MUPIC COURSE

Water Rescue Project – part of the presentation. Industrial design: Václav Svítil, Jan Vítek

Creative media: Maisarah  Muhd Zamri, Ng Ming De, 2021

What does empathy mean for a designer? The essence of this chapter was described earlier when we discussed how to prepare an assignment. At the centre of our efforts are real human needs. Each person has a different level of empathy which can be influenced by many factors such as education, life experience, upbringing. 

In this phase, we can choose from several options on how to approach the situation. 

Testing seems to be the easiest – accepting the role of the person involved, putting oneself in his/her situation. Testing the respective operations, immersing yourself in the environment and the atmosphere, manipulating the product, etc.

Observe, analyze, search.

We will describe a method that is easily accessible for students. We worked on a theme where the main task was providing help to people in flooded areas. We did research, started to look for newspaper photos, such as cover photos for news. Why did we choose newspaper photos?

Because we want to have a person in the centre of our attention. In this respect, we are in the same situation as newspaper publishers. What sells the newspaper? A photo of a flooded field or photos of people in trouble fighting with the elements?

Cover photos are usually good. They must attract attention and tell a story that is easy to talk about. They often portray emotions, which is also good for us because we can show empathy more easily. 

How do flooded people feel? How do flooded people in the pictures feel? Can you imagine a device that would make their situation easier? Anything that could help them? And are we able to describe the basic features of such a device? Are we?

Well done! We have just entered the phase of definition.

Other options are, for example, discussions with people who are going to use our device, or who are using a different device that we would like to innovate or improve.

This tool is often used intuitively. Students research families, teachers prepare various platforms with guests who bring experience from the field of the assignment.

All these options can be combined. The bigger the number of people doing the research, the bigger the pool of information gathered for the definition phase. Again, working in a team is an advantage.