Design Empathy and Contextual Awareness: Frames of Reference for the 21st Century Creative by Wayne K. Li

https://www.amazon.com/Design-Empathy-Contextual-Awareness-Reference/dp/1529438217

https://id.gatech.edu/people/wayne-li

One of the biggest challenges facing designers across all fields is not simply in the design of the product or service itself, but rather how to arrive at a design solution that resonates with a target audience, that will have a higher than likely chance at market adoption, and that will avoid negatively impacting society or the environment. What are the skills that can be employed by a student or young professional creative early on that enable them to identify the issues at work and address them? By understanding design from human-centered perspectives - both from the customer's and the producer's point of view - innovative, resonant designs are possible.

Design Empathy and Contextual Awareness demystifies the "fuzzy" front end of the design process, where research methods mix with business trends and marketing. The accessible, authoritative text presents design as neither merely a "trade" skill nor an exercise in personal creative vision, but rather the application of multiple mindsets and practices, built around a process of alternating points of view (or "frames"). As well as covering theory and process, this visually engaging book also provides real-life business examples and applicable templates to help designers hone their empathy and contextual awareness in order to more directly and efficiently achieve successful design outcomes.

Chapters cover:

Laying a foundation: design as a whole-brain activity

Design behaviors: design as a whole-life activity

Empathy: cognitive and emotional empathy, and compassionate concern

Contextual awareness: cultivating your designer's sixth senseAbout the author

Wayne K. Li is the James L. Oliver Professor, holding a joint position between the Colleges of Design and Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology. He leads joint teaching initiatives and advances interdisciplinary collaboration between mechanical engineering and industrial design through classes and the Innovation and Design Collaborative, also known as the "Design Bloc," while also serving as a principal design consultant at Wayne Li Design.

Li's research areas include ethnographic research, multidisciplinary education, and human-machine interaction in transportation design. His career spans industry and academia. Li has led innovation and market expansion for Pottery Barn seasonal home products, taught in Stanford University's design program, led interface development at Volkswagen of America's Electronics Research Laboratory, and developed corporate brand and vehicle differentiation strategies at Ford Motor Company. He has also worked as a product designer at IDEO Product Development.

Li holds a Master of Science in Engineering from Stanford University, and undergraduate degrees in Fine Arts (Design) and Mechanical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin.