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SEEING FROM THE USERS' EYES: AN OUTLOOK TO VIRTUAL-REALITY BASED EMPATHIC DESIGN RESEARCH

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 July 2021

Xinhui Hu ,
Vijayakumar Nanjappan  and
Georgi V. Georgiev
Xinhui Hu*
Affiliation:
University of Oulu
Vijayakumar Nanjappan
Affiliation:
University of Oulu
Georgi V. Georgiev
Affiliation:
University of Oulu
*
Hu, Xinhui, University of Oulu, Center for Ubiquitous Computing, Finland, xinhui.hu@oulu.fi

Abstract

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The extent to which designers can understand users often determines the quality of design outcomes. A deep understanding of users allows the designers to focus on the right problem and make optimal design decisions, which encouraged designers to empathize with users. However, the current imagination-based empathizing strategy appears to be too susceptible to their previous experience and knowledge, which has been questioned concerning effectiveness and accuracy. On the other hand, Virtual Reality (VR) technology provides an opportunity for designers to gain experience-driven empathy by immersing them in a virtual environment that mimics the users' surroundings as if they are seeing the world from users' eyes. While abundant studies covered empathy VR and empathy for design, limited attention has been paid to the chance of bringing VR, empathy, and design research together. Addressing this gap, this study explored literature across domains, identified major concerns about this approach, synthesized the evidence, and discussed the feasibility and validity of the VR-based empathic design research approach.

Keywords

Virtual realityHuman behaviour in designExperience design, EmpathyUser centred design
Type
Article
Information
Proceedings of the Design Society , Volume 1: ICED21 , August 2021 , pp. 2601 - 2610
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

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