Human-Centered Design for Small Business

Human-Centered Design is an approach to problem-solving that places people’s needs, behaviors, and experiences at the center of research, idea development, and decision-making. It enables organizations to examine assumptions, identify meaningful opportunities, and develop solutions grounded in evidence from the people they serve. This course applies Human-Centered Design and design thinking to customer research, customer experience, business innovation, and the development of products, services, and organizational processes. Students learn to frame a business or organizational challenge, gather and interpret research evidence, generate and evaluate ideas, create and test a low-fidelity prototype, and plan practical next steps. Students develop a reusable toolkit of methods and apply it to a real small-business, nonprofit, entrepreneurial, or organizational challenge.