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Dr. Deana McDonagh    

Empathic Design Research Strategist

Dr. Deana McDonagh is a professor of industrial design and School of Art and Design, and Health Innovation Professor at the Carle Illinois College of Medicine at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She is a faculty researcher at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology and the founder of the (dis)Ability Design Studio at the Beckman Institute, which supports interdisciplinary design research centered around the lived experiences of people with disabilities. In 2022, McDonagh won the Beckman Institute Vision and Spirit Award for exemplifying excellence and interdisciplinary research collaboration.

As an empathic design research strategist, she focuses on enhancing the quality of life for all through more intuitive and meaningful products, leading to emotional sustainability. Her research concentrates on emotional user-product relationships and how empathy can bring the designer closer to users, authentic needs, ensuring both functional and emotional needs are met the material landscape.

Speech Topics

Empathic Design Research Strategy

Transforming Invention into Innovation. Ensuring that inventions are transformed empathically to integrate into the lives of real people. Empathy provides the bridge between the development of technology and the lived experience of people.

Supra-Fuctionality

Supra-Fuctionality refers to the needs of people that are existing, emerging and unforeseeable. These needs include emotional, social, cultural and aspirational. If a product, service or environment only meets functional needs (and neglects the supra-functional) then a disconnect can be generated that demises the impact of the design outcome.

Disability and Design

Bringing diverse people into the designing process ensures that a portal to a higher level of innovation is achieved.

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