Empathy is the first step in the design thinking process, and it is one of the most important steps in the process. In the empathy mode of the process, one would observe; watch people and note their behavior in the specific context you are looking at. This skill is so important because it allows designers to understand and share the same feelings that others feel.

Empathy is extremely important because through empathy we are able to put ourselves in other people’s shoes and connect with how they might be feeling about their problem, circumstance, or situation. In the article, “Six Habits of Highly Empathetic People”, it explains that understanding others’ feelings and their perspectives, people can use that to their understanding in order to guide their actions (KRZNARIC). This understanding can guide designers through the design thinking process.

The lack of empathy can lead to product failure, so it is very important to understand why understanding empathy is crucial to designers in the design thinking process. In the article, “What is Empathy?”, it talks about how having empathy doesn’t necessarily mean that we would want to help someone in need. But it is often seen as a vital first step forward toward a compassionate action. This action could be observing and understanding someone in your design thinking process in order to create a product that will do well if the audience or product tends to the specific consumers feelings.

Empathy is important in the design thinking process because it can be deemed at essential to business solutions. The reason why is because empathy is the ability to sense other people’s emotions as said in the article, “What is Empathy?”. So, when looking into things in the perspective of product empathy is very essential to business solutions. As a designer you need to gain insights about your users if you want to remain relevant in your market. That is another explanation as to why empathy is very important to the design thinking process.

To explain further, empathy is the first stage in the design process. It is crucial for designers, particularly within design thinking, because it allows designers to uncover and understand the needs and emotions of people we design for. In this stage it allows designers to create solutions that meet all three parameters of what makes a product successful which are desirability, feasibility, and viability.

In conclusion, empathy and design thinking are extremely vital for designers to have an understanding of in order to do design thinking process. Without the knowledge of what empathy is and how to view things from other people’s perspectives designers won’t be as successful. Products are more profitable if there is knowledge about your users you are designing for in order to remain relevant in your market. Products begin to fail greatly when people’s needs are unmet. So, that is why it is important to know what empathy is in the design thinking process.