Human-centered design
Building services that meet people’s needs

Blocky, the Ad Hoc mascot, pointing to a screen in a user flow with a human-centered design symbol in the center.

Often, public services feel like little thought went into how they’d actually be used. They can be frustrating, time-consuming, and can prevent people from accessing benefits and services.

Human-centered design addresses those challenges by changing the way software teams make decisions. Every choice is based on creating positive experiences for all users based on their needs, abilities, and the ways they interact with products and services across different channels.

Human-centered design enables agencies to:

Build products that are accessible and easy for anyone to use
Increase success rates while reducing call center volume
Reduce the risk of failed launches by incorporating users into the process

Case study

See how Ad Hoc used human-centered design to connect people with health care advice through the Find Local Help tool.

In government and non-profit organizations, legislation, policy requirements, and legacy technology create unique challenges that can prioritize compliance over people. At Ad Hoc, we combine human-centered design with our other foundational competencies to ensure products are compliant while still being accessible and easy to use.

Every team and individual at Ad Hoc brings human-centered design into their work.

Researchers and designers speak with real users with different abilities and backgrounds to discover their needs and test products for improvements.
Product managers take inputs learned from users to plan build cycles and scope work so that it addresses the highest needs of users.
Engineers frame what they are building in terms of the humans who will use and interact with the service.

Human-centered design is about building the right thing, given the needs of users and the constraints of organizations. To find that balance, we ask a lot of questions throughout our process.

What are the goals and constraints of this product?

Who will use this product and what are their needs?

What do we need to learn?

What does success look like?

The right questions, combined with expertise in accessibility and methods like agile development and product thinking, allow teams to continuously incorporate information about their users into software development. That knowledge enables teams to build more effective products and meet the mission of their organization.