Human-Centered Design for

Community-Centered Collaboration
Autism CARES 2019 in DC - July 18, 2019
Rebecca Dosch Brown, MNLEND, RTC-CL/ICI
 Past events Future events

Schacter, D. L.,&Addis, D. R. (2007). The cognitive neuroscience of constructive memory: remembering the past and
imagining the future. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 362(1481), 773-786.
What is Human-Centered
Design?
 is an agile, future-oriented
problem framing and solving
hcd framework, well suited to
navigate complex, dynamic
and ill-defined challenges.
 In a complicated context, at least one
complicated right answer exists

In a complex context, however, no ‘right’

answers can be possible
complex

- David Snowden & Mary Boone

HBR “A Leader’s Framework for Decision Making”
 A citizen-design model formalizes authentic opportunities for
shared power and decision-making. This is especially important
humility when working with marginalized communities where important
relationships, institutions, systems, culture and history can be
invisible to even the most thoughtful decision-makers.

Radical collaboration suggests that diversity of ideas, experiences,

radical cultures and socio-economic backgrounds is not just a good idea,
collaboration but it is actually fundamental to new ways of understanding and
addressing old problems (creativity).

Testing many rough assumptions and ideas in rapid iteration, or

prototyping, aims to generate and test multiple alternative
rapid
hypotheses, assumptions and divergent strategies before
prototyping
selecting the best available option(s) for refinement.

ADAPTED FROM: Roberts, J.P, T.R. Fisher, M. J. Trowbridge, C. Bent.

(2016). A design thinking framework for healthcare management and
innovation.2016 Mar: Healthcare 4(1): 11-14.
Design Thinking (DT) is a (re)cyclical 5-stage non-linear process that
is not expert-driven, but human-centered and human-driven. Its
process includes Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, Test phases.
Case Example – Bush Foundation Innovation Grant

Grant title
Understanding the Lived Experiences of Sandwich Generation
Caregivers: A Growing Intergenerational Challenge Requiring
Ecosystem Thinking, Practices, and Policies

Principal Investigator
Jess Roberts - CENTER FOR HUMAN DESIGN, UMN

Community Facilitators
Pahoua Hoffman - Citizens League Executive Director
Vic Rosenthal - Retired social worker
Rebecca Dosch Brown - RTC-CL/ICI (UCEDD)
Maureen A. Kenney - Wilder Foundation Center for Aging
Bush Foundation Innovation Grant 2018-2020

• Focus: Human-centered design frame used to better

understand and respond to varied “sandwich caregiver”
(SCG) experiences and expressed needs.
• SCG is defined inclusively as “any person who provides
care across generations within a self-defined family unit”

www.flaticon.com
 Studio Structure Is Flexible

Employ “interpretative engagement”

versus
Step-by-step march through status-quo design process

Community stakeholders (not designers) control the “space where

people can come together and interpret the ways that changing
conditions challenge the meanings, patterns, and relationships that
they had long taken for granted.”

- Natasha Iskander, Harvard Review, Sept. 2018

Human-Centered Design Tool of Focus: Interviews
Empathetic listening interviews: Gathered across SCG
communities in multiple phases of project

Users included:
• Extreme User: Heavily long-term services and supports
(LTSS) usage, but not always in typical ways
• Typical-User: Typical LTSS scope and scale
• Related User: People not directly giving or receiving
care, but part of SCG bureaucratic process
• Non-User: People who do not or cannot access LTSS;
often people with multiple barriers to access
Lessons Learned

• Requires more time (at least double)

• Requires support of community leaders
who already trust you
• Requires more listening and less talking
• Requires relinquishing control of project
itself and its outcome
Questions?
Contact

Rebecca Dosch Brown

RTC-CL/ICI (UCEDD)
University of Minnesota
dosch018@umn.edu
Works Cited and Additional Resources

Abassi, K. (2011). A riot of divergent thinking. J R Soc Med. 2011 Oct;

104(10): 391. Retrieved from
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3184540/
Equity-Centered Community Design Field Guide. Available for
download at: http://www.creativereactionlab.com/eccd-field-guide
Iskander, N. (2018). Design thinking is fundamentally conservative
and preserves the status quo. 2018 Sept: Harvard Review. Retrieved
from https://hbr.org/2018/09/design-thinking-is-fundamentally-
conservative-and-preserves-the-status-quo
Works Cited and Resources Continued
Miller, Meg. “Want to fight inequality? Forget design thinking.”
Fast Circle, Feb. 16, 2017. Retrieved from
https://www.fastcompany.com/3068235/want-to-fight-
inequality-forget-design-thinking
Roberts, J., Fischer, T. et al. (2016). A design thinking framework
for healthcare management and innovation. Healthcare
4(2016)11–14.
Schacter, D. L.,&Addis, D. R. (2007). The cognitive neuroscience of
constructive memory: remembering the past and imagining the
future. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B:
Biological Sciences, 362(1481), 773-786.
Tools for taking action (2018). D School at Stanford University.
Retrieved at: https://dschool.stanford.edu/resources/#all-
resources
Thank
You!