Design Empathy and Contextual Awareness: Frames of Reference for the 21st Century Creative

One of the biggest challenges facing designers across all fields is not simply in the design of the product or service itself, but rather how to arrive at a design solution that resonates with a target audience, that will have a higher than likely chance at market adoption, and that will avoid negatively impacting society or the environment. What are the skills that can be employed by a student or young professional creative early on that enable them to identify the issues at work and addre...