This paper first outlines the Human-Centered Design Organization’s 20-year history, as documented in its official public records. The organization was founded in February 2005, with the aim of gaining recognition of a humancentered design approach. In 2025, it possessed 1,277 members, certified approximately 2,500 professionals and specialists, and published 89 peer-reviewed papers. Through surveying experience, the author proposes activities for sustainable operation, including accumulating records in a digital, referable format, sharing stakeholders' experiences in articles, discussing the organization's mission, which encompasses both professionals and researchers, and ultimately improving DEI, especially among board members.

Reflecting on the social context around September 2004, when the application for establishing an NPO was submitted, as well as the background leading to its formation, this document considers the inevitable reasons behind the establishment of HCD-Net, how those reasons are connected to the current situation, and how they relate to the future direction of its activities.

The document promotes the HCD Basic Certification, emphasizing the importance of human-centered design (HCD) in various fields. It aims to increase the number of individuals practicing HCD, contributing to organizational and societal transformation.

The first international standard for human-centered design (HCD) was published at the end of the 20^th century. It has since been revised twice, and now there is a movement towards standards and certification for process evaluation. One factor behind this is the change in the environment, from the initially one-to-one HCI to many-to-many and even AI. This paper explains HCD and related standards, as well as how to view HCD from the software engineering field, from the perspective of standardization.

This paper discusses the significance of Human-Centered Design (HCD) in the next 20 years, focusing on the evolving role of designers in the age of AI integration. Over the past two decades, technological progress such as the spread of personal computers, smartphones, and remote work has transformed user experiences. In the coming decades, the pace of change will accelerate even further, requiring designers not only to utilize AI's capability to provide accurate answers but also to take responsibility for framing meaningful questions. Drawing from real-world projects in the automotive and retail industries, as well as educational practices at the University of Yamanashi's Advanced Design Program (ADP), this paper emphasizes that designers must define what kind of experiences and relationships society should foster. HCD is expanding from a method of understanding users to a guiding stance for co-creating sustainable and humane futures.

This paper explores the future of Human-Centered Design (HCD) in the era of rapidly advancing AI and growing societal complexity. Building on Ben Shneiderman's Human-Centered AI, it examines Human-Centered AI (HCAI) as a framework that positions AI as a tool to augment human abilities rather than replace them. Central to this vision is the role of governance in ensuring system robustness and trustworthiness. While acknowledging the strength of Shneiderman’s theory, this paper offers a critical perspective by noting gaps in its treatment of practical implementation and limited attention to cultural diversity. It also examines Japan’s "Principles for an AI-powered Society centered on the human being" as a case to highlight the challenges of translating high-level principles into social practice. Looking ahead, the paper argues that HCD must evolve beyond a design method to become a guiding philosophy for technological and social adaptation over the next two decades.

This paper proposes "Relationship Design" as a new role for Human-Centered Design (HCD) over the next 20 years in an era of coexistence with AI. It begins with the hypothesis that both human thought and current AI are extensions of "weak intelligence." This premise suggests that in addition to conventional HCD, AI-Centered Design (ACD), which optimizes for AI efficiency, will also become necessary. However, pursuing these two approaches independently could create conflicts. Therefore, "Relationship Design" is presented as a crucial discipline to mediate between humans and AI, and to design the interactions within the entire ecosystem they form. The paper argues that the focus of HCD will gradually shift from designing individual products to designing the systemic relationships between humans, AI, and society.

This paper describes the role of HCD professionals within society. It highlights the need for us to directly address overarching societal trends and issues. By tackling complex challenges such as climate change, gender equality, and educational disparities, it is crucial to deepen our understanding of humanity and contribute effectively to problem-solving.

This paper addresses the stalemates that Human-Centered Design (HCD) encounters in complex social issues by proposing a design philosophy focused on fostering 'co-evolutionary' relationships between services and users, rather than providing static solutions. It discusses a process for deepening user engagement and transforming their roles from passive 'receivers' to active 'stewards.' Furthermore, it highlights the need for practitioners themselves to transform from 'external experts' to engaged 'insiders,' envisioning a future for consulting that moves beyond the delivery of 'deliverables' toward a model of 'symbiosis.'

The rapid development of generative AI is fundamentally transforming the Human-Centered Design (HCD) process. This paper examines two key transformations: dialogue with AI personas and advanced quantitative analysis. We propose that AI can create data-driven personas for deeper qualitative understanding and use complex data to enhance the efficiency and reproducibility of HCD processes. Through AI-powered quantitative analysis, practitioners can identify multi-dimensional insights that would be impossible to detect manually, while AI personas enable continuous dialogue for hypothesis refinement. This transformation allows HCD practitioners to focus more on core human activities such as empathy and strategic thinking, while AI handles analytical and generative tasks. The new role of HCD practitioners is to ask sharp questions, collaborate with AI as a partner, and maintain critical oversight to ensure ethical and accurate outcomes. We present a maturity model for AI adoption in HCD and discuss practical implementation guidelines for organizations seeking to integrate AI into their design processes.

The concept of “Human Centered Design” is expanding wider and wider, year by year. Design target is also expanding from a man who use it (user) to all human, and from products (physical things) to service or system (nonphysical things). Now the goal of design is not only problem-solving but also creating new value for innovation. In response to this expansion of the concept of “Human Centered Design”, this paper is trying to review the concept of “Human Centered Design” and attempted to visualize and make it a conceptual diagram in order to share its thinking and approach.