A new, empathic approach to design research, drawn from the informed
experiences of a leading design research program in Finland.
Design, Empathy, Interpretation tells the story of empathic design, a
design research program at Aalto University in Helsinki, Finland, that
has developed an interpretive approach to design over the past twenty
years. As one of the leaders of the Helsinki group, Ilpo Koskinen draws
on his own experiences to offer readers a general intellectual and
professional history of design research, and argues for what he calls an
interpretive approach. Design, Empathy, Interpretation shows how the
group has created connections all across the globe, and how a seemingly
soft approach to design research can be useful in both industry and
government.
Koskinen follows design research's transformation from questions of
usability, in the 1980s, through to the revolution in personal
electronics and the "user-centered" turn of the 1990s. Using the
research community in Helsinki as a case study, and moving between
specific projects and theoretical debates, he offers readers a focused
introduction to the major methodological and intellectual challenges--as
well as the opportunities--of design research. He argues that all design
tasks, however simple or complex, begin with understanding the way
humans ascribe meaning, both as individuals and as actors in complex
societies. Thus all design research must be interpretive at its core.A
new, empathic approach to design research, drawn from the informed
experiences of a leading design research program in Finland.
