Design Against Populism: Using Empathy to Drive Solutions
More than 65 user experience designers came together on August 17 in a pilot event to examine a common conviction in today’s political climate: it’s us versus them.
Held at Sapient Consulting in Arlington, the interactive workshop Design Against Populism employed design-thinking methodology to foster empathy and lay the groundwork for ways to address populism — an ideology that rejects diversity of beliefs and seeks to promote the singular agenda of the “common people.”
Associate Creative Director for Experience Design with Sapient Consulting Lisa Goldberg brought the idea for the event to hosts UXPA DC and the OpenIDEO DC Chapter after learning about a similar workshop held in Berlin. After all, what better place than Washington, D.C. for experience designers to tackle a problem facing American democracy?
What is Populism?
The event began with a description of populism, based largely on author Jan-Werner Muller’s definition from his recent book What is Populism?
Müller argues that, at its core, populism is a rejection of pluralism; populists will always claim that they and they alone represent the people and their true interests. Populism was further defined during the event as anti-elitism, also noting that populist governments seek to suppress civil society and discredit “middlemen” like the media.
The discussion ultimately charged participants to think about how to identify the concerns of populists and consider ways to address problems without dismissing them.
Let the Design-Thinking Begin
Moderators introduced the plan to use empathy and experimentation to arrive at solutions and asked the group to “leave with something to talk about and carry forward.”
Participants broke into groups to brainstorm the benefits of populism and identify people who benefit from a populist ideology.
Several groups found similar benefits including a sense of empowerment, belonging, and voice.
It struck many people that populism exists on both ends of the political spectrum and many cited the “tribe-effect” as a conferred benefit.
“You have a feeling that you belong. You have a vision for how things should be. It’s aspirational. It’s a very a positive thing,” said one participant.
During the pilot Design Against Populism event, design thinkers built empathy and gathered insights by brainstorming benefits of populism.
Building Empathy with Role Play
Next up, groups took their brainstorm one step further to role play conversations that centered around populist views of issues like immigration. Participants were prompted to act out a scenario where a hiring manager talks to her boss about sponsoring a qualified candidate with a green card, thus selecting a foreign worker over an American.
Role-playing offered a deeper perspective, encouraging folks to exemplify the ideas they recorded during the first exercise. The back-and-forth exchanges brought more clarity to the motivations of populist ideology, forcing people to “break their mindset.”
“What we felt it comes down to is survival. If people feel like their survival is threatened, they lean toward extremes,” said participant Lanita.
Groups role-play a conversation about immigration to gain perspective during Design Against Populism workshop.
The Start of Innovation
As a final exercise, groups began the process of turning their insights into action. Everyone developed “how might we” questions to serve as a framework for solutions and shared with the larger group.
Questions centered around the pursuit of common ground: How might we teach shared experiences? How might we move beyond zero-sum? How might we realize it’s not all black and white? Others called for a focus on finding leadership that everyone can trust and building self-agency.
At the end of the event, moderators explained that asking questions was just the beginning.
“The goal was to host a space for all of us to have conversations and go back to people we know with some insight,” said moderator Erin Gordon of the OpenIDEO DC Chapter.
What’s Next?
The conversation will continue through the rest of the design-thinking process with more events. Watch for announcements from UXPA DC.
Participants suggested that the group make an effort include more presence from across the political spectrum.
Check out UXPA DC and the OpenIDEO DC Chapter for info about upcoming events.
