Lesson video

Hi there, my name is Mr. Booth, and welcome to today's lesson.

Today's lesson is all about empathy, and this is part of the ergonomic design unit where we have been looking at accessible controllers.

And of course how can we design accessible controllers, controllers that can be used by as many people as possible without showing empathy for our users.

By the end of today's lesson, I want you to be able to use empathy to design inclusive products.

I want you to be able to understand how your users feel, the challenges they face, and that means we can design products that as many people as possible can use, which is what design and technology is all about.

We've got three key words today that I would like you to look out for in the lesson.

The first one is of course the lesson title, which is empathy.

And my definition for this that I want you to try and remember is the ability to understand and share the feelings, thoughts, or experiences of another person, your users.

We also have inclusive design.

You might already be quite familiar to this, designing products that as many people as possible can use.

We can't design products that every single person can use, but we want as many people as possible to be able to use them, and use them comfortably, and enjoy using them.

That's inclusive design.

And then finally, we're also gonna look at what we call task analysis.

If we are gonna try and show empathy and we're gonna put ourselves in the shoes of others, then we can use task analysis to aid us when we are coming to our design stages.

And task analysis is all about breaking down tasks into individual steps so we can really analyse what is happening at each of those steps.

We have two learning cycles today.

The first one is empathise.

Then we'll have a look at inclusive design, so let's get going.

So to have empathy for someone helps designers create better products because they understand the user's needs, the challenges they may face when using these products and their feelings.

And of course this will lead to more useful and user friendly designs.

If a product is designed only based on the designer's preferences or abilities.

So if I only looked at the challenges I faced when designing products, then those products just wouldn't be accessible to everybody, and they probably wouldn't sell well because they would be designed for me.

To empathise with somebody means to put yourself in their shoes, feel what they are feeling when they are using those products or facing those challenges.

It's different to sympathise.

Sometimes this gets mixed up.

It's quite a misconception to talk about.

To sympathise means to feel sorry for somebody.

You can show care through sympathy, but actually what we want to do is we want to empathise, which means putting ourselves in their shoes.

So a quick check for understanding.

Empathy is feeling sorry for somebody, understanding and feeling what others go through or helping someone.

Pause the video now.

Have a go at this.

Come back to me when you've got an answer.

So if you answered B, understanding and feeling what others go through, well done.

You got that right.

Fantastic.

Task analysis involves breaking down what a user does into the steps they need to do to perform that task.

What we can do is we can observe or even do the task ourself and break it down so we can really understand what that task involves.

Now I'm gonna use the example of making a cup of tea.

I'm gonna break it down into three steps.

Now of course you could break it down into 20 steps if you wanted to go into more detail, but let's just do three for the time being.

So first of all, I get the cup from the cupboard and I get the tea bag from the jar.

Then I'm gonna fill my kettle with water and switch it on.

And then I lift the kettle, pour the water, and then add milk and sugar if you so wish.

I don't tend to have sugar with my tea, but what I've done there is I've broken down that task of making cup of tea into three clear steps.

In each stage of the task analysis that we have just done, a designer identifies potential user issues and looks for potential design opportunities.

Now that's really good because what we can do is we can empathise with the user, identify those issues, find those design opportunities, and then possibly design a product to aid in this example.

So let's have a look at some examples.

So for number one, the cupboard is up high, and the cup was actually quite hard to reach.

The kettle was too heavy for the user to carry when full of water.

And finally, the user had to use two hands to pour the kettle.

So what we've done there is we've got three potential design opportunities by using that task analysis.

So quick check for understanding.

True or false, a task analysis is carried out to try out a product before you buy it.

Is that true or is that false? Pause the video now, have a go at it.

When you've done that, come back to me.

So if you answered false, well done, but I wanna know why.

So think of your why.

Pause the video, come back to me when you've got it.

Well, the reason of course is task analysis is carried out to identify user issues, helping designers create more inclusive products, more products that can be used by as many people as possible.

So inclusive design benefits all users, not just those with disabilities.

It aims to create products that as many people as possible can use.

We've already talked about that.

By empathising with those that have disabilities, designers create products that benefit as many people as possible.

So you might actually find it quite easy to design something that aids people who have no disabilities whatsoever to make a cup of tea.

But if you think about the products and the potential issues that people could have with a disability, you could actually design a product to benefit everybody.

So that's what inclusive design is about.

Task analysis can be used when empathising to find issues and difficulties we've seen with our cup of tea example, and this again can lead to design opportunities.

This is a really nice example.

I know I'm talking about a kettles a lot, but the cordless kettle, and this is a kettle that sits on a power tray or a power bank as they're sometimes called.

And you take it off and the lead is disconnected automatically.

You don't actually have to do it.

