Design Empathy and Contextual Awareness

<p><b>This book captures so many tools that can be used to design well in community. I can't wait to teach with it by my side. <Br>- Dr Susie Wise, author of </b><i><b>Design for Belongin How to Build Inclusion and Collaboration in Your Communities</b><Br></i>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.<Br><Br><i>Design Empathy and Contextual Awareness</i> 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.<Br><Br><b>Chapters cover:</b><Br> Laying a foundation: design as a whole-brain activity<Br> Design behaviors: design as a whole-life activity<Br> Empathy: cognitive and emotional empathy, and compassionate concern<Br> Contextual awareness: cultivating your designer's sixth sense</p>