The creative flair and the beauty of venturing beyond the unimaginable, the ability to evoke emotion by touching the most sensitive strings of the soul, are just some of the characteristics of the highest and most introspective moments of the human experience. The world has changed, and digital transformation is its master. In this context, Design Thinking could only be at the center because, at the heart of everything, as in business, there are always and only people, and their humanity makes them unique and untouchable in the face of the change we are experiencing. The journey to discover Design Thinking continues, and today we are happy to explore one of the aspects that most characterizes and makes it unique: creativity and its strong focus on the human dimension of people.
Applying creative thinking to humanize data
Innovation, therefore, transforms and is nourished by the context, culture, and inputs that generate society and the world in constant change. Those who deal with innovation today cannot limit themselves to a mere analysis of pure data. This means using and interpreting the available data, recognizing interesting information, integrating it, and ‘humanizing’ it with the stories and value hidden within. Following this premise, Design Thinking has gained a key role in successful companies, assigning a strategic function to design and creativity. A clear and highly relevant example is the extreme personalization of the Netflix platform, created to address a new customer need, giving rise to a successful service implemented through machine learning.
Design Thinking: what ‘humanizes’ a digital experience
We have seen that Design Thinking is an innovation process that fundamentally relies on people for its existence. This is because it has an innate ability to empathize with all user insights. Just as people today tend to interact less face-to-face due to the dominance of digital, leveraging Design Thinking to design a “human” digital experience has become essential.
Yes, “essential” because human synergy cannot be postponed indefinitely. It is here, it is now, and it lives within us, exploding in every moment of our lives. The emotions, sensitivity, and soul that define it are made of pure creativity—the very creativity that impacts our lives. The heart of the ongoing debate lies in the human soul and its role as the “lifeblood” of digital evolution. Because digital should not overshadow humanity but rather enhance its uniqueness, amplifying its positive aspects.
Today, Design Thinking rises to the challenge, breathing life into digital experiences through the human touch—the only thing capable of making a difference in a world where being “different” still seems “out of fashion.”
But how do we become absorbed by this “unavoidable” mechanism? Simply through an in-depth study of the user and their behaviors, which lead them to take certain actions.
This is where the new approach of Design Thinking comes into play, increasingly prominently, through three elements capable of making a digital experience “human”:
1) Personal
At the forefront of the characteristics of humanizing digital lies, without a doubt, the personal experience it offers the user. Note, we deliberately refer to personal as distinct from personalized. These two terms, seemingly interchangeable, have a very fine line that marks the difference in meaning and gives each its reason for being. Let’s start with the distinction.
A “personalized” experience implies an action external to the user: it means the experience is intentionally tailored based on the individual’s characteristics. A “personal” experience, on the other hand, suggests a deeper, intrinsic attribution closely tied to the individual experiencing it. By its very nature, a personal experience can only be defined by the person themselves.
This is where everything changes and takes on a much more human dimension. Defining a personal digital experience means placing the user and their uniqueness at the center. What comes into play here is their emotional engagement in a particular situation and their intellect. The result is something truly unique and unrepeatable, just as we humans are—equal yet different in countless ways.
As such, the digital experience takes on ever-changing, fascinating forms to study and… to live.
2) Transparent
In second place in our ranking is the characteristic of transparency. In a more “human” digital experience, users are in control of the value they create on the web and the sharing of their data. Today, major giants like Google and Facebook have repeatedly shown us how important data (our data) is to them in providing us with increasingly personalized experiences.
But what happened to personal experiences? Why do they tend to overshadow the part that makes us truly unique in the eyes of the world (and not just digitally)? The issue lies in the lack of transparency in how this data is collected.
Have you ever noticed that, often, if we find ourselves thinking about something we’d like to purchase and talking about it out loud with a family member or friend, the next day (or even within hours) an ad for that very item suddenly appears on our social media feeds? How did they gather this information?
A more “human” digital experience should allow people to be transparently—and, above all, clearly—involved in the data collection process. Everyone should have the right to decide whether to share their data only after understanding how it is collected and for what purpose.
3) Recognizable
The third and final characteristic of making the digital experience human concerns the relationship between humans and machines. AI has become an integral part of the new way of conceiving human dynamics, leveraging artificial intelligence through cutting-edge systems.
But if the boundary between humans and machines is about to be crossed, are we truly convinced that this revolution can bring about the evolution we so eagerly seek?
A concept that perhaps best illustrates how emotional responses can lose their effectiveness when people interact with a human-like entity is the “Uncanny Valley,” introduced by the Japanese robotics scholar Masahiro Mori in 1970. This explains how technologies aimed at humanization are highly appreciated, but… there’s a catch!
No matter how much we try, humans are not replicable—not with the best laboratory technologies and certainly not on the web! Approaching the humanization of technology, as fascinating as it may be, can create confusion and discomfort for users as they navigate their digital experiences.
And Design Thinking? Its contribution is fundamental in designing digital experiences that are increasingly personal, transparent, and… recognizable, capable of providing real value for the individual, acting as an ‘enabler’ for the person. This is just the second in-depth exploration of one of the most dynamic topics in the business world in recent times. We will continue to tell stories that inspire, make us reflect, stories of corporate life intertwined with human life, creating a masterpiece.
