# The Application of Generative Algorithms in Human-Centered Product Development
## 2 Generative Design in the Design Process
### Generative Design, HCD and Ergonomics  
It is useful at this juncture to explore human-centered design, thinking in more detail about how this may advance strategies in generative design development. Human-centered design is a practical design approach that has its roots in considerations around ergonomics and safety standards [29] and is now increasingly applied in industrial and service design strategies. [PERSON] [4], for example, defines HCD as comprising a number of approaches including user-centered evaluations and understanding the experience of use. Safety paradigms are also of critical concern, with many researchers exploring how human-factors knowledge can contribute to improved safety standards in the context of manufacturing and design theories (see [30]). Other work has linked a human-factors understanding with an ontology of human technology interactions that encompass human-machine, human-technology, human-system, and technology-system relationships [31]. Offshoots of human-factors theory have included design for emotion and design semantics. [PERSON] [32], for example, has extensively explored the relationship between artefacts and psychological experiences. [PERSON] and [PERSON] [33] have also offered several models to understand relations between humans, objects, and emotions, with a recent theory expanding this to include concepts such as \"wellbeing\" [34]. Other theorists including [PERSON] [35] and [PERSON] [36] have studied how artefacts convey meanings to users and a physiological understanding of information processing is critical to well-developed products, particularly those involving digital interfaces. The question for us is how HCD thinking can interact and articulate with generative design development tasks. Though generative design is often focused on the creation of static and solid objects, it can also be used to create more dynamic objects that interact directly with human anatomy in a direct engagement with human-factors information. While this is still an emerging area of research, there are a number of interesting examples to which we can refer. Prominent industrial designer and researcher [PERSON] [37], for example, has developed a set of tools utilizing \"digital morphogenesis\" methods. These methods utilize a biological approach to form building, integrating biological processes of growth into the algorithmic generation tools. Her product outcomes use ergonomic intelligence to deliver structures that conform around discrete pressure points, providing improved user comfort. In an interesting paper by [PERSON] et al. [38], generative design is used to explore the issues of surface hygiene highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic. A range of hand-free door handles are developed utilizing a Grasshopper workflow that generates an integrated off-shoot structure facilitating the hands-free functional expansion. Other prominent areas of research include the production of prosthetics, whereby generative methods have been employed to explore more interesting aesthetics that allow a user to feel more comfortable while retaining the full functionality of the prosthetic. In this sense, GD is being utilized for another core human-factors dimension, that of aesthetic experience, product identity, and design emotion (see [39]). Some researchershave used generative design methods in order to develop more reliable prosthetics designs for amputees (see [40]). This is still an experimental area of medicine, and it is not yet widespread, but research work in this area has expanded in the last decade. Additive manufacturing is frequently cited as a key driver in much of this field (see [5]). As the constraints of other manufacturing methods are removed, the exploration of the design space can be broadened significantly. [PERSON] and others [41] review the status of additive technologies within the creation of customized orthotics and prosthetics and the use of computational methods to derive the product forms.