The version of empathy just discussed has listening as a critical step. If you want to create a product that actually helps people, you need to be able to listen to them. And this isn’t just about talking to someone and writing notes about what they say, its about making sure you are actively focusing all of your attention onto someone and using both verbal and non-verbal communication to make them feel heard. I was able to practice this level of active listening through research and interviews, but because of having to frequently remind myself to use this high-intensity listening I feel as if my listening skills overall have increased. 

Empathy is a word that is almost always tied to human-centered design. Some human-centered design process wheels even have a whole step dedicated to empathy. Through this project, I got to learn about what empathy often looks like in design processes and what I truly define empathy to be. Typically, people see empathy as understanding your user on a deep level, knowing all the pain points, and being able to ‘step into their shoes’. Although this has well-meaning intentions, when you merely try to understand your user, you are missing critical points and excluding them from the process. To me, empathy in design looks like going to your stakeholders and asking THEM what they think the problem is and what the best solution would be. 

Research is a huge component of all human-centered design processes. Although I had an idea of what this kind of research was and what it looked like, actually getting to practice it was a very different reality. Throughout this project, I got the chance to practice a variety of research techniques, all providing different insights into the problem. The first type of research we conducted was through collecting resources online. We found articles, scientific papers, and even online posts to help us learn more about the background of the project and the best path moving forward. After we felt confident in our background knowledge, we found people in our primary stakeholder demographic to interview. Slightly later in the process, we conducted research into similar products and conducted a market analysis to see how our idea compared to what already existed.

Front-view of the pouch showing off the faux leather and clip-on strap connection point

Maybe the most relevant for moving into industry careers, throughout this project we faced challenges that forced us to work around ambiguity. The course was built for groups to be designing apps, so coming in and trying to make a physical product put us in a bit of a weird spot. Even though the professor encouraged the direction our project was going, there were a lot of the aspects of the class that did not particularly fit for our situation. As a team, we had to find solutions that kept our progress on track and respond to assignments that didn’t give us all the answers.

I had previously been interested in accessible and inclusive practices, but I don’t think that it really became a personal value until I got to do it myself. Accessibility and inclusivity are now two things that I feel are core to who I am as a designer. In addition to cementing these two new practices into my values, this project pushed me to learn more about myself and my limits. I realized how important team psychological safety is to me and how effective communication aids in building that trust. This experience shaped my view on design and helped me build my values.