WEBVTT 00:00:02.800 --> 00:00:09.362 The approach that I apply to design has  evolved over a considerable amount of time. 00:00:13.520 --> 00:00:17.479 And the name that I use to  describe it has also been evolving. 00:00:18.240 --> 00:00:24.000 But the reason for that is because I'm also  changing what it is that we approach as designers. 00:00:24.080 --> 00:00:29.918 So, in the very beginning, when I first started becoming a designer – which is the 1980s – 00:00:29.918 --> 00:00:34.972 I was concerned about the early adoption of computer systems 00:00:34.972 --> 00:00:38.180 which were really almost impossible for anybody to understand; 00:00:38.180 --> 00:00:42.343 even the experts who designed them were making errors in using them. 00:00:42.480 --> 00:00:45.225 And there's a famous case where 00:00:45.225 --> 00:00:50.828 the early Unix  systems had a text editor that was called "Ed" – for "Editor". 00:00:50.828 --> 00:00:55.204 You could type away and type your  program or your text, whatever you're doing, 00:00:55.204 --> 00:00:59.293 and spend several hours typing it, and you have this wonderful document. 00:00:59.293 --> 00:01:02.832 And then you — "Ah, I'm finished!"; then you turn off the machine and go home. 00:01:02.832 --> 00:01:05.360 And you come back the next morning to continue and... 00:01:05.360 --> 00:01:07.277 It wasn't there. 00:01:07.277 --> 00:01:10.650 Well, why wasn't it there? Because you didn't *save* it. 00:01:10.650 --> 00:01:12.480 And, well, you mean... 00:01:12.480 --> 00:01:15.525 The system doesn't bother to tell you  when you try to turn it off that 00:01:15.525 --> 00:01:17.986 "Hey, do you want to save the information?" 00:01:17.986 --> 00:01:21.365 It was little things like that that were so frustrating. 00:01:21.440 --> 00:01:27.156 In the early days, what we did is we tried to study  the people who used these complex systems. 00:01:27.156 --> 00:01:31.178 And it was not just computer systems. I actually started off studying 00:01:31.178 --> 00:01:34.503 nuclear power systems – some of the nuclear power accidents 00:01:34.503 --> 00:01:38.390 where the control rooms  were so badly designed that if you wanted to cause 00:01:38.390 --> 00:01:43.253 an error, you could not have done a better job  in designing something to cause errors. 00:01:43.253 --> 00:01:48.337 And then *aviation safety* where lives were at stake – many lives were at stake. 00:01:48.337 --> 00:01:51.819 And there were a huge amount of research and work done, 00:01:51.819 --> 00:01:54.265 and that was a really good  place to work. 00:01:54.265 --> 00:01:59.497 I worked with the American National Aeronautics and Space Administration – NASA. 00:01:59.562 --> 00:02:03.135 Most people think of NASA as shooting rockets up into space, 00:02:03.135 --> 00:02:07.749 but they forget the first two letters – "NA" – are "aeronautics". 00:02:07.749 --> 00:02:12.502 And so, NASA is the world's leader often in aviation safety. 00:02:12.577 --> 00:02:14.536 And that's where I started. 00:02:14.536 --> 00:02:19.478 So, we were looking, though, at the *users* of these systems, and so we called them "users". 00:02:19.478 --> 00:02:23.501 And I was at the University of California, San Diego at the time. 00:02:23.680 --> 00:02:27.305 And my research group, Stephen Draper and I 00:02:27.305 --> 00:02:32.793 edited a book that we called "User Centered System Design". 00:02:33.040 --> 00:02:39.792 And, of course, the initials of "User Centered System Design" is the name of my university: UCSD. 00:02:40.240 --> 00:02:45.000 But we emphasized, first of all,  focusing on the users – the people –  00:02:45.000 --> 00:02:47.654 and, second of all, that it was a system. 00:02:47.654 --> 00:02:50.827 The system stuff, though, kind of got dropped. 00:02:50.960 --> 00:02:55.049 And we decided we didn't really like the focus on users. 00:02:55.049 --> 00:02:57.621 Why are we calling you "a user"? You're a *person*. 00:02:57.621 --> 00:03:00.285 Why don't we call you "a person"? 00:03:00.285 --> 00:03:04.929 And so, we started to call it *human-centered design*. 00:03:05.200 --> 00:03:09.958 And many people ask me what the difference is between user-centered design and people-centered design. 00:03:09.958 --> 00:03:14.528 And all I can say is it's the same  thing – it's just a little bit later in time. 00:03:15.360 --> 00:03:20.640 Well human-centered design – and sometimes I even call it "people-centered design"   00:03:20.640 --> 00:03:22.833 – because I don't call you "a human"; 00:03:22.833 --> 00:03:25.695 I call you "a person" – 00:03:25.920 --> 00:03:29.631 has evolved to having four major principles – namely, 00:03:29.631 --> 00:03:33.850 - Focus on the people. - Make sure you solve the right underlying problem. 00:03:33.850 --> 00:03:37.592 - Think of everything as a system. And - Do iterative work. 00:03:37.600 --> 00:03:41.150 Because we're never going to get it right;  people are far more complex, 00:03:41.150 --> 00:03:45.131 and societies are even more complex than individual people. 00:03:45.131 --> 00:03:48.699 So, we have to experiment, do a test, 00:03:48.699 --> 00:03:51.849 modify, and continually improve. 00:03:51.849 --> 00:03:54.847 So, that's the basis of all of these. 00:03:54.847 --> 00:04:01.507 Now, I've come to start the term *humanity-centered design*. 00:04:01.507 --> 00:04:03.835 And why is that? 00:04:03.835 --> 00:04:07.520 Well, focusing upon the individuals 00:04:07.520 --> 00:04:09.939 is often not quite right. 00:04:09.939 --> 00:04:14.560 You have to focus upon the groups of people, the societal issues. 00:04:14.560 --> 00:04:17.619 You have to focus upon a larger set of things. 00:04:17.619 --> 00:04:20.560 When you do a system analysis, that's what happens. 00:04:20.560 --> 00:04:25.280 And so, that's why I've decided I  will start calling a lot of what I do 00:04:25.280 --> 00:04:28.068 *humanity-centered design*. 00:04:28.068 --> 00:04:32.767 But I still consider all of these to be one similar approach. 00:04:32.767 --> 00:04:36.351 And, in fact, some people just call it "design thinking". 00:04:36.466 --> 00:04:39.337 Design thinking has other attributes. 00:04:39.337 --> 00:04:43.229 For example, when I say we have four major principles, 00:04:43.440 --> 00:04:48.720 I don't say anything about how we actually get  the clever new idea that's the breakthrough. 00:04:48.720 --> 00:04:51.957 How do I actually do the thinking and the creative work? 00:04:51.957 --> 00:04:55.176 And so, a lot of the emphasis in the design thinking world 00:04:55.254 --> 00:05:00.705 are the techniques and methods that  we use to come up with novel, important 00:05:00.705 --> 00:05:04.694 and robust and doable solutions. 00:05:04.694 --> 00:05:07.203 So, but all of these have to come together. 00:05:07.203 --> 00:05:09.120 So, in the design world, we must have 00:05:09.120 --> 00:05:12.456 many, many different methods and many different techniques 00:05:12.456 --> 00:05:14.521 and many different approaches. 00:05:14.521 --> 00:05:19.277 But what unites all of us in the field that I am talking about 00:05:19.277 --> 00:05:23.903 is the focus upon people, society, humanity.