Camera Obscura: Beyond the lens of user-centered design

So, what then is human centered design if it's failing most of the humans surrounding it? We were trying to broaden the aperture and bring the lens further back to look more coherently at everything that goes on when inserting a product, service, or built environment. What happens when you create something and put it into a human system?

Designers are taught that their job is to represent the people who will use our products. We "empathize" with them and put their needs at the center of our decision-making process. As companies scale up, their priorities and incentives become less and less aligned with the people using their products. Bad things happen as we stop solving people pro... See more