When designers talk and write about “designing with empathy,” all too often they focus on creating something entirely new. How do you observe and listen to people in order to find a problem they didn’t know they had? How do you use those insights to create a new business, or develop a new product?
Unfortunately, that’s not the world most of us live in. As designers, we’re often tasked with incrementally improving existing experiences, or creating new features that have to live within an existing architecture. What’s more, creating those experiences requires working across a multitude of internal fiefdoms, each with its own set of priorities. How do you balance all of these considerations while maintaining a focus on user-centered design?
Presentation also delivered at Drupalcon New Orleans, 2016.