Empathetic Souls

“Empathy is about finding echoes of another person in yourself.”

So how do we find the echoes of another person in ourselves? How do we step in the shoes of another person to feel the way they feel, to experience the emotions that they do? I guess the only thing that we can do is to develop a connection. As a human being, developing connection can be difficult at times. There are a lot of reasons for that. We humans like to live in our comfort zones. A cocoon which we create around ourselves and we think that as long as we are in that cocoon, nothing could go wrong. If our basic needs are taken care for, if we are striving to achieve that basic need, then that is all we need to think about. I mean who cares if our neighbor sleeps hungry? Our stomach is full! Who cares if a street kid does not have clothes on his body? We have stylish clothes on our body! Who cares if a whole family is sleeping on the pavement? Our family has a grand house to live in!

But then, some of us tend to show acts of kindness. We see a hungry man and we provide him with our leftovers. We think that the Almighty is going to be happy with this act of ours. We feel sympathy for such people. We feel that we should do something for them. But an act of kindness is not empathy. It is sympathy. And we don’t know if that sympathy is authentic or  not. Because in order to feel accurate sympathy and compassion, we first need to develop empathy. Sympathy is momentary, empathy is eternal.

I and my friends were once walking out of the restaurant towards our car. We met a boy who stopped us and told us that he was hungry. One of my friend took out a ten rupee note and handed over to the boy. What the boy did next was something you don’t witness every day. The boy handed over the note back to my friend and said that he is not a beggar. He wanted to earn his living by polishing shoes. The only problem was that he did not have money to buy a shoe polish kit. All he was asking us was to get him a shoe box which a local shop sold. He did not ask for money even for the shoe box. He just wanted us to buy the box. I don’t want to share that what we did next. But whatever it was, it was definitely not an act of empathy. This I realized hours later when I was pondering over it. I thought, it was an act of sympathy that I showed. The money would fill his stomach today but what about the rest of the days? Had we bought him a box of shoe polish kit, he wouldn't have had to worry so much about his stomach the rest of the days. Because then he would be actually earning it and not begging. Now this would be empathy that I have been talking about.

Designers need to have this ability to connect, to be able to stand  in the shoes of other people, to be able to have empathy. Now when I talk of empathy here, I really mean it. A designer cannot design an outstanding product or service until and unless he is empathetic towards people and their problems.

As a part of my brief, I had to conduct a research on a given topic, identify a problem and then come up with a solution. Now the given topic was very vague- street furniture. Street furniture are products that are on street to serve a purpose. It covers everything from a post-box to a sign post.

At first, I had really no idea that what did it mean. Street furniture- I thought it might be a furniture which is generally kept on the streets and meant for the people to sit on it. But a little desk research proved me wrong. Street furniture in a broader extent  is a collective term for objects and pieces of equipment installed on streets and roads for various purposes. It includes benches, traffic barriers, bollards, post boxes, phone boxes, streetlamps, traffic lights, traffic signs, bus stops, tram stops, taxi stands, public lavatories, fountains, watering troughs, memorials, public sculptures and waste receptacles. Now street furniture is a very broad term. I went on to observe the streets in order to find something interesting. I started to observe the various street furniture on road and the purpose they serve and what addition could I make to them.

Now street furniture also defines the landscape of a city. It could become the identity of a city. For example, the red telephone booth of London, the blue fire hydrant of Prague and the residential post box of American sub-urban areas. If you look at any of them, you can tell that it belongs to a particular city.

So at first, I decided to focus on something which will define the landscape of Pune city. I started to go more on field trips to observe street furniture which could be developed as such a thing. Now while observing, I saw something which really helped me to narrow down my brief. I saw a person in rag clothes laying down newspaper and preparing for his night slumber on the pavements.

Now this struck a thought in my mind. These unfortunate people live right on the street. They are a part of the urban landscape. So why not a street furniture which was focused for the homeless?

Hence I decided to narrow down my brief to develop a street furniture for the homeless people.

The next stage was to focus my research on the homeless people. I carried out a lot of research on the internet – from collecting data, statistics to asking people to participate in an online survey asking their views and opinions with regard to a street furniture for the homeless.

