Where are the humans in human-centred design? That is the question researchers answer in their paper in the Journal of Design Research.
In an area increasingly defined by its responsiveness to human needs, a new piece of research from the University of Michigan suggests that the act of drawing a person into a design sketch can prompt a deeper and more sustained consideration of the human experience. The findings offer a quietly transformative approach to a long-standing challenge: how to ensure that design thinking remains rooted in the lives of the people it aims to serve. This is critical in the earliest, most abstract phases of idea generation.
Human-centred design, a methodology that emphasizes empathy with users and attention to their emotional, social, and physical experiences, is now common across many disciplines, from product development and architecture to public services. Yet despite this, it remains difficult to realize in practice. Designers, particularly when working independently or under tight constraints, often struggle to take the human angle into account. This later manifests itself as the end-product being disconnected from users.
The new research tackles this dilemma by introducing a subtle but purposeful intervention. In two empirical studies involving student designers, participants were first asked to generate design ideas as they normally would. In a second round, they were given one additional instruction: to include a visual representation of a person in every sketch they produced.
While the change might seem trivial, almost naïve and childlike, its impact was not. The researchers saw a noticeable shift in cognitive patterns as the student engineers in each group worked. Those that included people in their sketches began to discuss their ideas differently. They speculated more readily about how users would physically interact with a product, how the design might make someone feel, and what implications it might have for others beyond the immediate user. This is obviously a positive effect in terms of ensuring that the final design is connected to human reality rather than disconnected.
Murphy, L.R., Makhlouf, T., Daly, S.R. and Seifert, C.M. (2025) ‘Where are the humans in human centred design? Intentionally representing people during idea generation deepens consideration of needs’, J. Design Research, Vol. 22, No. 5, pp.1–26.