Creating Visual Tools to Support Human-Centered Design Methods

Abstract

Visual tools, such as illustrations, are increasingly being used as part of Human-Centred Design (HCD) methods (e.g. during the requirements gathering phase). However, many HCD practitioners, who do not have visual communication design skills, often find it difficult to determine which existing visual tools to use, or how to create new tools for their own design projects. As such, it is becoming necessary for HCD practitioners to work with visual communication designers to co-create visual tools for specific projects. Here, we provide a multidisciplinary design approach to guide the process of co-creating such visual tools. We also discuss the use of this process in a case study, which has required creating visual tools for field interviews.