But the main problem that I was facing was end-user. The irony being that I had two end users. The common crowd and the homeless. The street furniture was meant to be used by the homeless and at the same time were not meant to disturb the street dynamism.

I did a lot of brainstorm sessions. I carried out group discussions with my friends, I carried out interviews with people and yet something was missing. I did not know how a homeless guy feels. I still did not have a feeling of connection with a homeless guy. I still did not step in their shoe and did not try to view things from their point. And a deep thought lead me to say to myself. I am not showing empathy here.

I started to actually observe the homeless people. One of the observation was right there somewhere in my subconscious memory. A memory from the past. So I took a sip from the fountain of my memory to savor it. It was the memory of a homeless guy with big beard and rag clothes whom I saw as a child, each day on my way to school.  This man use to lie all day on the divider or sometimes a midst a pile of garbage scavenged by pigs and stray cattle. I never got to know what his story was. But as a child it left a deep impression on my mind. I always felt a feeling of pity for the poor guy and also use to wonder how did he end up in such a state?

78 million people in India are homeless. The government shelters are not enough to tackle this situation, Moreover, it might provide solution for a beggar but not the working class of homeless because the working class homeless does not want to mingle with the beggars fearing that he might catch some disease.

Keeping these points in my mind, I came up with an idea of a street furniture which serves the need of the homeless guy. This idea is not to relocate these people but to provide them with a night shelter which they can use at night and vacate in the morning. Rather than designing a product, I designed a whole system for the near future which could be created to provide night shelter for these people. 

Winds of Compassion

“A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.”

-          Albert Einstein

A few days ago I came across this quote. The last line of the quote asks us to reach out to living creatures and the natural beauty. But the questions lies in how? How can we widen our circle of compassion? I guess everyone will have a different opinion on this topic. The opinion maybe based on the way a particular person sees the world. Some people might show compassion by giving alms to the needy. Some people might show compassion by feeding a stray dog. But compassion for what? A musician shows compassion for the auditory senses through his finest piece of music.  An artist shows compassion for visual senses through his finest piece of art.

A designer shows compassion through his design. That is the language he chooses to reflect his compassion. You know the reason?

Because design itself is an outcome of compassion. Designers are compassionate people, didn't you know that?

The very essence of finding a problem and coming up with a solution to those problems  exists due to compassion. There is a feeling to connect to every human being. An empathy to understand the problems being faced by the society. A joy to create something for the society. Something which is going to help someone or the other in one or many ways. It is the compassion to create something worthwhile, to create something which is going to improve lives that drives a good design.

One of my projects was to come up with a proposal for a product solution for street side vendors selling food items. Now this was a project which was about compassion. A compassion which lead me to propose a design to provide a good experience to the customer and also to uplift the present status of the street vendors. After all, street food is something which we all enjoy.

When I was doing my research for the topic, I came across a street vendor who was selling chaat  right in front of a big shop. As part of my research, I started talking to him. I asked for a plate of chaat and slowly eased him into a conversation. I asked him questions regarding him and his business.

He replied,

“Sir, I am from Mumbai. I use to be a spot boy in Mumbai. Later, after earning some considerable amount of money, I opened up my own chaat stall. I have served many actors and actresses. My business was going on really good but unfortunately, I had to move out because of some differences with my brother. So I came to Pune to seek a better life here."

On asking how his business was, he replied

“It has been just four days since I moved here. Up until now, the business is running on fine. But not as good as I expected it to be. Hopefully, it will become better. “

I asked  him about the problems he faced.

“I have to travel a long distance daily to sell my stuff. Sometimes it is very difficult when it rains. I have to leave my food cart here itself as I cannot travel with it daily. It’s pretty huge and costed me around twenty-five thousand rupees.”

I was shocked! A wooded food cart for twenty-five thousand?  I asked about the drinking water and the electricity for his cart bulb.

“The shop behind me provides me with the electricity at hundred rupees per month. I get the drinking water from the water cooler outside the shop. In order to attract customers, I display my products on the top shelf of the cart from where everyone can see it."

