get personally / professionally “unstuck.” Before coming to design, she was a mental health provider, working to bring trauma-informed wraparound services to youth and their families.

Thankful for the piece MIT Morningside Academy for Design did to review and bring attention to our first workshop! True to the human-centered design approach, this workshop was actually a prototype to test our assumptions. Our assumptions were: 1. There are people in the Greater Boston area who are interested in engaging in a community of practice around HCD 2. Our way of hosting hands-on workshops resonates with these people This workshop and the conversations around it validated both assumptions in resounding fashion! We're building on our learnings from the first workshop and are working to properly kick off this community in the coming weeks. If you're interested in growing your expertise in human-centered design and engaging in others who share that interest, stay tuned!

Last night, 40+ students and professionals joined us for our first workshop on User Journeys. Participants learned basic human-centered design (HCD) concepts, observed an unscripted user interview, and worked in groups to structure the data they gathered into their own journey map. Through practice, participants surfaced many epiphanies and astute questions. The conversation, participation, and energy were fantastic! Participant feedback told us they loved the hands-on nature of the workshop and felt the concepts were both practical and insightful. A big thanks to Marissa Cui, Becca Sandercock, Mariama Ndiaye, and Jenny Yuqing Cang from the MIT Sloan School of Management Design Club. Their collaboration in the planning and execution of the workshop were invaluable! Hope to see whoever's reading this at the next workshop! #HumanCenteredDesign #JourneyMaps #UserJourneys #Innovation #DesignThinking Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Alexander Cheung, Anand Savani, MBA, Bosheng (Bob) Gao, Caroline LeMay, Geoffrey Mosoti Nyakiongora, Lauren Moore, Lauren Swartz, Manish Chandra Kadiyala, Wil Jones, Wonder Ahiatsi, Zachary Tyler Boughner, Zach Sternberg, Zo? Fahy