Much has been made of human-centered design

Much has been made of human-centered design. The modern approach to product-design is based around the human, right? Consumers intend to interact with the products they use; why not design a product with this in mind? Many would think this is obvious. Is there even a problem with conventional design techniques? Does the capitalistic version of natural selection not address this? Considering the thousands of products with superb technical quality and reliability that totally disregard the human element, the answer appears to be no.

Many of these are actually marketing successes. In spite of a design renaissance, this disregard of the human element in the product life cycle still exists today. However, luckily for the consumer, human factor considerations are gaining traction in the contemporary design process. From user accessibility to environmental impact, the human factor is changing the way design everything from cockpits to calculators.