Reade Harpham
Director of Human Centric Design
Battelle
Reade Harpham leads an eclectic group of industrial designers, human factors engineers, cognitive psychologists, information designers and prototyping experts at Battelle, a highly technical organization. Their purpose is to understand end user needs and assure they are integrated across the entire development activity. Reade has more than 15 years of experience ranging from pharmaceutical and medical devices to consumer electronics and conceptual studies for the U.S. military. His team is responsible for human factors studies to meet regulatory requirements for FDA submissions. In 2013, Reade was named a Battelle “Distinguished Inventor.”
Human Nature: Designing for the Unpredictable
Humans are complex with behavior is highly dependent on influencers such as emotion, attitude and culture. Yet even when we try to factor these elements into a design, things rarely go as predicted. In most cases, such deviations cause little harm. However, in areas such as healthcare, simple deviations can have catastrophic effects. Reade Harpham will give examples of how human nature can make a simple change of context result in deadly outcomes and discuss how design must evolve in order to maintain its relevance in healthcare’s rapidly changing environment, and within the ever-increasing regulatory requirements.
