Below are my findings, concerns, and questions about the article “What happened to empathic design?” (Mattelmaki, Vaajakallio & Koskinen, 2014).
Section: Introduction
- I always find it challenging when authors refer to designers without specifying what type. Instructional designers? Graphic designers? Interior designers?
- Empathetic design requires the following skills/characteristics: open-mindedness, collaboration, observation, curiosity
- Would like to know the difference between empathetic and empathic as terms – are they synonyms?
Section: Empathic Design as Program
- I’m not surprised empathic design has interdisciplinary roots. It seems like most of the spaces I play in are like that.
- Does empathic equal feeling, interpreting, talking, sharing? Does all of that add up to creating meaning?
- Why is empathic design so visually based vs. text based?
Section: Interpreting Emotions and Experiences for Design
- This section basically describes the old adage of “walking a mile in another person’s shoes.”
- What is the difference between sympathy and empathy?
Section: Co-Design – Empathy in Networks and Organizational Practices
- User-generated content may be the next iteration in co-design. Has the pendulum swung all the way to the other side, with no role for the designer to play because the user has taken that role on fully?
- The role of designer as facilitator is a definite shift from traditional mindsets.
- Stakeholder collaboration is messy, time-consuming, expensive, and potentially filled with conflict in corporations. Learning departments need to overcome those hurdles if they want to implement empathic design in their workplace.
- What is the difference between empathic design and participatory design? Both require collaboration.
Section: Reality Twists – Empathy in Design Imagination
- It’s difficult to justify design decisions based on instinct and intuition.
- I believe playing the “what if” game can lead people down a dangerous rabbit hole when exploring options in the name of imagination. At some point solutions need to be grounded in reality.
- For empathic design to exist in the workplace, there needs to be a desire for it at the top level of management, otherwise it will never happen.
Section: What Happened to Empathic Design?
- Empathic design requires sensitivity to people, collaboration, techniques, and design
Overall thoughts
This paper discusses a lot of abstract concepts that are difficult to measure. Personality assessments say I have all the traits needed to be successful at empathic design, but my tendency is always toward the concrete, practical, and measurable. Pursuing empathic design would definitely take me out of my comfort zone.
References
Mattelmäki, T., Vaajakallio, K., & Koskinen, I. (2014). What happened to empathic design?. Design Issues, 30(1), 67-77.
Hello Amber,
You pose some really good questions regarding this weeks reading by Mattelmäki, Vaajakallio and Koskinen (2014). While I believe there is some merit in “putting yourself into someone else’s shoes”, empathic design has a strong focus on emotions which could be a dangerous road to go down. Although the article did not mention this aspect, my hope is that there is some sort of process or guidelines that address this.
While I agree that collaborating with stakeholders is messy and time consuming, I do believe that it is necessary. Just asking questions or doing an needs analysis may not be as effective as actually immersing yourself in their world. As Leonard and Rayport (1997) state, “Sometimes, customers are so accustomed to current conditions that they don’t think to ask for a new solution”. Many times at work I have encountered issues with our current student management system, however there always seems to be a work around. I am so accustomed to implementing the work around (that is just the way it works), that I may not think to mention it if someone asked me if there were any issues with the system. However, if IT was sitting beside me, observing the process the issue immediately becomes visible.
Empathic design seems to take the immersion in a stakeholders environment to a whole new level. Stakeholders are asked to provide solutions and imagine alternate realities to what may currently exist. What if the solution they proposed cannot be realized? How could this affect stakeholder relations? Although there are areas of empathic design that I agree with, I believe that it is more suited to marketing or advertising, social issues and art where emotion play a large role. I find it difficult to picture using this method to develop training or curriculum.
Leonard, D., Rayport, J. (1997). Spark Innovation through empathic design. Harvard Business review. Retrieved from http://banner.mycampus.ca/forms/frmservlet?config=ban8prod.