We prefer talking with wonderfully complex, real, and complicated people instead of spreadsheets and assumptions.

Because we often research private and sensitive health challenges, we take extra steps to ensure your privacy is protected. When possible, we don’t photograph faces. In addition, we don’t share your full name with our clients in our reports. Within our company, we limit access to your info. We store your information in secure systems.

Design research is a form of research that is generative and is focused on what your needs are. It’s part of a design process that helps shape products at the early stages of development.

Our research is confidential. We protect your private information from our clients. We also share confidential information but required you to not disclose it to others.

Yes. Our job is to test how easy something is to use, not if the science behind it is sound - we leave that part to the people in lab coats. We look for feedback on how well new products and services fit into your life. We do not ask participants to do something unsafe or uncomfortable.

We take COVID extremely seriously. Our entire team is vaccinated and double-boosted. We always wear KN-95 masks for all visits. We’ve conducted sessions outside in people’s backyards or with all of our office windows open.

We compensate people for the valuable time they share with us. We generally pay people at the time of our interview in a format that is convenient and appropriate. We prefer to pay in cash. For healthcare professionals, if your institutional policies permit we can pay you directly (we are not a medical device company) or donate on your behalf.

Humancraft is a small design consultancy located in San Francisco. We focuses on wellness and health.

Humancraft is an independent company hired by startups, organizations, and medical device companies to conduct research. We are paid by our clients.

Sometimes we visit people in their homes to learn first hand how they manage their health challenges. Being in person provides a more comprehensive picture than hearing about something over the phone.

For a home visit, we would come with 2-3 people, sit at your table or couch, and have an in-depth conversation about our predetermined subject. We may ask you to show us how and where in your home you manage your health care. Depending on the project we may ask for your honest feedback on a concept or prototype potentially designed for home use.

We are researchers, not sales people, and we will not try to sell you anything.

Sometimes we visit health care facilities to learn about staff and equipment workflows. Being in person provides a more comprehensive picture than hearing about something over the phone.

We have active GHX and Green Security credentials to stay up to date on HIPAA, PHI, and vaccination requirements in order to observe everything from patient intakes to surgery.

For a clinic visit, 2-3 members of our credentialed team would passively sit in a corner and observe. If it’s possible to do without interrupting patient care or clinical workflow, we would ask follow up clarifying questions about what we observed. Depending on the project we may ask for your honest feedback on a concept or prototype potentially designed for clinic use.

We are researchers, not sales people, and we will not try to sell you anything.

Our remote interviews are conducted via Zoom. They are generally 1 hour long. There will be one moderator and one notetaker. With your permission, we may record the interviews for transcription and later analysis. We don’t share the full recordings directly with our clients, and we change your name on the zoom recording to maintain your anonymity. It’s important to do these interviews on your computer because we often have things we want to share that are too small to see on a phone screen.

While we are not a healthcare providers, and we are not covered by the policies of HIPPA we take many steps to protect your personal health information. In the context of hospital observations, we would not photograph anything with protected health information on it.

Generally, our user testing and design research are not part of a clinical trial. Sometimes our efforts inform clinical trials or involve working devices and prototypes. Where appropriate we get approval from an institutional review board (IRB) to ensure our research protocol is safe and ethical.

Yes, we love using recruiters to help us find the right people to talk with. We even prefer to have the additional layer of separation and privacy a recruiter provides.

For every study, we have a short consent form that outlines the purpose, compensation, confidentiality, and use of the information.