So the cordless kettle was developed to aid people with limited dexterity who struggled to pull out that kettle lead out the back of the plug.

You might even find one lying around your house if you ask your parents or guardians at home, and you might go find one with the kettle lead.

It was really difficult to take those leads out.

But this kettle that was designed for people with limited dexterity is now the most commonly used design kettle in homes in the UK.

I have one of these in my kitchen.

So by empathising with those that had a mobility impairment, people with a limited dexterity, such as arthritis, designers were able to design a product that many users or nearly all users now use.

This is the most common design of kettle.

Isn't that fantastic? So designers can empathise with those that have a disability or impairment by simulating the impairment and attempting to carry out everyday tasks.

Now, you could simulate it, you could observe it, quite difficult to do in a school environment or if you are at home.

It's quite difficult to observe someone carrying out tasks with a mobility or a visual impairment, but what we can do is we can simulate it ourselves to give us a better understanding.

That of course is empathising.

For this context, we are going to simulate a visual impairment such as cataracts, a mobility impairment such as arthritis, and finally a hearing impairment such as hearing loss.

So let's have a closer look at how we can actually carry out these activities.

So to simulate a visual impairment, really easy method of doing this, and this is really good, and you can do this in your classroom or even at home.

So what you need to do is line a pair of safety goggles with tracing paper.

If you don't have safety goggles, you can use a pair of sunglasses.

And if you don't have tracing paper, you just need to find something that you can almost see through, but it limits your vision.

Prepare a sheet of paper and a pre-written sentence for copying.

Wear the safety goggles or glasses if you've used those, and carry out the following tasks.

I want you to fasten a button, write your name, and copy out the sentence, a really good way of simulating a visual impairment.

Let's have a look at a mobility impairment now.

So this is simulating something similar to arthritis in the joints.

So the method, prepare a sheet of paper and a pre-written sentence for copying.

Bend your index finger on your dominant hand and tape it down.

Carry out the following tasks.

Fasten a button, write your name, copy a sentence.

Now what you need I want you to do is tape your thumb to the palm of your hand and carry out the following tasks.

Fasten a button, write your name, and copy a sentence.

And here we have some images of how I did that.

Now, I find it much more comfortable and easier to use masking tape for this.

If you haven't got masking tape, you can use Sellotape, but also be careful of those adhesives.

And just see, I wonder how difficult it would be to actually fasten a button without use of your thumb.

Interesting.

And finally, simulating a hearing impairment.

So the method for this is to get a friend to prepare a short script to read out.

If you can't do this, you could do this in advance.

If you are at home, for example, get someone to record something on your phone.

But this is really good in a classroom if you get someone to read it out.

Wearing ear defenders, listen to a friend read out the script.

Write down everything that you can hear.

Swap the ear defenders and repeat the activity with your partner.

Now time for your first task, and you guessed it.

I want you to carry out all of the simulation activities that we have just talked about and fill out the table below.

I would like you to carry out the visual impairment, the mobility impairment, and also the hearing impairment activities.

As soon as you've done each of those activities, I would like you to tell me the difficulties faced.

What was the most difficult aspect of carrying out that activity when you were simulating the impairment? What was different? What were the main differences to actually doing it without an impairment to doing it with an impairment? How much longer did it take with the impairment? That's really useful for designers because that will really show you how difficult it can be to do everyday tasks with these impairments.

And then finally, are there any potential design opportunities that you can think of once you have carried out each of these activities? So pause the video now, have a go at each of these activities.

Come back to me when you filled out your table, How did you get on? I'm sure you found it quite frustrating to do some of these activities, and it probably took you quite a lot of time.

And I bet, for example, when you took the tape off your fingers it was a relief.

Now imagine that you can't take that tape off your fingers.

Imagine that is your mobility impairment for your whole life and every single time you carry out those activities, that's exactly how it feels.

That's showing empathy.

So well done with that.

Here's some of my analysis.

So for the visual impairment, I couldn't see the lines on the paper.

So my writing sloped.

It was really difficult to see those very faint lines.

It was disorienting or disorientating not being able to see everyone clearly.

I couldn't focus on the face of my friends.

It took twice as long to write because I had to focus on where I was writing and also to try and keep it straight.

A potential design opportunity, I thought of a darker lined paper.

That's something I thought of.

That would be a really good example, and maybe larger buttons to be able to do my buttons up.

The mobility impairment, gripping the pen was really difficult.

I really couldn't grip it very well.

I had to focus my grip to actually hold the pen correctly.

And because I was holding it completely differently to how I used to hold it.

Obviously, my handwriting wasn't as good.

It took lots longer, lot longer to be able to do this similar to the first task.

