Human-Centered Design

The human-centered design process places the needs of people at the center of the problem-solving process with the questions, "What is the issue?" "Who does it affect?" and "How can we help?" The three stages of human-centered design, Inspiration, Ideation and Implementation, feed the teamwork component of the process; everyone works together toward a common, mutually beneficial goal.

Since 2014, Richland Library staff have been studying human-centered design and using it to transform library spaces and programs. “Service design,” as it's commonly referred to, leads to the development of solutions that uniquely meet the needs of users, instead of focusing on products or processes. 

We are so passionate about the power of human-centered design that we’ve created Do Good Columbia to share the methodology with diverse community stakeholders and engage them in the process of solving community problems.

What is human centered design?