Maybe it’s a weird idea
Atomic Design systems help designers work efficiently, in alignment with each other and with other teams. Can you create a component-based system to help designers and non-designers align on a more human-centered approach to work?
Atoms, Molecules, Organisms.
My team was tasked with skilling up the staff of our organization with human centered design skills. We relied on our staff in country teams, who have direct contact with our end users around the globe, to conduct user research, facilitate workshops, run co-design sessions, and conduct usability testing. Largely these people don’t have a background in design.
The Human Centered Design System was born out of a need to be able to assemble “recipes” for our country teams to be our eyes, ears, and hands on the ground when we were unable to travel to meet users during the pandemic. The system is made of over 120 components that can be assembled into recipes depending on what the project needs.
Recipes
Each system component is a resource in the database. The component contains a description of the activity or concept, what’s needed to get it done (in terms of time or participants), links to other related components, and links to external resources.
As in atomic design, the atoms combined form molecules, which when combined form organisms. For example, questions combined with consent and recording form interviews. Interviews combined with prototypes and workflows form user testing, and so on.
Built up in this way, we can quickly create recipes, tools and templates to help teams conduct research, prototype, test, and iterate with the user at the center. The recipes contain the necessary resources and best practices to do the work.
A home for the components
The components live in a repository that has open access. The design team creates presentation layers that link into the repository. The different components can be assembled into a “series” which acts like a course that a person can take on a given subject.
For example, “How to conduct an interview” is a course that is composed of components on consent, questions, recording, observation, user sampling, etc.
