Bringing back empathy – ICT tools may distance designers from users

We had a brief chat with Upeksha Hettithanthri, who recently defended her PhD thesis at the Department of Computer and Systems Sciences.

Congratulations! How does it feel to be a doctor?

“Thank you. It feels deeply fulfilling and humbling at the same time. Completing a PhD is not only an academic milestone but also a personal journey that demands resilience, curiosity, and persistence. Becoming a doctor represents years of questioning, learning, and growth, and it brings with it a strong sense of responsibility to contribute meaningfully to knowledge and society.”

Becoming a doctor represents years of questioning, learning, and growth

Can you tell us about your research topic?

“Sure! One of the key findings of my study is the absence of empathy in the design process practiced within the conventional design studio, which represents a clear departure from so-called design thinking models. The study reveals that the extensive use of information and communication (ICT) tools has distanced design students from real-world scenarios, instead connecting them primarily to digital repositories from which they derive design stimuli. As a result, the design thinking process in conventional studios often begins at the ideation phase, omitting the empathizing and defining phases.”

“In contrast, real-life design studio significantly enhances empathy by integrating lived, real-world experiences directly into the design process. With empathizing appearing iteratively across all major phases of the design thinking process, a more complete and human-centred approach to design is reinforced.”

What are your conclusions from the thesis?

“This study concludes that the conventional design studios constrain empathetic engagement, leading to a disconnection between students and real-world problem scenarios. The dominant use of ICT tools in conventional design studios disrupts the intended design thinking sequence, often causing students to bypass the empathizing and defining stages and begin directly with ideation. As a result, reflective practice remains largely confined to student–ICT interactions, with minimal involvement of real users. In contrast, integrating a real-life design studio context significantly enhances empathetic understanding, with empathy emerging iteratively across all phases of the design thinking process. Within real-life design studios, ICT tools function primarily as facilitators of communication rather than as generators of design ideas, thereby supporting deeper, more authentic user-centred engagement.”

How did you become interested in this topic?

“As both an academic and a practicing architect, I have always been deeply curious about the natural design thinking processes that manifest in students’ mindsets. I often found myself questioning how students actually initiate their design work, whether they consciously follow prescribed design thinking models and thought protocols, or whether a different, more implicit process is at play. This curiosity led me to closely examine what truly happens within the conventional design studio.”

The real-life design studio allowed me to study how empathy naturally emerges

“Through this exploration, I identified a significant empathy gap in the conventional design studio, which prompted me to propose the real-life design studio as an intervention. By situating students within real-world contexts, the real-life design studio allowed me to study how empathy naturally emerges and reshapes the design thinking process, offering a more authentic and human-centred approach to design learning and practice.”

What happens next?

“Moving forward, I plan to extend my research by focusing on how artificial intelligence can manifest, support, or reinterpret human design thinking processes. Building on my current work, I am particularly interested in exploring how AI systems can engage with the empathizing, defining, ideating, and reflective phases of design thinking, and how these interactions influence human creativity, judgment, and decision-making”, says Upeksha Hettithanthri.

Text: Åse Karlén