Be Human: designing with empathy

"Empathy connects design with life, what is beautiful and useful with human nature, being in tune also with its imperfection"

Every year, on the occasion of the Fuorisalone, Brera Design District proposes a theme to reflect on. This year the choice fell on one of the most discussed topic of the Brera Design Days 2017: empathy.
-
Brera Design Week theme for 2018 is: "Be Human: designing with empathy"
-

Knowing the users deeply is always the starting point when designing a product. Empathy, is the ability to put oneself in someone else’s shoes and understand his/her needs before creating solutions, is key for the work of a designer. In a more and more digitalised present and in a future dominated by artificial intelligence, empathy will be a scarce resource representing a factor of success for products and services: no robots will ever be able to replace it.

With the aim of reflecting on the issue in a broader sense we asked Fondazione Empatia Milano to give us a feedback on it: «Empathy, meant as ability to take the perspective of the other, involves several fields of our society, including design, whose mission is to combine usefulness and beauty», said Giannantonio Mezzetti, president of FEM. On the other hand Laura Boella, professor of Moral Philosophy at Università degli Studi di Milano and member of the ethics committee of Fem, added “Empathy connects design with life, what is beautiful and useful with human nature, being in tune also with its imperfection”.