Embedded Intelligent Empathy in Design : Participatory Design Phase Short Report

Calvo, Mirian (2021) Embedded Intelligent Empathy in Design : Participatory Design Phase Short Report. [Report]

Abstract

Embedded Intelligent Empathy in Design (CE-19-1349) is a 12-month feasibility study, funded by the EPSRC – Connected Everything II, led by Dr Anna Chatzimichali from the University of the West of England (UWE). The full team comprises of Dr Merate Barakat (UWE), Dr Yahya Lavaf Pour (UWE), Dr Ying Liu (Cardiff Univeristy) and Dr Mirian Calvo (Lancaster Univeristy), including industry collaborators. This interdisciplinary project focuses on exploring ways to extend computational and generative design by integrating empathy, and it involves a number of stakeholders from academia and industry. The goal of this project is to model empathy and systematically integrate it in computational design. We now know that computers can intelligently aid design. Computational design has quickly matured through the implementation of quantifiable aspects of design with minimal consideration of the intangible aspects of the design process that comes from the designer's experience and empathy. With an emerging body of literature that identifies the designer's empathy as a key driver of understanding people's needs and desires to create effective outcomes, little research has been done to embed it in the generative process. The field has arrived at a pivotal point where a new design mode is due. Computational tools are needed to aid the designer in considering a challenge in a holistic manner - including both measurable and immeasurable. The feasibility study implements a research approach from the discipline of architecture to investigate how to systematically design products with specific features that can trigger emotional connection, with a focus on sound, exploring how oral attributes can stimulate empathy in product users. The participatory design phase, led by Dr Mirian Calvo, focused on understanding where the designer's intuition and experience in using empathy stand in the design process. This phase aimed to extract best practice and insights around the relationship between design empathy and sounds. The concept of sound was applied in a wide spectrum, including situated and environmental sounds (e.g., sounds of natural phenomena: wind, rain, river; man-made sounds: noise of cars, traffic, bustle of people, noise associated with machinery, etc.); but also, all types of music used by designers in the different stages of the design process to amplify empathetic skills or elevate their inner and external connections, amplifying the reception of stimuli. This phase lasted from June to November 2021 and comprised collaboration with Vāsthu (machine learning and affective computing), Rheon Labs (computational design and smart equipment), Bonnie Binary (tactile interactive products, e-textiles and Internet of things), HM Land Registry (ownership of land and property, digital apps), and BiBO Studio (property, urban design and architecture). The research team structured this phase in two engagement events with key stakeholders: an online focus group, and a two-day co-creation workshop. We analysed the data-set from the events using an affinity diagramming-based method, combining Nvivo software and paper-based affinity diagramming, which assisted in unfolding a number of the key findings.