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{ EMPATHY IN DESIGN THINKING
}
For
my graduate thesis essay, I explored the the role
of empathy in design thinking by looking to great
thinkers from the 20th century, like Carl Rogers
(client-centered therapy), John Dewey (education
and experience), and Stanislavski (method acting).
I designed a course curriculum that presents literature
on empathy and how it relates to human-centered
design. I believe that empathy can be employed
during all stages of the design process to better
understand the needs of a user's interactions
and experiences with products and services.
VIEW MY THESIS
ESSAY ABSTRACT
VIEW
THE POWERPOINT PRESENTATION OF MY THESIS ESSAY
{ EMPATHY IN DESIGN THINKING }
THESIS ESSAY ABSTRACT
MASTER OF DESIGN {CPID}
2003
In human-centered design, there exists a problem
in translating information from design research
into design concepts so that the needs of users
are accurately integrated into the final product.
If designers never fully understand the experience
of the users for whom they are designing, then
products will never match user needs. What is
needed is a more fundamental look at empathy.
By starting up discussion with design professionals
and surveying course curriculum from top design
schools, I discovered a need to increase awareness
of designers and provide access to information
about empathy as it relates to design.
To explore the concept of empathy, I turned to
literature from great minds of the 20th century—Carl
Rogers, John Dewey and Stanislavski.
Carl Rogers, a client-centered therapist, emphasizes
the importance of establishing congruency and
unconditional positive regard, being accurately
empathic, sensing the experience of another "as
if" it were your own, and really listening
to the client's point of view. Once these conditions
have been met, then the experience can be communicated
and correctly summarized.
John Dewey, known for his philosophies on education
and experience, describes the process of formulating
experience. To formulate, one must step out of
his/her frame of reference and view the experience
as another. After considering what points of contact
the experience has with another life, it can then
be shaped into a meaningful form.
Stanislavski, famous for bringing the Method to
acting, discusses performance as a "living
dialogue," which changes from one performance
to the next, when emotion and intelligence unite
with the experience of all participating members.
By stepping outside of the self, really listening
to the experience of another, finding points of
contact, employing the imagination to create plausible
fantasies, and anticipating the consequence of
action, designers and design teams can approach
a solution to the translation problem in design.
A course curriculum and material for a training
workshop are two ways this knowledge could be
shared in the field. A course outline, providing
a reading list, activities, and ideas for projects,
can be found in the appendix of my essay.
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