True or False: Summer Edition

• Human-centered design methodology recommends framing design challenge statements starting with “How can we…?”

• Empathy is a synonym for Sympathy.

• Empathy is crucial because it allows HCD practitioners to set aside his or her own assumptions about the world to gain insight into the actual users and their needs.

• The stages in the human-centered design process are not always sequential.

• In the Develop phase, evaluation is done prior to ideation.

• Human-centered design is the exclusive property of designers.

• Iterations should never occur after the prototype phase.

• Interviewing helps the design team and client to visualize and handle a design concept, and also to get an idea of its physical presence and tactile qualities.

• Brainstorming takes place in the Ideate phase.

• Convergent Thinking is a way to narrow down thoughts to a final solution.

• HCD is mainly suitable for developing creative and crazy product innovations.

• Prototyping methods are generally classified under one of two broad categories: low-fidelity (lo-fi) or high-fidelity (hi-fi).

Find the answer key at the bottom of the page...

ANSWER KEY

Human-centered design methodology recommends framing design challenge statements starting with “How will we…?”
FALSE: Human-centered design process encourages framing design challenge statements starting with “How might we…?”

Empathy is a synonym for Sympathy.
FALSE: The two are not synonymous. Sympathy involves understanding from your own perspective. Empathy involves putting yourself in the other person's shoes and understanding why they may have these particular feelings.

Empathy is crucial because it allows HCD practitioners to set aside his or her own assumptions about the world to gain insight into the actual users and their needs.
TRUE: Think... Walking a mile in someone else’s shoes!"

The stages in the human-centered design process are not always sequential.
TRUE: Human-centered design is a non-linear, non-sequential process.

In the Develop phase, evaluation is done prior to ideation.
FALSE: Ideation occurs prior to evaluation.

Human-centered design is the exclusive property of designers.
FALSE: Of course not, silly! HCD IS FOR EVERYBODY! Peace & love!

Iterations should never occur after the Prototype phase.
FALSE: Actually, iterations can occur in any phase.

Interviewing helps the design team and client to visualize and handle a design concept, and also to get an idea of its physical presence and tactile qualities.
FALSE: Prototyping helps the design team and client to visualize and handle a design concept, and also to get an idea of its physical presence and tactile qualities.

Brainstorming takes place in the Ideate phase.
TRUE: Brainstorming is one of the methods used to help generate lots of ideas.

Convergent Thinking is a way to narrow down thoughts to a final solution.
TRUE: Convergent Thinking focuses on finding one well-defined solution to a problem, while it's counterpart, Divergent Thinking, is the opposite and involves more creativity.

HCD is mainly suitable for developing creative and crazy product innovations.
FALSE: Human-centered design is an approach to innovation that draws from the designer’s toolkit to integrate the needs of people, the possibilities of technology, and the requirements for business success.

Prototyping methods are generally classified under one of two broad categories: low-fidelity (lo-fi) or high-fidelity (hi-fi).
TRUE: Simply put, lo-fi prototypes are used by designers in the early stages of the project to make sure the content is correct. Hi-fi prototypes are created during later stages of the design process to test all current hypotheses.