Empathy in Design Thinking: Definition, Importance, and Application

This assignment delves into the critical role of empathy within the design thinking framework. It begins by defining empathy as the ability to understand and share the feelings of another, emphasizing its significance in analyzing behavior and emotional states. The project highlights how empathy enables designers to understand user requirements, generate creative solutions, and address complex issues. It emphasizes that design thinking boosts creativity and innovation and fosters a designer's mindset. The assignment references several academic sources to support its claims, including studies on empathy in software development, design practice, and consumer evaluations. It covers how empathy helps create human-centered narratives for healthcare experiences and is an important skill for engineering as a core skill. Overall, the assignment underscores the importance of empathy in the design thinking process and how it drives innovation.

“Empathy”
Source: Lolly Daskal, 2019
Design thinking and
empathy?
Design thinking boost creativity
and innovation to take actions(Joo
& Chung, 2019).
Used to foster the mindset of the
designers (Matthews,
Williams,Yanchar &
McDonald,2017).
Resolve the complex issues of the
other person (Hess & Fila, 2017)
Define empathy ????
It is related with the individuals
capability to analyze the behavior of
the other person or their emotional
state of mind (Carmel-Gilfilen &
Portillo, 2016).
Why it is so important for design thinking?
Through empathy designers can
emphasize on the requirement of the other
person (Walther, Miller & Sochacka,
2017).
It helps to generate creative solutions of
the different issues.
References
Riggins, J.(2019). Why Empathy is the Secret Sauce for Good Software
Development. Retrieved from:https://thenewstack.io/empathy-secret-
sauce-good- software-development/
Big idea.(2019). How to create empathy maps.Retrieved
from:https://wotsthebigidea.com/create-empathy-maps/
Carmel-Gilfilen, C., & Portillo, M. (2016). Designing with empathy:
humanizing narratives for inspired healthcare experiences. HERD:
Health Environments Research & Design Journal, 9(2), 130-146.
Matthews, M. T., Williams, G. S., Yanchar, S. C., & McDonald, J. K. (2017).
Empathy in distance learning design practice. TechTrends, 61(5), 486-493.
Walther, J., Miller, S. E., & Sochacka, N. W. (2017). A model of empathy in
engineering as a core skill, practice orientation, and professional way of
being. Journal of Engineering Education, 106(1), 123-148.
Hess, J. L., & Fila, N. D. (2017). Empathy in Design: A Discourse Analysis of
Industrial Co-Creation Practices. In Analysing Design Thinking: Studies
of Cross-cultural Co-creation (pp. 483-498). CRC Press.
Joo, J., & Chung, J. (2019). Are Consumer Design Evaluations
Trustworthy. Archives of Design Research, 32(1), 47-59.
Source: Big idea, 2019.

•Riggins, J.(2019). Why Empathy is the Secret Sauce for Good
Software Development. Retrieved
from:https://thenewstack.io/empathy-secret-sauce-good-software-
development/
•Big idea.(2019). How to create empathy maps.Retrieved
from:https://wotsthebigidea.com/create-empathy-maps/
•Carmel-Gilfilen, C., & Portillo, M. (2016). Designing with
empathy: humanizing narratives for inspired healthcare
experiences. HERD: Health Environments Research & Design
Journal, 9(2), 130-146.
•Matthews, M. T., Williams, G. S., Yanchar, S. C., & McDonald, J.
K. (2017). Empathy in distance learning design
practice. TechTrends, 61(5), 486-493.
•Walther, J., Miller, S. E., & Sochacka, N. W. (2017). A model of
empathy in engineering as a core skill, practice orientation, and
professional way of being. Journal of Engineering
Education, 106(1), 123-148.
•Hess, J. L., & Fila, N. D. (2017). Empathy in Design: A Discourse
Analysis of Industrial Co-Creation Practices. In Analysing Design
Thinking: Studies of Cross-cultural Co-creation (pp. 483-498).
CRC Press.
•Joo, J., & Chung, J. (2019). Are Consumer Design Evaluations
Trustworthy. Archives of Design Research, 32(1), 47-59.