Empathize

Design Thinking

• Emphasize

  • Define

  • Ideate

  • Prototype

  • Test

Stage 1: Empathize—Research Your Users' Needs

The first stage of the design thinking process allows you to gain an empathetic understanding of the problem you’re trying to solve, typically through user research. Empathy is crucial to a human-centered design process like design thinking because it allows you to set aside your own assumptions about the world and gain real insight into users and their needs.

• • Have one person serve as lead for asking questions

  • Ask 'why' questions in follow up to get stories

  • Give the interviewee the time to respond

  • Avoid framing questions to get your desired response

  • Don't end responses early, by asking the next question or follow up questions

It is important to take notes without opinion or without outside influence or judgement (past experiences or comments from people outside the targeted users). It is about gathering as much information as possible about your target group feels, issues, and needs. Be sure to ask 'why' to avoid only gathering the tip of the iceberg responses and to reach potential root issues. Please remember, even though they may be telling you what they need, it does not mean that will be the product/service we create or the root issue.

Observation and asking why makes you find out what people really do and need. Your observation can be completed through interviews, watching consumers, and taking pictures. The idea is to capture individuals in their environment.

• • People do not always do what you think they do.

  • People do not always do what you tell them to do.

  • People do not always do what they think they do.

  • People do not always do what they say they do.

Steve Jobs, former CEO of Apple, and Henry Ford, creator of the assembly line and Ford and both said it best about why learning about our consumers is more than asking questions:

• "It's really hard to design products by focus groups. A lot of times, people don't know what they want until you show it to them." ~ Steve Jobs

• "If I’d have asked my customers what they wanted, they would have told me ‘A faster horse’." ~ Henry Ford

Practice - Why do students have a hard time staying engaged

• You are attempting to figure out why students have a hard time staying engaged in class.

• Our goal is to promote a method for helping students to succeed in class by staying engaged.

• Create a list of potential questions you would want to ask (note: these are questions to launch the interview, but you may not get through all of your questions as other questions may arise)

• You will conduct several observations:

  • 2 interviews

  • Pictures (ask for permission first; photos will not be posted or distributed)

• Have one person lead with questions, though others can ask follow up questions, and have a different person record all responses.

• Keep responses separate for each interview (we will develop personas later)

• Ask 'why' questions versus agreeing with them

• Do not interrupt the interviewee

• Do not pass judgement, opinion, or jump to conclusions

Complete and bring to class on scheduled due dates. You may print your work in our classroom prior to coming to class. Assignments can be submitted early, but late assignments will not be graded. Early or on time submissions may be returned for corrections in order to receive points, meet minimal requirements, or to improve your grade. Late assignments can be submitted for correction and to complete modules. Consideration for grade is given to those who complete all assignments.

All activities can be found above or in the Vocab document in the Resource section.

Where and Why do they Buy

You are attempting to figure out where and why students purchase food after school; either on campus or off campus. The goal is create a product that we can sell to students after school. Complete the following to get points.

• Create a list of potential questions you would want to ask (note: these are questions to launch the interview, but you may not get through all of your questions as other questions may arise)

• You will conduct several observations:

  • 4 interviews

  • Pictures (ask for permission first; photos will not be posted or distributed)

• Have one person lead with questions, though others can ask follow up questions, and have a different person record all responses.

• Keep responses separate for each interview (we will develop personas later)

• Ask 'why' questions versus agreeing with them

• Do not interrupt the interviewee

• Do not pass judgement, opinion, or jump to conclusions

• While keeping the interview information separate, we will also create one master list of all responses and observations.

• • https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/topics/design-thinking

  • https://postcron.com/en/blog/10-amazing-marketing-lessons-steve-jobs-taught-us/

  • https://miro.com/blog/introduction-to-empathy-maps/