While this food entrepreneur was busy talking to me, I started to observe the surrounding. In place of a proper garbage bin, there was an old cardboard carton which was already overflowing and there was garbage all around it which was attracting a lot of flies. There was no provision for hygienic drinking water for the  customers. There was a small PET water container which was used for washing hands and the water used to flood the pavement.

I observed the way the vendor was making the chaat. He had no gloves or hair covering. I inquired him regarding the hygiene measures and he said that he never considered it but will consider it now. I was done with the interview. I thanked him for his time and wished him good luck with his business.

What I saw really compelled me to think. Why is there such pathetic condition of street food? Why can’t people have hygienic food? And moreover, how can the same people who demand hygienic food, themselves contribute in making the street sides dirty? Why can't people throw their wastes in the garbage bins? And why can’t these street vendors have a better working condition?

This thought process lead me to think of some innovative solutions to the food cart. I am a designer. I have to be compassionate. There is a problem and I have to provide a solution. Thus, I started off with the design process. The brainstorming sessions, the mind mapping sessions. The cognitive thinking as well the usability and feasibility concept. I developed some concepts and finally went for one of the concept which was a portrayal of a futuristic urban food cart.

Now looking back, I ask myself, what really inspired me to design this cart? Simply put, it was compassion. The compassion with the customers that they have a right to enjoy mouthwatering street food in the most hygienic condition. The compassion with the street vendors to provide them with solutions which they don’t have in their food carts right now.

But thinking at a global level, merely a product isn't going to change things. The whole system needs to co-operate. The vendors need to be educated and the customers need to have certain moral obligations for not dirtying up the streets. I hope for a better society. 

To design is to love...

Why do we design? I have asked myself this question many times. Why is there a need to design? Why do we have to make things look nice and not just functional? I figured that the best way to answer this question would be to keep myself in the equation. Why do I like design? A deep insight gave me the answer. We design to compete with God. God, the greatest creator of all, designed this beautiful, functional and perfect universe. Each component is beautifully designed with the most minute details. Maybe, just maybe, we as humans try to achieve the same sense of aesthetics, functionality and perfection in our creation. Hence, we design and design. Because we never know, how perfect is perfect?

I don’t exactly remember when did I start to design. It was somewhere in my first year of engineering. Well, whenever it was, it pushed me to pursue a further course in design and my love for cars urged me to do automobile design. So, here I am, designing my first car.

Contrary to popular belief, car design is not just sketching a few lines on a piece of paper. It involves a whole lot of process starting from design brief, research, ideation and right up to a physical model.

So when I got my brief to design a hatchback for 2020, I was excited. We also had to take up a brand for which we had to design. I thought, wow! This could be something new. A new car. A new design trend, maybe. Hence I embarked on a new journey, this journey to design an exceptionally beautiful hatchback. To challenge conformism.

In any design process, the research phase in the most important one and at the same time a lot of fun. Now I did not have a single clue of where to start the research from. The first thing I did was online research. I started reading more and more . What are hatchbacks? How are they different from station wagons? What are the proportions? A lot of reading and internet surfing also lead me to decide my brand for which I would design. After some consideration, I decided to go for Renault.

The next step was to start the interviews. Talk to people, ask what is it exactly that they require in a hatchback? So, I started to fix appointments and meet people. Now, the best part is that this also helps in developing the communication skills and at the same time helps in socializing. I guess that is why designers are cool people. They are busy all the time, the pressure, the stress is way more than an engineering or management student. But we still take out time for everything. We socialize more, we observe more. We are obsessed with what we do. We eat, drink, talk and sleep design.  If we are out with our girlfriend, there are more chances that we will talk about design. So practically, we guys work all the time.

So, I interviewed a group of people comprising of both, male and female candidates. I went out for a cup of coffee with them. I tried to judge their personality, their lifestyles, their moods. It was almost like I was Sherlock Holmes, trying to crack a case by studying my subjects. I asked people about their favorite color, their favorite drinks, their favorite music, etc. Stuffs which were more humane, rather than technical. I did not ask them directly that what did they like in a car or what do they think about a good design in a car. My approach was different. It was more psychological. It was more personal. There was more connection involved in it. I felt like I knew the candidates from a long time back. I feel that the choices that a person makes has a lot to do with his personality. I used this to create the persona for my user. After conducting the interviews, making mind-maps and analyzing a number of users, I concluded my initial research. The next step was to sit with my mentor and discuss the persona. After much consideration, we settled on one of the users. Now this persona was a female and it also lead me to determine my theme for my car. A hatchback for females. Now that was something exciting!!!

