Practical advice and guidance for being more human and community centred in your charity, to better meet the needs of your beneficiaries.
This practice is known as Human and Community Centred Design (HCCD), a broader approach to User Centred Design (UCD) and Design Thinking. It's about involving your beneficiaries and community throughout the design process. We have been working alongside SIDE Labs and CAST to support organisations across the sector. We've compiled case studies and resources to help you be more user-centred.
We spoke to several organisations and experts about how they're adapting to a new normal. Choose a story below to find out what they had to say.
Resources and toolkits to help guide you through human and community centred design processes.
Methods available online, organised across three phases: Inspiration, Ideation, and Implementation. Methods also available as book or PDF download in The Field Guide to Human-Centred Design.
A selection of service design tools over four phases, known as the “double diamond” design process: Discover, Define, Develop, Deliver.
An online resource of methods, organised across three categories in a continuous loop: Gather Insights, Ideate, Prototype & Test. Users are invited to submit methods, questions, examples, and resources.
A guide for designing public services, created in collaboration with IDEO, mainly aimed at governments. Available as PDF, contains some worksheets.
Methods organised across six areas of activity: clarify your goal, build your group, seek new understanding, imagine more ideas, make something real, and plan for action. PDF available.
51 cards divided into four categories: Learn, Look, Ask, and Try. Available in print and as an iOS app (app is a touch out of date).
Explore was an 8-week digital exploration programme. We delivered to 12 charities from January-March 2021.
Here are some ways to get help doing human and community centred design. Or, get better at it yourself by learning how to do it.
Have a look through Dovetail, a directory of tech for good agencies. Or ask peers who they have worked with when doing user-entered design.
Ask people on the Digital Charities Slack community. Or check out Digital Candle and ask volunteer experts for advice.
CAST Design Hops are a good place to start. IDEO U, Udemy and Future Learn offer a good mix of free and paid courses. You'll need to have a good search.