Page 174 - The Design Thinking Playbook

EXPERT TIP

How can empathy be understood
as a design paradigm?

A tried-and-tested tool for the generation of emotional stories is the Minsky suitcase. Let’s assume there’s an old, heavy winter coat in the suitcase, and our
design challenge is to create a new soap. No restrictions are imposed
Do we know where our suitcase is at the moment? on our design team in terms of the shape, smell, color—but it’s not
only the soap that is to be designed. The packaging and the marketing
Most of us are likely not thinking about our suitcase just now. It is somewhere in the basement or stored in concept must also be created. The following story might have
a closet. Nothing unusual here. Once life has returned to the daily routine after vacation, the memories of emerged from the inspiring framework of the old winter coat:
fine dining on the French Riviera or the white sand beaches in the Maldives quickly start to fade away. The
last memory of the vacation consists of a few grains of sand hidden in the inner pockets of the suitcase. “An old lady is looking outside the window during the winter.
For a certain period of time, our suitcase was a synonym for a different lifestyle, a better life, life as it She sees the road covered in ice while she is preparing for a
ought to be: with pleasure, relaxation, an uncomplicated and free schedule. dinner with her grandchildren. She is really looking forward to
seeing them again and would like to be the best host she can
Maybe we never actually thought about it, but the items in a suitcase have basically four different types of be. However, she suddenly realizes that she forgot an important
use: ingredient. She feels stressed because she will have to go out
in the cold winter weather to buy the ingredient…”
1. things of everyday life (toothbrush, socks, change of clothes),
2. things that are very important to us and do not take much space (a photograph, a lucky charm, or a Two examples of a possible product are the “Savon 1890,” a very
diary), simple, old-fashioned, handcrafted soap in plain packaging, and
3. things we want to impress people with (jewelry, a fashionable scarf, cool sunglasses), and “Soap Crystals,” which are based on the experience with an old
4. some free space for things we want to purchase on our trip. walking stick.

A packed suitcase is the compressed version of our personality:
It is orderly, chaotic, an imitation, an original, it bears traces of past adventures, and so on. When we
travel, each of us has exactly the suitcase that fits us best and is thus a mirror image of our life.

To tell emotional stories, a suitcase can be an inspiring starting point. We find old suitcases in the attic
or buy a new one at the flea market. In a second step, we build up a relationship with the suitcase and its
contents. Why was the suitcase forgotten under the roof? What could its story be? We take some time and
write a small fictional story about the object and its possible relationship with its former owner.

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