After getting the green signal, I started to develop the persona board of the user. A persona board is where you put the picture of your user, mention their basic information in minimum number of words possible and create a nice photo collage of their likes & personality.

The next step is to make a mood board. Now, a mood board is a much more complicated thing. For if it goes wrong, the design will definitely go wrong. Mood board is a collage of abstract photos that define the mood of the product. Now since I am making a hatchback for a female user and also considering some input from the user, I had this image of a sensuous, curvaceous car, a car which looked feminine and cute. A design which defines the gender of the car as a female. A design which is an avatar of the female driving it. Now, this was really the best phase and probably my favorite one. I set the mood of my car as feminine, sensual and prestigious. I started to go through a lot of photos of beautiful, voluptuous women, trying to find a photo which gave a sense of sensuality and not of vulgarity, because there is a very thin line which separates both. So, after much searching, I made a mood board having the pictures of these beautiful and erotic women, a women eating strawberry with chocolate sauce dripping from it to depict sensuality.  I took the mood board to my mentor and thought I would get some appreciation. But I was in for a surprise. My mentor could not relate the photos to the mood that I was trying to develop. He told me that it was more like a mood board to seduce someone and would probably develop into a car for a playboy. So disheartened, I went back to searching images again. Now this time, before selecting an image, I tried to figure out that what exactly is sensuality? Is it just a sexual feeling or is it more than that? I searched and found that sensuality has an altogether different meaning. Sensuality is something which appeals to the senses. Now this is a very subtle definition. I tried to showcase sensuality through a different medium. I went on to search for architecture, sculptures and arts to portray the theme. After much searching, I settled for Zaha Hadid’s architecture. And it actually did miracles. All the photos in the mood board were in complete harmony with each other. The mood board was perfect. But it had to pass the approval of my mentor. I showed it to my mentor, and to my happiness, he liked it. Seeing the mood board he even told the name of the car which resembled my mood board. It was Alpha Romeo Brera. When I saw the car, I was awestruck! It was the kind of car I had in mind.

In the design process, after the mood board a design language board is made. Now, this board is where you put photos of existing product which are in harmony with the mood board and have feature such as surfaces or textures which you are going to use in your product. This is to give a more realistic feel of the design before actually designing the product. I was a bit confused with the mood board. I had to change a lot of pictures and then had to get it approved by my mentor before I could start the ideations. It was a bit irritating and at times I use to feel really low. Because I was unable to get the exact picture of the surfaces and products which I wanted to portray. I was furious and frustrated. Some of my frustration also came from the fact that my mentor didn’t like the photos I was putting in my design language board. Where was I going wrong? Then my mentor gave me a direction. He said, don’t think of the car, think of any other product which comes to your mind when you see the mood board. And simply put that product’s photo in the design language board. Hence, I was able to create a design language board which was in harmony with the persona board and mood board.

Next was the ideation phase. I had to make hundred ideations in all. Out of  these hundred, final three had to be selected. So far, the journey has been quite exciting.  I presented the ideations which I developed on the basis of design language board. Unfortunately, none of the ideations qualified to be taken further. The reason being my mood board was not in harmony with the design language board and also my ideations did not develop the sort of emotions that the mood board was developing. So once again, I had to make some minor changes in the design language board and I was also asked to bring in 10 more ideations.

I was making a car which should have a feminine character. So I decided that the best thing to create a sensuous form for my car would be to take some inspiration from female body. The curves of a woman has always fascinated me. So I decided to make some of the character lines by taking inspiration from those curves. So I made the form from a sketch I made of a woman lying in a fetal position.

I went on to develop 10 more ideations. Out of these three ideations were selected.

Then the stage of concept detailing came. Now I had to sketch 3 different views for each concept. Then a final concept was selected out of those. At present, the concept is being developed into a physical scale model of 1:5 ratio.