Deg For Empathy Toolkit 4t621y

Deg for Empathy Artefact 225 Terry Avenue N. Suite 300 Seattle, WA 98109 206 384 4952 www.artefactgroup.com Artefact is a technology product design company dedicated to defining next-generation products and experiences that lead to preferable outcomes for society, humanity, and the environment.

Deg for Empathy A toolkit created by Artefact Barbara Burton [email protected]

A note about our philosophy 21st Century Design is a call to action for our industry to focus on deg for ‘preferable outcomes’ (one of those outcomes is empathy, the subject of this toolkit). As we deal with increasingly complex problems such as hunger and global warming, we must step beyond our traditional approach to problem solving and ask different questions. Our mission is no longer just about the craft of design: usability, delight, and desirability. Our mission in the 21st century is about building systems and services that result in positive outcomes for a future that we all want to be a part of. Doing this means taking into what we know and are rapidly discovering about human behavior through fields such as cognitive psychology, neuroscience, and anthropology. Learnings about bias in decision-making and the complexities of behavior change is knowledge that must be incorporated when we embark on design challenges. It is an exciting time for the design practice. In the 21st Century, design can be used responsibly as a powerful tool to change human behavior for a preferable future.

Read our full paper on 21st Century Design at www.artefactgroup.com/21stCenturyDesign.pdf.

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Why Empathy? As designers and researchers, we recognize that our work shapes experiences, behaviors, and systems, whether we do it deliberately or not. Most of us would like to use this power to create a positive impact. We believe that product, messaging, and service designs have the potential to contribute to a more empathetic society that is better able to face the scale of our shared problems. By applying the lens of empathy to our design process, we’ve been able to facilitate more innovative solutions. This toolkit is designed to take you from the abstract idea of positive impact through empathy to a concrete process that can be incorporated into your work. Read our full paper on empathy at www.artefactgroup.com/empathy.pdf.

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We will walk through insights about how to design for empathy with these steps:

1 Define opportunities for empathy in your product or service. 2 Brainstorm design concepts for these opportunities.

This toolkit is for: (name of product or service)

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Define

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Instructions

Who are your s and what are their relationships with each other? Work on your own

Use the relationship map on the next page to diagram s.

Example:

Write in: Primary s in the center Secondary and tertiary s in the surrounding circles Those who influence/ s in the outermost circle

You are improving the bus service at a school. The primary of the service is the bus driver, secondary s are the students who ride the bus, tertiary s are the parents of the students, and the influencers are the principals and s who manage the budget and bus schedule.

Then connect s based on the nature of their relationship. Draw lines: Solid line between s with a positive or neutral relationship Hashed line between s whose relationship could use improvement

Bus drivers and principals have a hashed line because the drivers feel like principals don’t understand the time and safety pressure in their jobs – all they care about is whether parents are happy.

principals parents students bus drivers

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Relationship map

PR

SEC

IM

ARY U SER

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O N DA RY U S E R(S)

TERTIA

INFL

(S

UENCE

RY U S E R( S)

R(S) / E

R(S)

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Instructions

What are s’ experiences with the product or service? Work on your own

Using the experience map on the next page, choose one relationship to improve.

Example:

Pick any two s whose relationship could use improvement, or who don’t have a relationship at all, but should.

Then map out their experience using the product or service. Think about the initial experiences, frequent experiences, and infrequent cases.

What interactions do the s have with each other?

1:

2:

bus drivers

principals

INITIAL EXPERIENCE

FREQUENT EXPERIENCES

First day of work, the bus driver tests out his/her route.

Maintaining unforeseen Driver picks-up and repairs is frustrating. drops off the 2: Principal doesn’t know students while principals principal counts kids. if bus will be on schedule and bus FREQUENT EXPERIENCES INFREQUENT CASES driver doesn’t know when bus willunforeseen be back Maintaining Driver picks-up and in service. repairs is frustrating. drops off the Principal doesn’t know students while bus will be on principal counts kids. ifBetter coordination schedule and bus when maintenance driver doesn’t know happens. when bus will be back in service.

1:

bus drivers

INITIAL EXPERIENCE

What interactions do the s have with each other? What interactions could the s have that they currently don’t have?

What interactions could the s have that they currently don’t have?

First day of work, the bus driver tests out his/her route.

INFREQUENT CASES

Better coordination when maintenance happens.

Which of the above interactions do you want to design for?

Maintenance edge case

Which of the above interactions do you want to design for?

