Design without Empathy: Leveraging the Past to Appreciate the Value of Human Centered Design
Maria V Miller
The Ohio State University
2018 National Conference for the Beginning Design Student
Abstract
This paper will examine the powerful influence of the design precedent in American education as a resource for teaching empathy in design. It will explore cultural shifts that demonstrate patterns of Egoism, Altruism, Individualism and Collectivism influence in design. Three design precedents will be carefully reconsidered from the user’s point of view, so that we might better understand the dangers of an insular, self-focused design process. Through this analysis we will come to better understand the value of Human Centered Design and the benefits of working in collaborative, inclusive, multi-disciplinary teams that welcome stakeholder input throughout the design process.
Empathy and Design
A strong design process requires students to cultivate empathy, creativity and rationality. Empathy is particularly important at the beginning of the design process when ethnographic, market and precedent research takes place. A predisposition for empathy helps designers better sense user need. Designers must have the ability to “read between the lines”; using sensory information to intuit problems that users may not be consciously aware of. Empathy allows designers to identify, anticipate, articulate and define complex design opportunities in need of good solutions. A good design solution cannot occur without the clear, articulate identification of a problem. Historically, there is much agreement that understanding a problem takes greater ability and effort than solving for it. (Garson, 2014) Most of what we buy is unconsciously driven and the empathetic designer will have the ability to understand and respond to both conscious and unconscious user needs.