Last Friday, March 22, I joined Benilde HIFI's SITalks (Social Innovation Talks) to discuss how I use empathy in my design process. The talk was geared toward sharing my experiences as designer and entrepreneur and how UX/UI and user-centered design plays an integral role in the success of a project or business.
The objective was to to inspire students who want to be start-up founders to also incorporate the same framework into their own processes one day.
Here are 3 key points from my slides:
1st Key Point: Overview of a start-ups journey and where UX/UI Design comes into play.
Title: Start-up Founder's Journey
As an intro to my talk, I doodled an info graphic of the usual steps start-up founders go through from idea to the launch of their product, the point of road blocks and where to insert in the planning UX/UI design and the importance of user research -- which became the focus of the talk and how it relates to designing with empathy.
2nd Key Point: User Research
One of my favorite mantras for myself as a designer, "It's the little details that make the biggest impact".
As a practicing Interior Designer back in the day, it was important to get to know my clients on a personal level. Interior Designing a home is an intimate process, most especially when it came to designing their dressing room. I used cabinets as the example photo to strengthen my mantra because I used to dedicate a lot of time and effort to this part of the user research.
We can design cabinets based on standard specs, like modular fits that can be bought in IKEA. Or we can customize their shelves and specify details. This is where user research is important. I would personally sit down with the client and ask for details about their personal items, example: shoes-- quantity, styles (heels, flats, boots, etc) which would allow me to specify heights and allot space, misc items, bags apart from clothes, etc and if they had a partner, I would also get to know their partner's things. I would ask questions, "What are the priorities, what are important to display? What are the immediate needs for it to be easily accessible?" Then I would plan out the space and specify details to ensure that most items if not all had a place thus creating organization, better flow and a provide a delightful, peaceful, calm experience for my client when they would enter their dressing rooms.
Ofcourse, the overall design process of the entire project needs user research to be able to design according the client's wants and needs, but even in parts, we can add value to our service by being intentional in the little details.
This same process and design principles can also be applied to user-interfaces and digital products for those focused on UX/UI design.
3rd Key Point: Applying the Design Process Frameworks
Interestingly, when I was trying to come up with an outline for my talk, I encountered information overload. There were so many things I could talk about. What helped me streamline my outline was the Design Thinking framework.
Upon learning only recently about Design Thinking and being able to immerse myself in a coaching workshop, it was such an eye-opener for me and my practice as a designer.
It allowed me to let go of rigid ways of thinking up solutions and explore ideas and options at a faster speed while also being able to narrow down and organize thoughts to eventually come up with effective solutions aligned to the problem at hand.
And again, User-Centered Design and Design Thinking actively involves users at every step of the way, puting them at the forefront of the process, allowing for more tailored design decisions geared towards users' wants and needs.
To summarize, creating the slides and giving the talk also allowed me re-evaluate my understanding of my own design process and how I've also been able to integrate new frameworks into my way of thinking and imagining in search for innovative and focused solutions to everyday problems.
Conclusion
As designers and entrepreneurs we have a social responsibility. Designing with empathy in our entreprenuerial pursuits or as designers is being intentional in addressing the needs and wants of our customers or clients.
It’s designing with a purpose.
When we we create from the heart and put thought in understanding our customers, we tap into their emotions. They feel seen, heard and acknowledged.
This is what we want because this is also what draws them to our product.
Our ultimate goal is to bring satisfaction to our users.