Nurturing Young Designers: A Sensing Journey With Community Innovators of Tomorrow

Alexa Uy, Content Writer Intern

When we think of social entrepreneurs or creative problem-solvers, we might think their accomplishments are because of their great passion, motivation, or inventive genius. We might even believe that only people born with extraordinary traits can change the world.

But what if I told you there’s a superpower that everyone has? Studies show it’s something we display as early as six months old—empathy. And that’s what lies at the heart of every great solution.

Take the award-winning Leapfrog Cerebral Palsy Walker, for instance. What made this design so great? What was the source of innovation? 

It came from one key insight gathered in the course of multiple interviews and observations of the daily lives of children who were living with cerebral palsy and their caregivers. The efforts at empathy helped the designers to more deeply understand what the children truly desired—it was not just about needing help with physical mobility, but just as importantly, a deep need to be socially accepted. With that empathy-driven insight, “involvement and inclusion” was a key design parameter, taking into account how the Leapfrog could be designed to be socially approachable and friendly.  

With empathy, the things we use in everyday life aren't just more functional, but can make the world a kinder, safer and more creative place! Like every superpower, it’s something we need to train. Not just a buzzword, empathy is a muscle. It’s learnt and developed through practice, observation and inquiry. And it’s where innovation begins.

Behind the Sensing Journey

It was this quest to find new ways to nurture empathy and curiosity that gave rise to Bold’s development of a community sensing trail around the Yuhua neighbourhood. As part of a year-long design thinking programme for community innovation, we are in the midst of journeying with 24 students from Temasek Secondary School to dive into the question: What are some challenges and considerations that families face surrounding health?

To support the youths in deriving fresh insights that would contribute to their solutioning and ideation, we began at the beginning — with the empathy stage.

Who were these characters? “Character cards” helped to visualise them and their needs.

We put together a narrative of a typical family: two parents living with their son and his grandmother. Their backgrounds and preferences were laid out in “character cards”, enabling our budding designers  to step into their shoes. What kind of job does this character do? What is their physical, mental and social health like? These were displayed on the cards, with their health status represented by bars.

The grandmother's card, for example, stated that she “dislikes anything digital” and speaks mostly in Mandarin. How would this affect her daily life? This played out during a segment where the students played out the journey of going through a health check-up, as the “grandmother”. For the first time, students “experienced” what it might feel like, to have to navigate online appointment booking and work through language barriers when interacting with the polyclinic staff, through the grandmother's eyes.

Solving a problem, it seems, starts with understanding exactly what the problem is, from the point of view of the user. 

Lessons about empathy

#1 — “Healthy” looks different for different people

I spoke to two Secondary 2 students on the trail, Qiu Yan and Zi Ching, whose group explored how to encourage healthy eating.

From their youth point of view, it was straightforward enough as they could go to labels like the Healthier Choice symbol and Nutrigrade rating as indicators of nutritional value. However, when they were challenged to think about shopping for groceries for healthy eating from the point of view of the “grandmother”, they realised that it was quite a different experience.

“We realised that the labels are usually in small print, and only in one language,” said Zi Ching. For many elders, who may be visually impaired or unable to read in English, they realised that even if they wanted to shop for healthier options, this might present a challenge.

Sometimes, they found, you don't notice a problem until you see it from another perspective.

“Budgeting” for the family!

Next stop: the hawker centre. The youths knew very well their own food preferences, even within the added constraints of ordering food with Healthier Choice symbols. But when tasked to order on behalf of the family, things took on a different level of difficulty.  

“At first, we were going to order char siew rice for the ‘grandmother’”, Qiu Yan recalled. But after some probing, they realised that it may not be such a great option from the point of view of the “grandmother”, since she can't really chew very well! This provided an invaluable lesson—always consider your target user’s unique needs and challenges. And if you don't know, you can always ask!

#2 — Empathy helps unearth the unspoken roots of the problem

Later on in the trail, at the basketball court, the students were put in the shoes of the “grandson” and “grandmother”. In this scenario, the “grandson” was meeting his friends for a basketball game after a long day of studying for the PSLE. Time flew by, and suddenly he was late for dinner with his “grandma”! He checked his phone, only to see several missed calls from her.

“What should he do? How would you feel in the grandmother’s position?” they were asked.

Zi Ching, who played the role of the “grandson”, acted out a “phone call” with a groupmate taking on the role as the “grandmother”. Thinking back to that moment, she reflected, “Seniors can be very lonely at home. So if their children come back late, they might feel like their family doesn't appreciate them.”

After the “call”, the group held a discussion and found that the problem was threefold: the grandmother felt isolated, the grandson faced exam stress, and neither knew how to communicate this.

Qiu Yan added, “I realised that family members don't usually tell us their concerns. They wouldn't want us to feel worried about them.” But this could end up exacerbating tensions within the family.

Indeed, we only see the full scope of the question when we seek out the deeper “why”. And it’s through this curiosity that we design solutions that go beneath the surface-level.

Part of life's journey

The show must go on - even in a drizzle!

At the end of the trail, our participants emerged having seen the issue of health through many different lenses, as they took on the points of view of the different character cards. Looking back, what did they learn?

“The trail really helped me empathise with different people we meet in daily life, especially through the character cards,” said Zi Ching. “As teenagers, we wouldn't get to experience this normally.”

Qiu Yan chimed in, “Role-playing was a really fun way for us to immerse ourselves in the characters.” She particularly enjoyed watching “debates” between characters. These were fun, but also highlighted how priorities might differ across generations.

Ms Huda, their teacher-in-charge, said that the interactive aspect made the experience feel “real”. Not only that, she felt that the students gained a nuanced understanding of real-life problems, and realised that things may not always be that “straightforward”.

“They're better able to think about not just the elderly, but others who are involved—their children, grandchildren, helpers—and how those people can or cannot help.”

While this journey is over, their journey as designers has yet to conclude. Next up, look out for their prototypes, that they will bring to interact with a real-life audience in a community setting, at our Parking Day, a platform to come together with other fellow designers to inspire the good life!