Design should never forget that science is part of the process...
As designers of change, we are always looking at ways to create experiences that meet the needs of customers and employees.
This involves more than post-it notes and doing empathy workshops - though these of course have their place.
We have to remember that designing for change is going to require us to use science and evidence to understanding the system, the behaviors, influences, decisions and psychology of people.
I think this has been a bit lost in the fast moving, 10 hacks, 21 strategies, ChatGPT, Figma of it all where some designers have left out the systematic and scientific approach, and instead have opted for creating beautiful solutions that don't really hit the mark.
Look in the past, I also was all in on filling rooms with post-it notes and like my peers thought that the key to human-centered design was simply getting in a room, filling out a canvas, defining the problem in an hour, exploring, and being in a co-creation session (this is a bit reductionist, but you get the point).
Of course some of these activities are for sure valid and important, but you need to use them when you have incorporated the science part.
If you were like me, you would soon realize that this approach was not really working as well.
When products, services, and processes were put into place, they didn’t always solve the issues, and sometimes even caused more problems. (maybe because we were focusing on the wrong behaviours, the wrong influences or making things solely about the individuals)
This is what led me to incorporate an evidence-based approach to help define the problem, to gain deeper understanding of the people and the system we are designing for, including their context, environment, capabilities, and motivations.
Incorporating behavioral science with human-centered design is a constant journey of learning and applying and re-learning for us at Aim For Behavior, but one that our clients understand, trust and appreciate.
We don't need science by itself, just as we don't need design by itself - we can and should work together to embrace the great things that both of these can bring to helping solve challenges of change.