Empathize

Empathy Is Understanding Your User

Before you engage in this method, review what Empathy is in the Design Thinking process.

Ask yourself:

Who have you spoken to?
What are the most impactful, common challenges they experience?
How do your users think, feel, and act in relation to the challenges they face?
What have they already tried to solve their problem? How was it successful or unsuccessful?

Empathy Map - Why and How to Use It by Rikke Dam and Teo Siang (article). An overview and how-to of using an empathy map to understand the experience of your users.
Design Thinking Discovery and Empathy by U.lab (5:15). Overview of a list of useful methods.
How to Interview Your Customers by Customer Development Labs. Article and video of a powerful interviewing process.
Empathy Interview Example by mike yu (1:52). A very simple example of interviewing a friend about tiredness and sleep. This example goes hand in hand with their Ideation Example by mike yu (2:02) based on what they learned.
How to Find Business Ideas: The Ultimate Guide by Epicster (3:52). Ideas are everywhere so keep your eyes open for inspiration.
Empathy Map by Rich Crandall, The K12 Lab Wiki. A lesson plan that gives step by step instructions on how to use an empathy map.

Here are some common challenges and tips to better understand the experiences of your users.

Q: I’ve heard too many different experiences. How do I find common issues?
- A: Try Downloading Your Learnings from the IDEO Design Kit.
Q: I’m not getting the type of information I need from my user interviews.
- A: Try user interviews and stories using the open-ended questions from Customer Development Labs, How to Interview Your Customers.
- A: Try asking more questions that start with "How do you feel?", "What are you thinking when...", and "What do you wish would happen instead?"
Q: How many people should I interview?
- A: Try How many customers should I interview? by Customer Development Labs.

Dam, Rikke, and Teo Siang. “Empathy Map – Why and How to Use It.” The Interaction Design Foundation, 2018, https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/empathy-map-why-and-how-to-use-it.

Design Kit. “Download Your Learnings.” Design Kit, Ideo.org, www.designkit.org/methods/12.

Epicster. “How to Find Business Ideas - The Ultimate Guide”. YouTube video, 3:52. Posted [Jan 2014]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIsA1s9SwEU&feature=youtu.be.

Customer Development Labs. “How many customers should I interview?”. YouTube video, 2:28. Posted [June 2014]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwpPcfcMbMA.

U.lab. “Design Thinking Discovery and Empathy”. YouTube video, 5:15. Posted [Dec 2016]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sR888VZCk8.

Wilcox, Justin. “How to Do Customer Interviews.” Customer Development Labs, 4 Jan. 2017, http://www.customerdevlabs.com/2013/11/05/how-i-interview-customers/.

Yu, Mike. “Empathy Interview Example”. YouTube video, 1:52. Posted [Apr 2015]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QiLzTA0OR60.

Yu, Mike. “Ideation Example”. YouTube video, 2:01. Posted [Apr 2015]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Efz_HiY2EJ0.

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