Maintenance edge case Deg for Empathy

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Experience map

1:

INITIAL EXPERIENCE

2:

FREQUENT EXPERIENCES

INFREQUENT CASES

What interactions do the s have with each other?

What interactions could the s have that they currently don’t have?

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Conclusions

What interaction do you want to improve? Work as a group

Decide on one interaction between the s that is broken or doesn’t exist. Choose that as the interaction you’re deg for. Interaction:

Why did you choose this?

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Brainstorm

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Empathy strategies

Brainstorm design solutions that incorporate empathy. Work on your own, then as a group

The following pages outline strategies that lead to empathy. Choose the strategies that are relevant to your product or service.

Engage Share Tell a story Access hip

Deg for Empathy

Tips for brainstorming: Brainstorms work best when you work separately, and then share your ideas with the group. Sketch or write out your ideas on the halfsheets provided. Don’t worry about being a good artist here. The goal is to capture ideas and communicate concepts quickly. There are no “bad” ideas. All ideas are capable of leading to other ideas. When listening to others’ ideas, pile on by starting with “Yes! And...” to keep the brainstorm positive and creative.

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Engage Create an opportunity for s to engage with another person currently unknown to them, or transform and expand a current relationship. These interactions do not have to be in person. Consider these questions:

Can we... Transform a use context from solo to groupbased? Provide a group of s with new opportunities to interact with another group of s? Help s have new interactions with others who are unfamiliar to them? Transform written or distant interactions to face-to-face interactions?

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Share Create a moment when s unfamiliar to one another share something the other needs, whether it be information, objects, experience, meals, a view, time, etc. Consider these questions:

Can we... Create situations or moments where s can ively share a common history, place, interest, love, or activity? Surface something new that is common to more than one ? Help s co-experience: an event, an activity, a story, a meal?

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Tell a story Create an opportunity for s to tell a story and be listened to, or create an opportunity for s to listen to someone else’s story. Consider these questions:

Can we... Transform moments of ordinary interaction into opportunities for storytelling? Transform current communication or information exchange into personal stories? Transform shared stories from scripted to unscripted? Help frame current stories or communications with a sense of humor? Make relevant the experiences and stories of one group of s to another with an insight or a title that translates or characterizes the meaning?

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Access Create an opportunity to gain access to people or communities to which one normally does not have access. Consider these questions:

Can we... Bridge divisions between s with more communication and interaction? Find opportunities for s to learn more about one another through new forms of interaction? Open up new perspectives on s? Reveal or relay information about a less powerful group of s, or about a peripheral interest group? Invite and promote richer connections across in-groups and out-groups?

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hip Create an opportunity for s to experience a new form of solidarity with others, or to become of a new community. Consider these questions:

Can we... Help s discover new solidarity with others who share a common trait, experience, history, or habit? Help s in on a collaborative process toward a shared goal? Help s find new identification with one another around one thing?

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Examples of deg for empathy

Add meaning The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C. uses the port of a person who lived during the holocaust as the ission ticket to the museum. This transforms a banal interaction into something more interactive and meaningful.

Make it personal World Vision tied an abstract idea to personal connections and community by creating an interactive, travelling exhibit for first-world people to experience what it is like to live as child in Africa. Participants take on a child’s persona and go through the experience of being diagnosed with HIV, using life-like audio, video, and physical stimuli.

Human-ize If it cannot be live and interactive, video or photography can help tell the story or represent a . In the “It gets better” project, real people submit videos telling of their own experiences enduring harassment while growing up. These videos human-ize the issue to ensure young LGBT that it does indeed get better.

Shift the tone A personal address, such as the ’s name, or use of 2nd person (“you”), can make communications more personal. Amazon.com and other retailers do this to make s feel that recommendations are just for them.

Enhance visibility Create new ways to recognize and s whose work or role is usually invisible. Hotels have started to place cards on guests night stands with a handwritten note from the housekeeping staff, recognizing that “Sofia has kept your room clean today.”

Encourage good behavior Artefact’s concept, called ‘999 bottles’, is a re-usable water bottle that encourages s to refill rather than use plastic bottles. The dial enables s to keep track how many plastic bottles they’ve saved from the landfill and socialize their positive impact with others.

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Reveal the process WWoofing farms allows city dwellers to experience what it is like to be an organic farmer, thereby giving a better understanding of the work required to bring food to the dinner table. By revealing the story behind the story, the hidden processes or activities, the experience becomes more real.

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Print as many extras as you need for your brainstorm.

Half-sheets / 18