Bruno Oro

Empathy is widely positioned as a cornerstone of design education and often framed as a mindset or personal capacity that students must develop. This paper challenges that assumption by examining empathy as a practice that can be supported through the structure of the design process. It presents a phased inclusive design methodology that places recurring prompts, constraints, and reflective questions at key points within studio projects. The methodology was implemented in a 15-week undergraduate studio involving 23 students working across two inclusive toy-design briefs developed in collaboration with Hape Toys. Survey responses, project documentation, and design outcomes indicate that students continued to consider user diversity during ideation, prototyping, and evaluation, rather than limiting inclusion to early research. The paper argues that design education can support empathic practice by building sustained attention to users into workflows, critiques, and design decisions.

This article explores how food-making can support emotional, sensory and reflective learning in design education. Using a 15-week undergraduate and graduate industrial design studio as a case study, the project engaged 23 students in baking bagels to examine intersections of food, memory and play. Drawing from experiential, kinaesthetic and ludic learning, the study combined studio observations, process books, reflective essays, structured visual documentation and an end-of-semester survey ( n = 18). Findings show that food-making fostered emotional engagement, empathy and understanding of iteration as both design and reflection. Students translated taste, aroma, texture and culinary processes into vessels, packaging, interaction sequences and rituals of sharing. Positioned alongside prior food-based design education literature, this article contributes a multimodal account of how movement between culinary practice and experience-oriented design outcomes can support emotional memory, sensory reflection, purposeful play and inclusive participation.

This chapter explores how experiential, sensory-rich, and emotionally grounded approaches to curriculum design can enhance learning in design education. Using a case study of an industrial design studio where students engaged in bagel-making as a metaphorical and material practice, the chapter illustrates how food-based learning activates kinesthetic, emotional, and cultural dimensions of knowledge construction. It examines how such multisensory, playful, and ludic methods support inclusive, competency-based learning and foster deeper engagement with abstract design principles. By aligning experiential activities with student learning outcomes, the chapter contributes to broader discussions on interdisciplinary curriculum reform and transformative pedagogical innovation in contemporary higher education. Findings indicate increased student engagement, deeper understanding of iterative design processes, strengthened reflective judgment, and more inclusive participation through the integration of sensory, emotional, and culturally grounded learning activities.

Assistive technology (AT) has long been seen as a marker of disability rather than a tool of empowerment due to clinical esthetics, stigma, and abandonment. This chapter challenges the function-over-form approach, arguing that esthetic empathy—the integration of emotional, cultural, and functional considerations—can redefine AT as desirable rather than necessary. This chapter examines the evolution of AT, exploring cultural perceptions of disability and the psychological impact of design, where poor esthetics amplify stigma and isolate users. It compares how thoughtfully designed AT fosters dignity, pride, and inclusion, using case studies to show how universally designed products increase adoption and shift perceptions. The rise of consumer-grade AT, such as Apple’s AirPods Pro with assistive listening features, demonstrates that accessibility can move beyond the medical realm into mainstream products. Despite technological progress, barriers still hinder universal design integration, including cost constraints, manufacturing limitations, and outdated paradigms that restrict AT adoption. This chapter envisions a future where AT is no longer a separate category but an integral part of everyday design, erasing distinctions between “assistive” and mainstream products. By prioritizing empathy, esthetics, and user experience, AT can evolve from a stigma-inducing necessity to a universally accepted innovation, ensuring individuals are not just accommodated but valued and fully included in all aspects of society.

This paper explores the critical gap in integrating Universal Design (UD) into U.S. design education, where sustainability is often prioritized while inclusivity remains elective. Through an ongoing study of 60 universities, initial findings reveal that only two briefly mention UD, and none fully integrate it into their core design programmes. This highlights a disconnect between inclusive values and educational structures. UD, like sustainability, offers broad social and commercial benefits by reducing stigma, expanding markets, and fostering equity. By embedding UD into foundational courses, design education can better prepare students to address environmental and social challenges. This paper argues for UD’s structural inclusion, not as an add-on, but as a key framework for shaping equitable and sustainable futures in design.

Teaching accessibility is crucial to ensuring that accessibility principles are integrated into the design and adoption of software and other aspects of lives. The existing literature on accessibility education is largely siloed, appearing primarily in computer science and related disciplines. Understanding the similarities and differences in teaching accessibility across different disciplines is vital for enhancing educational effectiveness by leveraging lessons learned from each field. This workshop aims to serve as an interdisciplinary forum for researchers and education practitioners to discuss topics taught, approaches taken, resources utilized, and challenges encountered when teaching accessibility in different disciplines.

Design greatly simplifies tasks, enhances daily life, and improves products and services. However, in the rehabilitation of disabled children, design often falls short. This paper seeks to highlight the intricate interplay between design and assistive technologies by shedding light on the challenges faced by disabled users with these products, especially cerebral palsy children. The paper explores literature indicating how these products can negatively affect user self-esteem, rehabilitation, and product adoption. It underscores the significance of integrating semantics and employing empathetic methods to strike a proper balance between aesthetics and functionality in the design development of assistive products. This approach aims to enhance children's perception and societal acceptance of these products, transforming them from standard hospital equipment to more empathy-centric solutions.