The role of digital designers in human-centred projects| Why human-centred design matters in data and digital transformation
Human-Centred Design in Data Projects: Why It Matters More Than Ever
TL;DR
If your dashboards, apps, or reporting tools aren’t designed with users in mind, they won't deliver the results. Human-centred design ensures digital solutions are intuitive, inclusive, and effective. At Notitia, our digital designers work with analysts and developers to deliver tools people actually use — from healthcare dashboards to web platforms.
When we talk about data and digital transformation, it’s easy to get caught up in platforms, code, and capability. But the truth is: none of that matters if the people you’re designing for don’t use it — or worse, can’t use it.
At Notitia, we know from experience that how you design a product is just as important as what you build. Our projects consistently show that a human-centred design approach is the difference between tools that gather dust and solutions that transform decision-making.
Why Human-Centred Design Works
The quickest way for a project to fail is to focus soley on the platform instead of the people — because tools alone don’t solve problems, it’s the alignment with users that makes them succeed.
As Notitia Managing Director, Alex Avery, recently told TechDay:
“Technology should serve people, not the other way around. Real people drive business outcomes—which means that those who use the technology, need to be able to use it effectively to achieve their goals. It's critical in the software development process to balance what the end product does on paper, against how it will actually be used, and who will use it.” Read the full article here.
Instead, our approach flips the process:
- We start with conversations, not code. Sitting down with stakeholders to understand their world.
- We map needs and goals into something visible and clear. No mystery, no jargon.
- We design around real users, building for specific roles, not generic “personas.”
- We test and train in context, so teams walk away confident.
It’s a deliberate, proven process that makes sure what gets delivered isn’t just functional, but valuable.
Involving people early in the design process
Here’s the thing: it’s not just “nice” to be user-focused. It’s commercially smarter. Projects that adopt human-centred design:
- Get adopted faster (because they actually fit people’s workflows).
- Deliver more impact (because insights are relevant to decisions).
- Scale better (because the foundations are solid and flexible).
In other words, every dollar invested goes further.
For example, working with West Gippsland Healthcare Group (WGHG) we co-designed a Qlik-based theatre dashboard that simplified performance and cost tracking. The result? Faster reporting, clearer insights, and a product clinicians actually want to use.
Notitia's digital designers in action
The real difference comes down to people — and at Notitia, our design team is a big part of that.
Carolina Pérez Dilsizian, Notitia's Senior Designer, has emphasised that without end-user input, assumptions drive development:
“Software should always fit into the way that people work. When we prioritise user behaviour, needs, and workflows, we create solutions that people actually want to use. That’s what human-centred design is all about.”
Carolina leads Notitia’s human-centred design framework, a six-step process: stakeholder interviews, contextual research, persona mapping, analysis and recommendations, tailored development, and end-user training.
Describing a recent project, Carolina explains:
“Users had been struggling with an outdated reporting tool for years. After conducting interviews, we found the issue wasn’t just the data — it was how it was presented. We designed dashboards to match exactly how their internal teams consume and use organisational information.”
Her focus at Notitia is on making the complex digestible: turning raw datasets into dashboards that feel effortless to use, without losing the depth of insight.
Alongside Carolina is Notitia Designer Yuri Chae. With a background spanning branding, UX, and graphic design, her versatility shows up in projects like West Gippsland Healthcare Group’s dashboards, Fyna Foods, and Barwon Water, where she transformed dense operational data into actionable insights.
Yuri is known for going beyond the brief:
“Clients might ask for something specific, but if I see a way to improve upon their idea, I’ll suggest it. This proactive approach often exceeds their expectations.”
Together, Carolina and Yuri embody the principle that good design is the difference between a product that sits unused and one that empowers entire teams.
The role of digital designers in human-centred projects
Human-centred design doesn’t sit in a vacuum — it’s carried through by digital designers who blend creativity, strategy, and technology to make products usable, inclusive, and effective.
As we outlined in our article, What does a digital designer do and how can they help your project?, a digital designer does far more than “make things look good.” They work across:
- Dashboards and data visualisation — turning complex data into clear, functional insights.
- Websites and applications — designing interfaces that are accessible and easy to use.
- Wireframes and prototypes — mapping out the user journey before development begins.
- Brand identity in digital channels — ensuring consistency, credibility, and clarity.
At Notitia, this work goes hand in hand with human-centred design. Our designers start with co-design workshops, persona mapping, and user research. By doing so, they ensure that every dashboard, app, or digital platform is purpose-built — not just technically sound, but intuitive and engaging.
As the article puts it:
“Good digital design is invisible. You only notice it when it’s missing — like when you can’t find the right button, or a page doesn’t work on your phone.”
This approach reduces training time, speeds up adoption, and helps teams trust the tools in front of them. And because our designers collaborate directly with analysts and developers, design decisions are tightly integrated with business and technical goals.
It’s why projects like Bubup Wilam Aboriginal Child & Family Centre, Foodbank Victoria, and DEWR delivered real outcomes: culturally safe platforms, dashboards that supported better food delivery, and accessible digital tools that connected jobseekers to services.
User persona mapping: the foundation of human-centred design
At the core of human-centred design is a simple idea: you can’t build effective tools without first understanding who they’re for. That’s where user persona mapping comes in.
Persona mapping goes beyond job titles or demographics. It’s about capturing how different people in an organisation actually think, behave, and interact with technology. For example:
- What tasks are most important to them day-to-day?
- What are their biggest frustrations with current systems?
- How do their roles intersect with others across the business?
- What decisions are they responsible for, and what information do they need to make them confidently?
By answering these questions through interviews, workshops, and research, our design team can visualise clear user personas. Each persona represents a group of real users with distinct needs, goals, and pain points.
As Notitia's Senior Designer, Carolina Pérez Dilsizian, explains:
“When we really get to understand each of the users — their assumptions, needs, intersections with other roles, and their contribution to business goals — we can develop something that is uniquely tailored to their organisational problem.”
This process ensures every dashboard, web tool, or app is designed for real-world usage — not generic assumptions. It also helps teams see where needs overlap, where they diverge, and how one solution can bridge those differences.
The result? Digital products that feel intuitive because they’ve been designed around the way people actually work. Less training, less frustration, faster adoption — and tools that deliver real value from day one.
What we take a design led approach to our projects
Across industries like healthcare, infrastructure, and FMCG, our projects demonstrate the impact of design-led approaches:
- Reporting that once took weeks consolidated into real-time insights.
- Dashboards that empower local teams, not overwhelm them.
- Governance rules translated into workflows people trust.
Take a look at our Foodbank Victoria case study, where we co-designed dashboards that now help direct food to where it’s needed most. The success wasn’t just in the tech — it was in creating tools that teams actually use to make decisions every day.
Human-centred design for technology projects
McKinsey & Company estimates that around 70% of organisational transformations fail to meet their objectives, often due to “people issues.” The same is true in software and data projects: technology alone isn’t enough.
Notitia Managing Director Alex Avery puts it:
“The biggest misconception about human-centred design is that it’s an optional add-on. If we’re building software that people rely on, we will get it right — which means designing with them, not just for them. For Notitia, it’s already the standard.”
Human-centred design keeps projects grounded, relevant, and impactful. It’s how we make sure that what gets built isn’t just technically sound, but genuinely transformative.
And with designers like Carolina and Yuri working side by side with our analysts and developers, we’re able to give clients the full spectrum: data and digital transformation delivered with strategy, analytics, and design that lands.
✅ Next step: If you’re curious about how human-centred design can strengthen your data and digital transformation projects, get in touch with our team.
