EPC Design Dialogues: Empathy vs Consequences
A debate on Empathy vs Consequences from EPC Design Dialogues, exploring why good design must begin with understanding people, but mature design must also examine what its decisions set in motion.
On 28th March 2026, we met at BLR Brewery Marathahalli in Bangalore for a morning designed to stretch a designer's thinking and sharpen their craft.
Design Leaders who joined us
1. Sandeep Karmarkar - Design leader at UBER
2. Shantanu Kulkarni - Design leader at Google
3. Abhay Vyas - Director of UX at Salesforce
4. Shreeya Malpani - Head of Design at Cure Fit
5. Satish Patil - Director of Design at Samsung Research India
6. Utkarsh Biradar - Chief Designer at Tata Elxsi
The following are a few notes from a debate on Empathy vs Consequences, with the design leaders arguing for and against each side, covering the topic from both angles. The following is a documentation of the session.
Good design starts with empathy, but responsible design must also think through consequences.
Empathy is the starting point. The consequence is the stewardship.
One side argued that without empathy, there is no real discovery, no real understanding of the problem, and no meaningful starting point. The other side argued that if you design only out of empathy for an immediate user need, you can create harmful second-order effects.
Empathy helps you discover what matters. Consequence helps you judge whether solving it this way is wise.
Examples from the discussion:
- Airbnb created value for hosts and travellers, but also affected neighbourhoods.
- Phone banking improved access, but enabled phishing abuse.
- Social media enabled expression but also created privacy and behavioural harms.
A product can be empathetic and still be dangerous.
