Using Empathy in Design to Foster Interest in Social Issues

Design has transformed from being merely a product oriented discipline focused on the promotion of consumer goods to become a goal oriented practice seeking to address the needs and challenges faced by people in their communities. Conventionally, most designers have engaged various processes that help identify the real needs of an audience in order to develop effective solutions. Designing for social change presents the interesting challenge of reaching audience members who may not be directly affected by an issue to become invested in communityled transformations. My thesis uses the context of homelessness to examine how empathic techniques can be employed to simulate experiences that foster interest in social issues. It presents a model for generating empathy through design and explores how understanding can lead to emotion and subsequently to a desirable action. This project led to a gallery exhibition including infographics, print layouts, animation and interactive designs. Direct data was collected from the exhibition to determine the affective and cognitive responses of the audience.

Name thesis:degree_name

MFA

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Graphic Design

Year dc:date.available

2013

Author dc:creator

• Opoku, Kofi

Contributors dc:contributor

• Eve Faulkes
• Ronald Aman
• Joseph Galbreath
• Gerald Habarth.

• Design
• Mass communication

Identifier

https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd/409

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:researchrepository.wvu.edu:etd-1412