The Importance of Empathy in Design Thinking

Empathy is a term we all know well from our lives. The ability to feel the emotions of another, however, I had never considered it's importance in design and the business world. The aim of empathy in design is to evoke emotion to try and help solve an issue or problem. In a video about empathy in design thinking, an idea is brought up about an "Empathy Museum" in which you walk through and get to experience how other people different from you live, work, or interact. This could aim to solve the problem of divide between cultures and class systems. The museum would be designed to evoke some sort of emotion or feeling towards others. When trying to think of how to create an image that conveys empathy in design thinking, I first brainstormed, what are problems that need solving? There are obviously many worldwide issues that effect many humans such as hunger, homelessness, poverty, sexual violence, women's rights, etc. 

However these problems all seemed too large to try and convey in one image. I began thinking about things in the world that bother me, that if I could, I would try and make all people bothered by. I am very passionate about animals and protecting animals so I thought of illegal animal hunting and poaching. There are many people in the world who agree with me that wildlife needs to be protected and preserved, however there are also many who do not agree. I imagined what I would do to try and convince poachers and hunters that killing animals for money or fun is putting many species in danger and I see as being morally wrong. I then began sketching ideas for animals I could use to help evoke emotion. I did not want to make the image too dark or depressing, but still wanted to get a message across. I felt that drawing would be the best medium for this since I enjoy drawing, and also do not have access to any live animals! I thought of rhinos, and how I have seen articles about the diminishing number of rhinos in the wile. Rhinos are killed and their tusks are cut off and sold for profit. So I began thinking of how I could use a rhino to convey the negative side of poaching and killing. 

I then remembered going to a restaurant called "Bugaboo Creek" when I was little. The walls were covered in animal heads on plaques. I was afraid of the heads when I was little because I did not understand why they weren't attached to the rest of the animals body. I remember being disturbed by this image of an animals head on a wall for decoration. That is when I thought of using the image of a head on a wall, and the idea came to me to use humans in place of animals. And flip the roles around. I thought about how disturbing it would be to see a humans head on a wall in a restaurant. Imagine if poachers walked into a cafe or bar to have a relaxing meal and saw their buddies head hanging on the wall or being sold in a store for profit. It would be highly disturbing, and might put the hunters in the shoes of the animals. So I began to draw and sketch multiple times until I came up with an image I was happy with. Although one image cannot solve a problem, it can evoke emotions hopefully from those who never thought about the problem before, and that can spark change!