And then I thought of a potential design opportunity of creating a pen with a finger hole to keep it steady if I didn't have the use of my thumb.

The hearing impairment.

I missed actually part of the passage.

So my partner spoke clearly, but actually I didn't get a few words.

I had to focus on what was being said and I really had to block out other sounds.

If you did this in a classroom, you probably found that you could hear other people as well, which actually muffles what you would've heard.

And it took about the same length of time because they read out the sentence in the normal period of time, but obviously I miss some of those words.

Then I thought about actually being able to read the script whilst it was being read to me would've helped, almost like subtitles.

I'm sure you've got your own answers.

Well done with that activity.

Let's move on.

We're now gonna look at inclusive design, so designing products for as many people as possible.

If you understand your users' needs, you can design a product that works and sells really well.

So we've shown empathy so we understand those needs.

Now we need to design a product.

While designers aim for inclusive design, there are two main ways of achieving this.

That's through adaptive products or assisted products.

So let's have a little closer look at what each of those might mean.

So adaptive products can be adjusted or customised to meet the individual needs of users.

For example, adjustable desks, those ones that go up and down, but also desk chairs.

So a desk chair can be adapted to a wide range of users, someone who's quite small, someone who's quite tall, someone who wants armrest, someone who doesn't.

You can see how it can be adaptive.

Assistive products are designed to help use perform tasks that they might find difficult, usually quite specific tasks.

For example, hearing aids to aid people in hearing and specialised keyboards for people who need it for, for example, mobility issues like arthritis.

They're usually designed very specifically for users, sometimes even individually.

I want you to pause the video here and see if you can think of any other products that might be adaptive or assistive.

I'll try and think of some too.

So pause the video, come back to me when you've maybe had a chat about that.

So could you think of any other products that might be adaptive or assistive? I thought of another one for adaptive.

My son has got a bike helmet.

And in that bike helmet, you could adjust all the straps.

He even has one of those winding mechanisms at the back to make sure it's tighter on his head.

The great thing is, is he's had that helmet since he was four years old, and he's now seven, and he still uses the same helmet, even though his head has grown, which means it's quite an adaptive product.

It can be used again and again, and it can be used by different users.

I'm sure you've thought some really good examples as well.

Quick check for understanding.

Adaptive products are tools designed to help people perform tasks they might find difficult, help people with disabilities by replacing their ability, can be adjusted or customised to meet the individual needs of users.

Pause the video, see if you can find the answer.

Come back to me when you've got it.

So if you answered, C, can be adjusted or customised to meet the individual needs of users, well done you got that one right.

We're now onto your final task.

This is quite a big task 'cause you're gonna be designing something which is brilliant.

I want you to design a games controller that would be inclusive to people with a mobility impairment.

I want you to sketch and annotate your design.

Your annotation can include details of how you have empathised with the user and also details of whether your design is assistive or adaptive.

Now you can have both within your design, you might have some features that are assistive and also some features that are adaptive, and that's absolutely fine.

I want you to think back to that first learning cycle when you carried out your empathy task on looking at mobility impairments, and I want you to think carefully about that.

So you might wanna revisit that whilst thinking about your design.

Pause the video, have a go at this.

When you finished, come back and I'll show you my design.

So how did you get on? So I left you really open with this on how you want to design it.

So I did a quick sketch.

I've added some colour in there as well because I wanted to showcase how I was gonna make this suitable for my users.

So first of all, I've got large touch pads so they can rest their hand on them comfortably, and that's quite assistive, that, isn't it? Adjustable feet so the user can, so they can set the height so it's comfortable for them to use.

So that's adaptive because you can change the height of it.

We've got sensitive touch pads so the user can move the characters on the screen by touching in one area.

That's quite assistive as well.

I've got colour coded buttons so it's easy to use.

The colour can be changed by the user, so it's lit up by color-changing LEDs, which means you can change the colour of them, and that's of course adaptive.

And then button is close to the fingertips to limit the movement needed.

That is of course assistive.

So I'm sure you came up with a brilliant design of your own.

Well done with that.

So we've now come to the end of the lesson.

So today you have shown empathy for users.

Empathy in design means to understand the feeling of what users experience, allowing designers to create more accessible products.

Simulating impairments such as visual, and mobility, and hearing challenges helps designers identify user issues and create inclusive solutions by experiencing these difficulties firsthand.

Task analysis, which we can use to show empathy, involves breaking down user actions into steps to identify obstacles, which helps designers simplify processes and improve product accessibility.

You've been absolutely fantastic today.

You've done a brilliant design task, and you've started to show empathy.

You can use this in all of your design practise.

It's really good to be able to do that so you can make sure you design products that are as useful for as many people as possible.

Well done today.

I'll see you next time.