This paper proposes an innovative approach to designing effective humanitarian logistics systems based on linguistic decision-making. The authors aim to create a detailed roadmap for such systems by carefully considering the key needs that must be addressed. To accomplish this, they utilize the House of Quality (HoQ) method of Quality Function Deployment (QFD), which establishes clear relationships between the various needs of humanitarian logistics and the specific requirements for designing effective systems. The inherently chaotic and complex nature of humanitarian logistics presents a significant challenge to effective design. However, the use of linguistic variables, combined with fuzzy logic-based techniques, can help to handle the vagueness and ambiguity of the field. The paper suggests using the 2-Tuple Linguistic (2-TL) model in combination with QFD technique to create more effective roadmaps that can be followed even in the face of uncertainty and unexpected events. This paper contributes to the existing literature by proposing a linguistic-based design approach to prioritize the design requirements for humanitarian logistics systems. This approach can guide practitioners to generate relevant strategies to address critical design requirements. The paper also presents a case study from Türkiye to develop the proposed QFD models for humanitarian logistics design and provides further discussions and analysis at the end.