The interdisciplinary collaboration of innovational design

Abstract

The purpose of empathic design is to motivate the empathy of designers to better understand the potential needs of users (including the proprietors). The example of Youth Originality Design Camp of Liouduei in 2011 was used in this research to examine the design procedures of the innovative products for interdisciplinary empathic design of the local industries and to analyze the process of interdisciplinary empathic design conducted by grouped specialists in various fields and the students, design behavior of students from different departments and the influence on design after students experience the local cultures and industries. Thirty-six students participating in the contest were investigated in four phases. According to the findings of the research, recognition from 64(%) to 90% of the students was obtained after allowing them to experience the Liouduei culture and the students, learning from the proprietors on the first stage, benefited from empathic design in learning of the local culture. In phase two, students considered that they stayed at the proprietors’ homes for the night, which provided an opportunity for them to have an in-depth understanding of the proprietors’ problems. On the third stage, recognition of 87% of the students was acquired after an in-depth interview between the students and proprietors. In the last phase, 84 to 85% of the students identified with brainstorming and prototype production. The results of the research indicate the procedures for innovative interdisciplinary empathic design help the students enhance their empathy basically, and benefit them to better understand the needs of the proprietors and motivate them to form creative ideas; however, there is still a long way to achieve commercialization.