Empathy is understanding
I have been singing (quite badly) The Decemberists songs on my way home lately. I walk a short half mile from the G, which at night is empty and would be perhaps a bit lonesome if I actually knew any neighbors to miss. Evening classes result in an evening commute, and there I am stepping onto the platform, sometimes the sole passenger of a car. “Eli the Barrow Boy” seems appropriate enough. “Still I push my barrow all the day/ still I push my barrow” is as apt as any for a coming home song. Mostly I sing them because Colin Meloy sings in a somewhat nasally folk way that I can follow along to. But they also tell a story. The Decemberists’ narrative has always been what has drawn me to them. The band isn’t one to sing sappy love songs (unless of course they’re star-crossed lovers besieged by a forest spirit and serial killer). Nearly every song is a story, and there’s even an album spanning an entire tale.
Story-telling has always been a particular interest of mine. A (terrible) writer in high school, I also collaborated in making zines and comics. These creative endeavors were always about telling some plot, some story, some important message I was empathetically trying to get across. Just because I have decided to pursue interaction design (or something or other), does not mean I have abandoned the narrative. I take a special delight in the beginnings of projects, when it is the time to describe the idea. Illustrating the user-scenario (and using more people than screens) is fun. I get to show the frustrations of the “user” (person) at their current situation (which is truly awful of course). Then I get to show their triumphant transformation with the assistance of the design. There we go, beginning, middle, and end. Sure its a small story, one with only one plot arc, but it is important. Because empathy is understanding. If another person can empathize with the story, they can imagine themselves in the distraught beginning. When the design solution plays its part, they can feel the solution.
These thoughts are to be continued at a later date.
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