Design thinking: The power of empathy

-Jean Valjean: Before you chain me up like a slave again. Listen to me! There is something I must do. This woman leaves behind a suffering child. There is none, but me who can intercede. In mercy’s name, three days are all I need.

-Javert: You must think me mad. I’ve hunted you across the years. Men like you can never change. A man such as you.

Many may share Javert’s way of thinking in “Les Miserables”, but how much truth is there behind those words?

As my second project, I had to do a Design Thinking case study focused on bettering citizen security in big cities such as Madrid. Design Thinking (represented with the double diamond diagram) is a method in which you generally take the same amount of time to explore and create. It is very important the exploring phase because it helps us empathize, understand and discover what the user wants, giving us the ability to create a user-centered product.

1. Exploring and empathizeing

Firstly my team and I began to do some desk research, nethnography and a safari to understand what security issues there where in Madrid. And, even though we found very interesting information, like the increase in the number of minor thefts and crimes and thefts related to drug abuse, we got our most important information with our interviews and survey responses. With our survey, we discovered that 88% of respondents felt safe in Madrid and trusted their security forces.

Then, what now?! That’s when we began to explore the other side of the story: the criminals’ side. Why did they do it? What was the type of citizen they targeted? All these questions could be answered because my father had been going for the past 4 years as a volunteer to a detox center where most internees committed crimes, such as theft without violence, contempt of authority or crimes against public health. When we interviewed him he told us that the Spanish judicial system was benevolent with drug addicts who committed crimes because they weren’t considered criminals, but addicts that needed help. He also told us the alarming fact that 85% of them relapsed because of the social stigma they carried for life, and being psychologically weak, they could not withstand loneliness without resorting to what they’ve always known: drugs.

Afterwards, I interviewed my anonymous volunteer, a 54-year-old woman that had completely recovered and successfully been introduced back into society. And, while I was trying my hardest to keep it together as she was sharing her story, there were two specific moments that marked me:

Question: Do you think that if people or society, in general, could hear what you and many like yourself have gone through it would help you all in some way?

Response: Look, for us the word junkie or drug addict… when you hear it from someone who isn’t from this world it sounds kinda harsh, you know? It sounds like, I don’t know, like if we were lepers… A drug addict that steals from their mother, or father, that abandons their children… but do you know that society is still divided? They don’t really know how much a person with addiction suffers…They have no idea what it’s like!

Question: And now knowing what you know, what would you do or tell someone that has an addiction problem?

Response: I would simply hug them, tell them that they’re not alone and I would take them to the closest detox center.

And, despite everything this woman has gone through, her farewell was the most admirable thing:

“If I helped you in some way and this interview can help others, that’s more than enough for me.”

How can we still let this happen?! This cant keep going on! These people can change and deserve a second chance! And with this in mind, I showed my team that 56-minute conversation and we began to analyze all the information we gathered from the rest of the interviews and surveys.

2. Devising

With all the information we gathered, we began to devise solutions to the problems that had been issued. After analyzing the surveys it was clear that people felt mostly safe, but considered education as the best prevention measure and would like to participate in a more proactive way to better citizens’ safety in their neighborhoods. In our interviews with police officers, they also mentioned how more citizen participation could be beneficial, already showcased in societies like Nepal or Japan where crime rates are minimal due to the sense of community they were raised with. But, let’s not forget the loneliness that ex-drug addicts feel when trying to reenter society.

And with these main ideas in mind, we began to shape our project with several techniques, like an In and Out, MoSCoW, or some “How might we “ questions. And there our challenge was born: create a portal for citizens to communicate with each other. We began to think out our user persona, empathy maps, site maps, flowcharts and, of course, our value proposition canvas. And at last, after many hours of hard work, our idea came to life.

3. Por ti, Madrid

“Por ti, Madrid” is a citizen collaboration portal where everyone can participate as a volunteer or ask for help. The main idea from which the aesthetic of our project comes from is this phrase of Mother Teresa of Calcutta:

“ We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop.”

With this phrase in mind, we chose to use water droplets as a representation of every member that participated as a volunteer and chose to use several shades of blue, that also represents trust, tranquility, and security. We also chose to use simple, colorful and soft shaped illustrations to ease off some sensitive topics and did a very careful UX writing, using a close, familiar and soft language, running away from the more formal and serious language used in city hall or institutional webpages.

On the home page not only can you see a small introduction explaining why the page exists, but you can also view comments from people who have already tried out the service and a map that locates your neighborhood. If we select “Tu barrio” in the menu, we can view a list of neighborhoods where the service is available. Once you’ve selected your neighborhood, a list of volunteer services that are available with a small description will appear. If we continue and click the “hazte voluntario” option in the menu, it will take us to a small form that the new user would have to complete to create an account on the platform. Lastly, we can see how a volunteer’s user profile would look like. In it, you can view the user’s personal information, their own and their friend's activity and the rewards they can opt for according to the number of points they have gained (or, in this case, droplets) for volunteering. These droplets are exchangeable for products or services in affiliated businesses, like discounts in the dry cleaners, hairdressers, free breakfasts, etc. The user can also see their friend’s profiles and a chat where people can communicate with each other to ask for help from volunteers.

Thanks to Design Thinking my team and I transformed a gruesome and sad subject into a more positive and hopeful one thanks to the findings we had during our interviews and surveys. Without that investigation phase and without the possibility of empathizing with our users, especially with the ones who want a second chance in life, we probably would have thought out a more trivial solution like drones or robocop. Besides, it's about time these people are heard, right?

Para leerlo en Español, dale click aquí: http://bit.ly/2ZylfNF