Why Empathy is Needed in the Design Process?
Empathy is the ability to imagine and understand what another person is feeling, might feel, and reading between the lines if needed. The role of empathy starts very early in any design process. Be it architecture, products, websites, furniture, or anything that comes in contact with living beings. It is not limited to humans only, nature as a whole is involved when something is being used. In current times the environment is suffering because of the use of plastic, pollution due to vehicles and factories, urbanisation, and many other things because of a lack of empathy. All the products and materials governments are trying to ban or make less and less use of are because humans started using and designing with those materials without being empathetic towards nature. Empathy does not only mean bringing comfort to humans, it means bringing comfort, by addressing the needs without harming anything else. Not designing with a holistic approach may give temporary solutions but ultimately it brings even bigger problems.
Empathy: Macro to Micro
Empathy is the basic quality that everyone has to develop before starting to address any questions or problems. From the design of the city to the design of a building, to the colours, to the furniture and its edges, to the door handle, to the switch, to the gadgets, to the size of the screen, and the button on the screen, everything is designed and all that, directly and indirectly, affects a great deal to humans, birds, animals, and nature. A few examples to explain this are as below.
Empathy in Built Forms
Paimio Sanatorium was originally designed and built for tuberculosis patients of tuberculosis by architects Alvar Aalto and Aino Aalto. At the core of the design lies empathy for the human condition that architects have designed for. Empathising with patients with a specific condition and designing not only for what is comfortable for them but also for what is needed for them to heal reflects Aalto’s holistic approach.
Back in the time, there was no cure for the infectious disease, and fresh air, cleanliness were part of the prescription. The airy foyer with bright colours brings joy as one enters and yellow stripes on the floor symbolise sunshine in freezing winter leading to the yellow-painted staircase to encourage patients to take stairs instead of elevators as part of their recovery. Along the way up, huge glass windows offer great views of nature contributing to the healing.
Empathy in Details
In Paimio Sanatorium, Aaltos not only designed the architecture, but they thought about the smallest details as the door handle, and made conscious decisions about them. The lamps were custom-made to ensure that they collect minimum dust on them and are easy to clean. Similarly, cupboards were designed in curves to collect less dust. Hygiene is not something to be designed for only in hospitals, it equally applies everywhere else. In the two sharing patient rooms, noiseless wash basins were installed which made sure that one patient using the basin would not disturb the other due to the sound of water splashing. The door handles were such that coat sleeves would not get stuck on them.
Empathy in Furniture
“A chair is a very difficult object. A skyscraper is almost easier. That is why Chippendale is famous.”
In Paimio Sanatorium, Aalto designed a special chair considering the patient’s condition. A chair is an everyday object and people spend considerable time on it. Its design is very crucial and mandatory to be perfect. The chair Alvar Aalto designed for the patients is named the Paimio chair and it showcases the use of plywood’s flexibility as a material. The form shows the softness of the form which is very comfortable. It is designed considering the ergonomics thoroughly with the angle of the backrest which opens up and widens one’s chest helping to breathe with ease. It is apt to say that the design was ahead of its time, considering in today’s time almost every person spends hours hunching on the desk onto the laptop.
Empathy in Screen
The architecture, furniture, and everyday products still have standards, codes, and ergonomics-like guidelines which help to make them user-centred in an empathetic manner. The interpretation of empathy in user interface designs can be how easily users can navigate through the interface. Also, the emotions one feels throughout the interaction are very important. It depends on the designer to decide and design the experience they want the users to have. The use of colours, scale, and proportion of the content on the screen plays a vital role. No matter how attractive and catchy the interface is, it still has to be easily navigated through because the moment it becomes complex to adapt, users may get frustrated or angry. In this type of case, the designer has to think beyond what users need to see on their screen. They have to imagine what the interaction will be like once the users have the interface on the screen. This is a field where the feedback loop is way faster than the others. It gives the opportunity to experiment, get feedback and improvise. This is the best way to identify problems, put one’s self in the users’ shoes, and then solve the problem. Many of the social media platforms use this technique. They introduce the new feature in a trial mode and receive feedback from end users to get a better understanding.
As seen in the example of Paimio Sanatorium, the architect not only designed the building with empathy but also took care from macro to micro level of designing. Empathy is the responsibility of a designer. As a designer, one has to do more than what is required from the “assigned job”. It is a duty to be performed by the designers whether the project brief includes it or not.
References:
Admin (2024) The architecture of empathy, Paimio Sanatorium. Available at: https://paimiosanatorium.com/the-architecture-of-empathy/ (Accessed: 08 September 2024).
Paimio Chair – Alvar Aalto Foundation: Alvar Aalto -Säätiö En (2022) Alvar Aalto Foundation | Alvar Aalto -säätiö EN. Available at: https://www.alvaraalto.fi/en/work/paimio-chair/ (Accessed: 08 September 2024).
Architect, A.T.A. (2022) From Ludwig to Libeskind: 7 chairs designed by architects – architizer journal, Journal. Available at: https://architizer.com/blog/inspiration/collections/ludwig-to-libeskind-chair-design/ (Accessed: 08 September 2024).
