CC #1 | CHLOE SIEW

CRITICAL CONTEXT #1

CRITICAL CONTEXT STAGE 1

Designers have long acknowledged the need to create designs and products that meet the functional needs of end-users. Human Centered designs is a means of helping designers to design and create products with ‘people’ as the focus. In design practice, there are variable methods to help designers to apply Human-Centered Design thinking, but there is also a need to support the designers’ thought in order to process beyond usability and focus on the needs of users in their designs and products. Therefore, such designs and products that impact the user’s needs and emotional well-being served as the inspiration for the conception of Compassionate Design (CD) (Seshadri, Reid & Booth, 2014). Living in a world and generation where talk is cheap, communication without words becomes more important with an application of extra something as an assist to deliver our gratitude, love, and compassion. The extra something we could use is the thing that is already in this world, which is Nature, the secret power of a flower's language, smells, visualisation could be a great way to help in healing one who is in pain. With compassion, we could take a step away from the emotion of empathy and ask ourselves ‘how can we help’ through what is already in this world.

In design practice, compassionate design is an approach that addresses niche sensitive needs and involves a way of thinking where designers pay special attention to the users’ sense of dignity, empowerment, and security (Seshadri, Joslyn, Hynes and Reid, 2019). As design is not just a means to solve problems but to also explore the various possibilities and positive experiences that it can create. Compassionate design would definitely be able to help us to see the person and not the things that happened to them and that moments of positive connection can inspire loving relationships. Lissa Rankin says, "every child is born with a wide-open heart, but as we get older and weather pain and disappointment, we begin to close ourselves off." There is no simple solution, no one size fits all, no single answer to the challenges faced in the issue of compassion in this generation. Nevertheless, we should never stop facing it and discover more solutions or else we will not be able to open our hearts and minds for the needy. In consequence, as a designer, we could design for positive experiences, moment-by-moment and day-by-day to regenerate compassion among people.

There are four steps we can take as a designer to develop and regenerate compassion for our users. Firstly, We should be excited to get out of the office. We wouldn’t want to be a toad at the bottom of a well where we do not understand people as we are not socialized. Other than that, getting out of the office as in vacation and time away, disconnecting from work helps lead to a more productive and creative life which is how a designer hopes his/her life is. Secondly, we should talk to someone, listen to their different stories. As mentioned above, we are to design and create products with ‘people’ as the focus, we cannot just design by our imagination only and that is why we should talk to our users in order to understand them. Thirdly, we need to eat, sleep, and dream curiosity. While we are creating and designing for people, as a designer, we should also have a healthy life routine such as eating on time, having enough sleep, etc. When having a healthy routine, it is also necessary for us to be curious all the time about everything. Lastly, we should do what they do. “Copying” or following what they do in order to understand their pain, suffering, the reason for it, and etc.

Vanessa Diffenbaugh in 'The Language of Flowers', quoted that “If you’ve spent your whole life running from love, what would it take to make you believe that anyone can grow into something beautiful?” It is an important rhetorical question for self-thinking about whether we are willing to suffer alongside one who has a mistrust of society, which is to continue having love-kindness to them and feel their pains. The Victorian language of flowers used to convey romantic expressions, for example, honeysuckle for devotion, asters for patience, and red rose for love while the flower language in the book ‘The Language of Flowers’, has been more useful in communicating grief, mistrust, and solitude. In our community, there are people who are unable to get close to anybody. Therefore, their only connection to the world is through flowers and their meanings. Lurther Burbank quoted that “flowers always make people better, happier and more helpful; they are sunshine, food and medicine for the soul”. As a designer, we definitely need positive elements and materials while designing and creating for someone in need. From the above, flowers could be one of the best ways to use them as a visual communication tool for compassionate design.

In the situation we are living in today, it is safe to assume that we are dealing with stress, uncertainty, depression, and challenges like never before. COVID-19 has prompted governments to promulgate Movement Control Order which has forced people to create and live a new normal. Many workers have transitioned to work from home, while others don’t have that option. Besides that, people are asked to follow all social distancing guidelines, everything is suggested to be done in contactless，contactless, and contactless. As time goes by, it becomes difficult for people to communicate and express themselves with someone. However, we are so fortunate to have the perfect creation to assist us, which are flowers in nature. The power of flowers is something that we should not despise, as it is a creation, a visual communication tool that could bring harbingers of joy and happiness, help to release stress, and help in conveying messages without words. Now more than ever, people truly need something cheerful, something positive, something encouraging to sustain a more self-compassionate life. Something as simple as a flower arrangement and flower bouquet have the power to be known as a portable nature and be able to offer self-compassionate and compassion for others.

A Japanese study showed women who spent six hours in the woods over a two-day period increased their white blood cells, which fight viruses and the boost lasted about a week after the experiment. This research showed that nature helps to heal us, it brings tons of positivity and benefits to us. Being a designer, we should always include and remember our intention while creating every design, product, and concept. Similarly, nowadays people tend to buy products that are more organic, more natural as we all understand that things without processed is still the most user-friendly and healthier. Biophilic Design is a concept that increases occupant connectivity to the natural environment through the use of direct nature, indirect nature, and space and place conditions. Through this design, we get to bring users back to nature that is able to heal us. Eric Fromm says that, “Biophilia is the passionate love of life and of all that is alive.” It is the love of living things and nature, which some people believe humans are born with. Going back into nature is the best way to regenerate our fatigue compassion as we are living in a world where people want to save people’s compassion but in the meanwhile, compassion is fading away faster. In this case, as a designer, we should be alerted in order to regenerate compassion again through visual communication.

In a nutshell, everyone was born with a compassionate heart, but as we get older and weather pain and disappointment, we begin to close ourselves off and just care about ourselves. As a designer, we ought to have the sense of concern that arises when we are confronted with another’s suffering and feel motivated to see that suffering relieved. With compassion, we could take a step away from the emotion of empathy and ask ourselves ‘how can we help?’. As mentioned, our world is getting colder day by day and also where talk is cheap. There must have an extra something to help on regenerating compassion.Therefore, we, as a designer, are able to solve the problem and create a design to showcase the importance of compassion. To me, I could see my work as “flowers'' that create a gift to society to encourage compassion. Flower arrangement and flower bouquet have the power to be known as a portable nature and be able to offer self-compassionate and compassion for others. With the help of nature, people get to lower their intensive, stay relax and relook into this world in more positive angle, in order to have a compassionate heart again. Lastly, I believe that with the help of biophilliic design could bring a extremely good visual design to communicate and encourage compassion to this world.

Reference List

Laugh Project, Cardiff Metropolitan University. (2018). Compassionate

Design: How to design for advanced dementia.

Armano, D. (2006). Creating Compassionate Designers [Image]. Retrieved 1 May

2021, from https://darmano.typepad.com/logic_emotion/visualizations/.

Diffenbaugh, V., 2011. Language of Flowers. Gardners Books.

Ted Talks. (2020). The Power of Flowers [Video]. Retrieved 2 May 2021, from

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCVUyeHD2lQ.

Ted Talks. (2019). Flowers that Heal Us - Plant Communication & Flower Essences

[Video]. Retrieved 2 May 2021, from

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fit7BqpBDLE.

Seshadri, P., Joslyn, C., Hynes, M., & Reid, T. (2019). Compassionate design: