This document summarizes the research of Boukje Vastbinder and Jeroen Spoelstra evaluating the Human Centered Design toolkit by IDEO.org. They traveled to several countries speaking with over 60 people who use or could use the HCD process. Many found the toolkit steps illogical, language difficult, and not applicable to their context. They prototyped improvements like adding entrepreneurship tools, lean processes, and HCD canvases to guide facilitation. Their suggestions to IDEO.org include revising steps/tools, adding scenario examples, and adapting the website and funding options.

1. Reviewing the Human Centered Design (HCD) toolkit by IDEO.org

2. WHAT IS “AM I A DESIGNER?”
A global research project on the impact of social entrepreneurship
and human centered design on poverty reduction

3. WHAT?
From November 2012 until April 2013 we
(Jeroen & Boukje) are traveling the world to
spend some time on five continents in order
to: (a) visit entrepreneurial and design related
projects that claim to contribute to poverty
reduction and ask them what their recipe's
are; (b) ask people around the world
(professionals, end-users etc.) about their
opinions on design, entrepreneurship in
relationship to poverty and start a discussion;
(c) use the collected data and our own insights
to evaluate and possible improve the most
used Human Centered Design toolkit
worldwide: the HCD toolkit from Ideo.org (d)
possibly even contribute a little bit to poverty
reduction ourselves by sharing our own
knowledge through workshops, advice, design,
business development etc.
We want to know what we should teach our
students or share with our clients to make
them the changemakers of the future and we
felt that we couldn’t learn this from books. We
will ask questions, meet people, take pictures,
write blogs, start discussions, collaborate on
real projects from both foreign and local
NGOs, enterprises and universities and
hopefully also have some time to relax and
enjoy all the beautiful landscapes & people we
are hoping to see/meet.
If you want to know more about our trip and
our goals visit: www.amiadesigner.com
This slide set will focus on the outcomes of the
evaluation of the HCD toolkit by Ideo.org

4. #AMIADESIGNER
Boukje Vastbinder Jeroen Spoelstra

5. WHO?
Boukje Vastbinder (30) is both co- owner of
Enyini and lecturer sustainable entrepreneur-
ship at the Delft University of Technology.
Boukje is convinced that, through entrepre-
neurship and collaboration, social initiatives
can improve people’s lives on the long term
and she would like to contribute to this
transition as an entrepreneur, researcher,
lecturer and human!
Is she an entrepreneur? That depends on your
definition of entrepreneurship.
Linkedin:http://nl.linkedin.com/pub/boukje-
vastbinder/20/890/140
Jeroen Spoelstra (35) is a passionate lecturer
in design and applied creativity at the
Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences. He
finds his inspiration out of his other passions
mountain biking, surfing and traveling. He uses
sports, traveling and being outside to get
inspired and give inspirational lectures and
workshops. Design to him has shifted from
making desirable products to creating mea-
ningful and real solutions that can make a
difference.
Is he a designer? That depends on your
definition of design.
Linkedin:http://www.linkedin.com/pub/jeroen
-spoelstra/8/b05/3a1

6. DESIGN:
THE PROCESS OF CREATING
SOMETHING NEW
ENTREPRENEURSHIP:
CREATING VALUE BY COMBINING
OPPERTUNITIES WITH STRENGHTS
Our current definitions of design and entrepreneurship:

7. Slide met tools invoegen
Human Centered Design Business Model Canvas Customer Journey
Toolkit by IDEO.org by A.Osterwalder by M.Stickdorn

8. REVIEWING THE HCD TOOLKIT

9. OUR OWN HCD PROCESS
Research on use & Adaptations & proto- What is next?
appliance of the types of process & suggestions,
HCD Toolkit by tools during the questions &
target group stops of our journey reflections

11. HEAR
Remark: We also included the HCDconnect website in our analyses but
we focused on the book/ pdf of the HCD toolkit

12. WE SPOKE TO MORE THEN 60 CURRENT OR
POTENTIAL USERS OF THE HCD PROCESS

13. ONLY 1 PERSON WE SPOKE TO, USES
LITERALLY THE TOOLS IN THE TOOLKIT

15. POSITIVE REFLECTIONS ON TOOLKIT
- After reading this I thought: Is there
any other way to design then this?
- It legitimized what we already did
& believed in!
- This could change the world!
- Great that this is available for free:
thank you!

