Empathic Design: Human-Centered Design & Design Thinking

Global firm IDEO incorporates human behavior into product design -- an innovative approach being taught at Stanford.

Charlie Rose profiles the company's founder,

David Kelley.

Via Edwin Rutsch

Reaching this vision takes a little time, planning and empathy is at the center of the task. The most successful organizations engage a broad spectrum of constituents.

 

Reaching this vision takes a little time, planning and empathy is at the center of the task. The most successful organizations engage a broad spectrum of constituents. It’s important to think about all of the potential “users” of a healthcare facility. Not only are the administrators and clinical staff important, but also patients, family members and support staff. The next step is to bring these groups together. Firsthand knowledge sharing is powerful.

By Jonathan Bykowski 

Via Edwin Rutsch

One of the principles of design thinking is that it requires empathy for users to inspire ideas. Normally we think about getting that from ethnographic style research.

Diving deep into the lives of a relatively small number of people, understanding the environment they live in, their social networks, seeing things first hand. We have lots of evidence that this works but I sometimes wonder if we aren’t also missing something. The problem with looking deeply at a few people is that you miss the opportunity for insights that might come connecting more broadly across cultures.

Via Edwin Rutsch

How empathy is leading the way in creative fields

 

The new RSA animate video, The Power of Outrospection is quite thought provoking and has gotten me  thinking about all kinds of links between empathy and creativity.

In the video, philosopher Roman Krznaric explores the idea that we live in a time that demands more empathic adventurers in all aspects of life.  Empathy not just so we act better towards others, but also because it helps us create better innovations, services and quality of life.

  Empathy not just so we act better towards others, but also because it helps us create better innovations, services and quality of life.

By  Ben Weinlick of Think Jar Collective

Via Edwin Rutsch

However, there’s a dark side to empathy that is rarely discussed. UX Booth’s own Andrew Maier explains in his article about reducing noise, that “although office environments are designed to encourage creativity, their inhabitants can occasionally hinder it”.

 

“Sometimes we can become overwhelmed by empathy at work,” adds Judith Orloff, MD, an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at UCLA and author of “Emotional Freedom: Liberate Yourself from Negative Emotions and Transform Your Life.”

She stresses that “in the workplace, empathy

has both an upside and a downside.

People who are extremely empathic and

sensitive need to be aware of both.”

 

by Melisa Angulo-Javier

He explains how empathy is key to effective collaboration in a rapidly changing world, and the art of listening... At the core of the process of collaboration is empathy and I want Bill to tell me more about it...

These are very complicated skills. This is a world where you need a higher form of empathy, where you observe yourself, watch other people around you, and then you find yourself understanding and interacting with various combinations of people. So this goes to say that the system around you is changing. You need to contribute to the system and avoid doing damage. So, you require a very sophisticated set of skills.”..

From the idea of empathy, we now move to a conversation on the art of listening.

Bill Drayton Empathy Expert page:

http://bit.ly/iIY5W9

Global firm IDEO incorporates human behavior into product design -- an innovative approach being taught at Stanford

 

David Kelley: You got it. You got it. That's the hard part is the cultural thing of having a diverse group of people and having them be good at building on each other's ideas.

 

They encourage wild ideas and visualize solutions by making actual prototypes. But the main tenet is empathy for the consumer, figuring out what humans really want by watching them.

 

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But the main tenet is empathy for the consumer,

figuring out what humans really want

by watching them.

==========

David Kelley: If you want to improve a piece of software, all's you have to do is watch people using it and see where they grimace and then correlate that to where they are in the software. And you could fix that, right? And so the thing is to really build empathy, try to understand people through observing them.

 

Charlie Rose: In other words, their experience will communicate what you need to focus on.

Via Edwin Rutsch

Empathy is a really big word in design, specifically in the practice of “Design Thinking.” However, this article examines a different role for empathy in design, one that is very frequently overlooked.

 

In Design Thinking, empathy is what kicks off a project – it is the first step in understanding what the end user might need by being able to get hands-on experience understanding their problems and “pain points.”

The space in which empathy is quite absent from design, however, is in communication materials, a medium that is historically sympathetic. Sympathy, as opposed to empathy, does not foster a deep understanding or emotional connection. Empathy, as opposed to sympathy, is a way for us to develop our understanding by sharing an experience.

==========================

In Design Thinking, empathy is what kicks
off a project – it is the first step in
understanding  what the end user

might need

=============

By Matthew Manos

Via Edwin Rutsch

Oracle's first annual Customer Experience Summit featured plenty of advice like when to hire a chief customer officer and how to create empathy with customers.

 

It's Hard to Talk People into the Idea of CXM as being Important
This is where the idea of empathy comes into play. It's easier for people to understand their customers if they can see things from the customer's point of view. It turns out many businesses see customer interactions simply as pain points, and that simply is not always how customers see things.

==========================

This is where the idea of empathy comes
into play. It's easier for people to understand
their customers if they can see things
from the customer's point of view. 
========= 

The importance of developing deep connections with the people you serve.

 

A few years ago, my publisher asked me to write a book about innovation. They’d read some of the articles I’ve written on the subject over the years, and they wanted more. And although I was flattered, I had to tell them no. The world didn’t need another book on innovation — there are too many as it is. I instead made them a counter-offer: Maybe what the world needed was a book about empathy.

 

... That’s why I ended up writing Wired to Care, which shows how great companies around the world, from Nike to IBM, benefit from building a culture of widespread empathy for the people they serve.

 

By Dev Patnaik, Founder and Principal, Jump Associate

Via Edwin Rutsch

Empathy is more than knowing what someone needs or understanding how they feel. It’s more than being sympathetic. Empathy is being able to genuinely experience their emotional state, their desires and expectations and frustrations.

 

When you have an idea—one that’s truly a breakthrough—you’re going to be a little ahead of everyone else almost by definition (or you’re not being very innovative). Sometimes folks can quickly connect the dots and catch up, but often they can’t.

You’re several steps ahead and they’re struggling to understand how you got there—and it’s not their fault that they’re struggling. On the contrary, you’re the one that found a new path, one that they’re not on yet. 

David Kelley is the founder of IDEO, a design focused company that aims to aid organisations with innovation and growth. He is also the founder of Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford.

David believes that the key to a successful relationship between employees and employers is empathy. In an interview with Fast Company, David discusses the importance of understanding and being a good coach when leading.

 

How has the design thinking model influenced your approach to leading people?

 

The main tenet of design thinking is empathy for the people you’re trying to design for. Leadership is exactly the same thing, building empathy for the people that you’re entrusted to help...

 

Empathy is not always talked about as a

leadership quality. Why is it so important?'

 

by Wendy Tayler