Specifying designers' empathy experiences in Virtual Reality: a literature review

Empathy is pivotal for designers in gaining insight into their users’ perspectives. However, its multifaceted nature can impede the design process, emphasizing the need for a more structured approach. This research leverages the perspective-taking and embodiment capabilities of Virtual Reality (VR) technology to examine ways to enhance designers’ empathy experiences toward users. This review synthesizes multidisciplinary literature from psychology, empathic design, and empathy in VR, to outline how empathy can be facilitated in VR. The outcome of this review is a unique specification that outlines elements embedded in a VR experience constructed to evoke designer empathy toward their users. The specification adopts a broad approach to empathy, valuing more-than-human perspectives, diversity in empathy responses, and a shared knowledge database of empathy outcomes. Future work will integrate the specification into an operational VR environment to empirically evaluate its effectiveness. This research lays the groundwork for evolving empathic design toward post-humanist design solutions that prioritize inclusivity, ecological and social value.