16. NEGATIVE REFLECTIONS ON
TOOLKIT PER TARGET GROUPS
- Teachers & students
- New projects (within NGOs)
- Problem owners
- IDEO.org fellows/ employees
- Existing NGOs that have an interest in
HCD
- Product designers
- Sustainable/ social entrepreneurs

17. NEGATIVE REFLECTIONS ON
TOOLKIT PER TARGET GROUPS
- Teachers & students
- New projects (within NGOs)
- Problem owners
- IDEO.org fellows/ employees
- Existing NGOs that have an interest in
HCD
- Product designers
- Sustainable/ social entrepreneurs
These target groups
used the steps within
the book

18. NEGATIVE REFLECTIONS ON
TOOLKIT PER TARGET GROUPS
- Teachers & students
- New projects (within NGOs)
- Problem owners
- IDEO.org fellows/ employees
- Existing NGOs that have an interest in
HCD
- Product designers
- Sustainable/ social entrepreneurs
These target groups didn’t
used the steps within the
book (but do consider
themselves HCD)

19. NEGATIVE REFLECTIONS ON
TOOLKIT PER TARGET GROUPS
- Teachers & students
- New projects (within NGOs)
- Problem owners
- IDEO.org fellows/ employees
- Existing NGOs that have an interest in
HCD
- Product designers
- Sustainable/ social entrepreneurs
These target groups
used the steps within
the book

20. TEACHERS
- Sequence of the steps is sometimes
Illogical
- Where is Design Thinking?
- The book/ pdf is very static
- Language

21. STUDENTS
- Difficult words
- Overwhelming
- When do you use which tools?
- Are some tools really tools?

22. PROBLEM OWNERS
- Is this even mend for us?
- What if you have bad or no internet?
- Language & difficult words

23. IDEO.ORG FELLOWS/ EMPLOYEES
- ?
- ?
- What is your feedback on the
(use of the) HCD Toolkit?

24. NEGATIVE REFLECTIONS ON
TOOLKIT PER TARGET GROUPS
- Teachers & students
- New projects (within NGOs)
- Problem owners
- IDEO.org fellows/ employees
- Existing NGOs that have an interest in
HCD
- Product designers
- Sustainable/ social entrepreneurs
These target groups didn’t
used the steps within the
book (but do consider
themselves HCD)

25. NGOS
- It takes us to much time
- How can we adapt this to our needs?
- It is hard/ difficult/ time consuming
to translate the whole book in
the language/ culture we work in

26. PRODUCT DESIGNERS
- We miss some product design tools
- Diverging – converging?
- Design thinking attitude

27. SUSTAINABLE/ SOCIAL
ENTREPRENEURS
- Where is the entrepreneurship?
- Where is the sustainability?
- Is this not just a way to justify an old
fashioned NGO approach?
- It takes to long to find out if
something is really viable in the HCD
process (Lean)

28. OUR QUESTIONS TO IDEO.ORG
- What was the main target group you
had in mind when you designed the
HCDtoolkit and platform?
- Do you know in which categories the
70.000 downloaders and 13.000
HCDconnect users belong?

30. WE USED THE VISITED PROJECTS TO
IDEATE & PROTOTYPE OUR
IMPROVEMENTS
At every location we used the feedback
gathered to come up with different
improvement options for the HCD toolkit.
In the end we came up with 16
improvement options (which weren't all
compatible with each other).
Depending on the project we selected
one or several of these improvement
options and worked them out/ proto-
typed them within the project.

31. 0% OF THE ORGANIZATIONS WE
VISITED WAS 100% HCD

32. FIRST DESTINATIONS:

33. KENYA – CYCLING OUT OF POVERTY

34. TANZANIA – WORLD OF WEAVING

35. ZANZIBAR – ZENJI TREASURES

36. KENYA, TANZANIA & ZANZIBAR
What did we come up with?
- Designing with, within or by the
target group
- Diverge & Converge
- Adding entrepreneurship tools like
the Businnes Model Canvas

37. MOVIE WOW
HTTP://VIMEO.COM/56763716
This movie was shot during our
collaboration with the World Of
Weaving (WOW) project in Tanzania
and reflects on the following
questions:
- whether you can transfer design
skills to everyone,
- whether you would even want this
- and what sort of design skills:
product design or project design?

39. WHERE DOES THE CREATE PHASE END? WHAT
DOES THIS MEAN FOR THE DELIVER PHASE?
The product designer
The entrepreneur

40. HOW TO INCORPORATE A DIVERGING AND A
CONVERGING STEP IN EVERY PHASE?

42. HOW MANY ITERATIONS DO YOU
MINIMALLY NEED?

43. ADDING ENTREPRENEURSHIP TOOLS
LIKE THE BUSINESS MODEL CANVAS

44. NEXT DESTINATION:

45. INDONESIA – MASARANG

46. WILLIE SMITS

47. ITM UNIVERSITY - TOMOHON

48. INDONESIA
What did we come up with?
- Lean HCD process
(Master thesis Maria Isabel Oschery)
- A tool for facilitation
- Design Thinking is the attitude
- Human Centered Design is the proces
- Language

49. WE DEVELOPED THE HCD CANVASSES
AS A FACILITATION TOOL

50. MOVIE ITM
HTTP://VIMEO.COM/59137121
The first drafts of the HCD canvasses
were prototyped during a HCD course
we gave at the Institute Technologi
Minahasa (ITM) in Indonesia covering
4 full days.

