{"id":2649,"date":"2021-09-17T12:43:10","date_gmt":"2021-09-17T16:43:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dfpdigital.com\/?p=2649"},"modified":"2021-09-17T12:47:39","modified_gmt":"2021-09-17T16:47:39","slug":"introducing-the-empathic-design-institute","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dfpdigital.com\/introducing-the-empathic-design-institute\/","title":{"rendered":"Introducing The Empathic Design Institute"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Erin Hunter<\/h5>\n

I am delighted to introduce a project we\u2019ve been working on here at Design for People<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The pandemic has given us a lot to think about. Although many Design for People team members had been working remotely before the emergency, going fully remote allowed us more introspection into identifying the purpose in our work.<\/p>\n

Why do we do what we do? What are our shared values and ideals? Where we hadn\u2019t sat together to figure it out, we drew on our individual values.<\/p>\n

It turns out that although our team of employees and contractors scattered all over the U.S. are each truly unique and diverse, we share respect and empathy for the users of our digital experiences<\/a>. Maybe that\u2019s one reason we still like to work with each other after so many years.<\/p>\n

We decided to elaborate on our empathic approach<\/a> in our work — and create a place to share it with the world, so everyone can instill empathic design principles<\/a>. We call it The Empathic Design Institute<\/a>.<\/p>\n

After all, if you want to change the world, you can\u2019t do it by yourself.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

\"Empathic<\/picture><\/a><\/span><\/div>

The Empathic Design Manifesto<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Where the Internet once was a place that unlocked vast amounts of human potential, these days it seems it\u2019s about to get us. Websites try to trick you into subscribing to something you don\u2019t want. Social media is a scourge or a threat, hijacked by nuts with sinister agendas. Your inbox and text messages are full of phishing fraud. Your smart home eavesdrops on you. The IoT is mostly unsecured and scary. Nobody sees how vulnerable they are, because nobody reads the T&Cs for the apps, memberships, or whatever they embrace. That\u2019s because they\u2019re designed to be unreadable.<\/p>\n

Somewhere along the way, masters of digital began talking less about unleashing the power of human creativity… and more about \u201cowning eyeballs.\u201d We grew less focused on improving users\u2019 lives \u2013 and more about monetizing them. Not a thing wrong with monetizing. But when you play three-card monte with your customers in pursuit of that goal, when you conceal your agenda to exploit them \u2013 it\u2019ll catch up with you. It is catching up to the whole industry right now.<\/p>\n

The potent antidote to all this is… empathy<\/strong>. Empathic design<\/strong>. An aesthetic -\u2013 a point of view \u2013 that understands what people want and delivers it in stylish, resonant ways. It\u2019s actually not a new idea. High time for it to be resuscitated.<\/p>\n

The empathic design aesthetic belongs at the heart of digital. <\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n

We\u2019re here to show you how.<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Call it a movement. Call it an uprising. Call it a measured, strategic response to everything wrong with now.<\/p>\n