51. DESIGN THINKING ATTITUDE VERSUS
HUMAN CENTERED DESIGN PROCESS

52. NEXT DESTINATION:

53. SYDNEY – SOCIAL-INNOVATION-SYDNEY

54. ADELAIDE – HACKHAM WEST CC

55. AUSTRALIA
What did we come up with?
- Who is your target group? Elderly, poor
youngsters? Does it matter?
- What is the future of HCD & DT in
design education?
- Gathering feedback, feedback,
feedback!

56. BIG PUBLIC LECTURE IN SYDNEY

57. GATHERING FEEDBACK THROUGH THE HCD
CONNECT WEBSITE AND OUR OWN BLOG

58. NEXT DESTINATION:

59. PERU – UPC - LIMA

60. PERU – AASD - CALCA

61. WORKING WITH ANTHROPOLOGISTS

62. PERU
What did we come up with?
- Sequence & tools revising
- When do you use what?
- HCD& Education
- Funding & HCD process

64. REVISING SEQUENCE STEPS AND TOOLS:

65. REVISING SEQUENCE STEPS AND TOOLS:
- Are all the tools even tools?
- Are all the steps even steps?
- Distinguishing between process (blue), tools (red) and
attitude (green)
- Incorporating diverging and converging steps in every phase
- Including 3/4 iterations
- Adding entrepreneurial tools and product design tools
- Tune HCD toolkit with HCD canvasses

66. WHERE IN THE HCD PROCESS DO YOU
ASK FOR FUNDING?

67. MOVIE AASD
HTTP://VIMEO.COM/62952376
This movie was shot during our
collaboration with the Andean Alliance
for Sustainable Development (AASD) in
Peru and reflects on the following
questions:
- when do you ask for funding within
a HCD process?
- what does that mean for the HCD
toolkit?
- and what does that mean for the
HCD website& funding options?

68. MORE DISTINCTION BETWEEN THE
GUIDEBOOK, SEPARATE TOOLS, THE
CANVASSES AND THE HCD WEBSITE

69. GUIDEBOOK
- Theory
- Process
- Attitude (Design Thinking)
- Examples
- Troubleshooting
- Suitable as syllabus

70. TOOLCARDS
- Practical tools
- Addaptable to context
- Upload in different languages
- Slow internet proof

71. HCD CANVASSES
- Guide
- Safety net
- Education tool
- Planning

72. HCD CONNECT
- Contact with users
- Reflection
- Visability
- Movies
- Marketing
- Funding
- Providing access to toolcards, canvasses
and guidebook

73. OUR QUESTIONS FOR IDEO.ORG
- Why is the content of the guidebook, pdf
and online tools different?
- Are you the only one funding HCD
projects through the website?

75. NEXT DESTINATION:

76. WHERE WE COLLABORATE WITH
IDEO.ORG

77. WHAT IS NEXT FOR US?
- Universities in Indonesia & Peru want
to use the HCD canvasses and are
developing HCD & DT courses
- NGOs a social enterprises want out help
to implement the HCD process
- We are going to use our experience
& output in our own work back in the NL

78. WHAT IS NEXT FOR US?
- We will keep on blogging about these
subjects
- We’re presenting our findings in
different locations (public lectures in
San Francisco, Amsterdam etc.)
- We need to figure out if
“AmIaDesigner?’ will be more then a
blog in the future. Maybe an education
program?

79. WHAT IS NEXT FOR IDEO.ORG?
- Wich improvement options would work
for you?
- How do we continue?
- Method-day : input and output

80. OUR SUGGESTIONS - LONG TERM
- Adapt guidebook
- Develop examples of different uses
of the toolkit (scenario’s)
- Develop theory on process & attitude
- Add new examples
- Categorize the tools (concrete – abstract)
- Research > publication(s)
- Adapt HCD Connect website
- Consider alternative funding schemes
- Prototyping the adaptations
- Alerting the press when it is all finished

81. OUR SUGGESTIONS - SHORT TERM
- Adapt tool cards:
- Make them independent from each other
- Use less difficult words
- Use less cultural dependent images
- Make them all 1 A4
- Add ‘upload tool in other language’ option
to the website
- Add H,C,D canvasses to the website
(or we can do that on our website and you
can link to them?)
- Make choises in consistant terminolgy
(for example: is it a ‘tool’ or a ‘method’?)

82. INPUT FOR METHOD-DAY:
REFLECTIONS ON METHODS
- Choosing (converge)
- Entrepreneurship
- What is Delivering?
- Interpretation
- Design by the problem owner
- How long should every step/ method
take?
- Which methods fit which targetgroup?
Analyst vs Creator, Teacher vs Student,
Designer vs Entrepreneur

84. THERE IS A TOOL FOR EVERYONE IN
EVERY PHASE OF THE PROCESS

85. REFLECTIONS ON OUR RESEARCH
- Who was our own client? Ourselves, the
projects but not really IDEO.org?
- Human Centered Design vs Research
- We would have loved more time to test
HCD assumptions and tools – maybe in
the nearby future?