Module II

Empathize
-Prof. Anushree Patkar
Agenda
• Design thinking phases

• Wicked Problems

• Role of Empathy in Design Thinking

• How to Empathize?

• Purpose of Empathy Maps

• Things to be done prior to Empathy Mapping

• Creation of User Personas

• Customer Journey Mapping

• Questions to be asked in Empathy phase

Jan 14, 2024

Design Thinking (DJ19ITC702) 2
Design Thinking Phases

Jan 14, 2024

Design Thinking (DJ19ITC702) 3
What is a Wicked Problem?
• A wicked problem is a social or cultural problem that’s difficult or impossible to
solve because of its complex and interconnected nature.
• Wicked problems lack clarity in both their aims and solutions.

• Wicked problems are problems with many interdependent factors making them
seem impossible to solve as there is no definitive formula for the problem.
• For example, how would you try to solve global issues such as poverty… or
education? What about climate change, and access to clean drinking water? It’s
hard to know where to begin, right? That’s because they’re all wicked problems.
• What makes them even worse is the way they’re intertwined with one another. If
you try to address an element of one problem, you’ll likely cause unexpected
consequences in another.
Jan 14, 2024
Design Thinking (DJ19ITC702) 4
 How to Solve a Wicked Problem?

• A Combination of Systems Thinking and Agile 5 Ways to Apply Systems Thinking and
Methodology Can Help You Tackle Wicked Agile Methodology in Your Work-
Problems
• Break down information into nodes
• Systems thinking is the process of and links.
understanding how components of a system
influence each other as well as other systems • Visualize the information.
—and therefore it’s pretty much perfect for
wicked problems! • Collaborate and include stakeholders
in the process.
• In an agile methodology, every iteration
incorporates feedback from the previous • Release solutions quickly to gather
release. This process can help you tackle continuous feedback.
wicked problems when it’s combined with
systems thinking. • Carry out multiple iterations.

Jan 14, 2024 Design Thinking (DJ19ITC702) 5

Example of a Wicked Problem
• The government was trying to expand and build more major roads in the
city of Abeokuta, Ogun State in 2013- so that innovative companies can
come in and establish their businesses, thereby generating more revenue
in the state.

Jan 14, 2024 Design Thinking (DJ19ITC702) 6

 Example of a Wicked Problem

• Wicked problems are: Example- Global Warming

• Unique and novel • Is it unique and / or novel?
• Difficult or impossible to solve
• Is it difficult or impossible to solve?
• Characterized by incomplete factors
and complex interdependencies • Is it characterized by incomplete
• Dependent on multiple stakeholders, factors and / or complex
often with conflicting interests interdependencies?
• Is it dependent on multiple
stakeholders with different interests?

Jan 14, 2024 Design Thinking (DJ19ITC702) 7

 What is Empathy? Need of Empathy
• Empathy is the art of stepping
imaginatively into the shoes of
another person, understanding their
feelings and perspectives and using
that understanding to guide your
intentions.

Jan 14, 2024 Design Thinking (DJ19ITC702) 8

Empathy is not easy
• Abandon your ego

• Adopt humility

• Be a good listener

• Hone your observation skills

• Care

• Be curious

• Be sincere

Jan 14, 2024 Design Thinking (DJ19ITC702) 9

 Role of Empathy in Design Thinking
Understanding • Empathy enables designers to gather iterative
• deep understanding of the end-users' emotions, Iterative Feedback and
Empathy in Design perspectives, and needs
feedback from users throughout the design
Co-Creation process.
Thinking

Uncovering Unmet • By empathizing with users, designers can

Identifying User • helps uncover hidden user needs that might not be
explicitly stated Needs and identify pain points, frustrations, and gaps in
Needs existing solutions.
Opportunities

• Empathy forms the core of human-centered • By understanding the emotions and experiences of
Human-Centered design, where users are placed at the heart of the Empathy as a Source users, designers can tap into their empathetic
Design of Inspiration understanding to generate fresh ideas and
design process alternative perspectives.

• By considering the broader social, environmental, and

Breaking • By actively seeking to understand the perspectives Ethical and ethical implications of design decisions, designers can
Assumptions and of different user groups develop solutions that are responsible, inclusive, and
Sustainable Design
Biases environmentally conscious.

• By actively seeking feedback, embracing user-

Emotional • When users feel understood and valued, they are Continuous centricity, and adapting solutions based on changing
Connection and more likely to engage with the product or service, Improvement and user needs, organizations can stay ahead of the curve
Engagement leading to increased satisfaction and loyalty Innovation and drive ongoing innovation

Jan 14, 2024

Design Thinking (DJ19ITC702) 10
 How to Empathize?

Photo and Video Personal Photo Interviews

User-based and Video
Studies Journals

Engaging with Bodystorming

Extreme Users

Jan 14, 2024 Design Thinking (DJ19ITC702) 11

Interviewing – Quick Guide

Identify a topic for conversation Start with easy questions and then draw out
specifics
Prepare your questions and recording equipment When asking a question be specific about the
occurrence. Ask “tell me about the last time you…?”
Determine the criteria for selecting interviews instead of “usually.…”

Identify people you want to interviews as SME’s Look for inconsistency- What people say and do
can be different things
Set a time and place for interviewing
Pay attention to non-verbal cues
Set a time and place for interviewing
Be non judgemental

Jan 14, 2024 Design Thinking (DJ19ITC702) 12

 Interview Process Whom to Interview

Jan 14, 2024 Design Thinking (DJ19ITC702) 13

Designing Without Empathy: Augmented Reality
Glasses

• Why doesn’t everyone wear

augmented reality (AR) glasses as
they go about their daily lives?

Jan 14, 2024 Design Thinking (DJ19ITC702) 14

 Empathy Maps
• An empathy map is a collaborative visualization used to articulate
what we know about a particular type of user.

• An Empathy Map consists of four quadrants. The four quadrants

reflect four key traits, which the user demonstrated/possessed
during the observation/research stage.

• The four quadrants refer to what the user: Said, Did, Thought,
and Felt.

• It’s fairly easy to determine what the user said and did. However,
determining what they thought and felt should be based on careful
observations and analysis as to how they behaved and responded to
certain activities, suggestions, conversations, etc.

Jan 14, 2024 Design Thinking (DJ19ITC702) 15

Example of Empathy Map
• What the user says: This includes direct quotes from user interviews, i.e., “It’s not clear
what I have to do after I log in.”
• What the user does: This refers to users' actions that have come out of testing sessions,
like instinctively clicking a button or leaving a page after a certain number of
minutes.
• What the user thinks: We can’t read users’ thoughts, so this requires some general
deduction based on context clues. For example, if they quickly abandon their cart, they
might be thinking, “This is too complicated for me.”
• What the user feels: Users don’t always articulate what they feel, but the other three
quadrants might tell you they’re feeling annoyed, frustrated, confused, etc.

Jan 14, 2024 Design Thinking (DJ19ITC702) 16

 Purpose of Empathy Maps

• Companies may build products, services, and experiences that better

Customer-centric approach fulfill the requirements and expectations of their customers by
collecting insights about their thoughts, feelings, and actions.

• Empathy mapping enables companies to better understand their target

Enhanced understanding audience by considering their viewpoints, desires, and pain areas.

• Mapping the user journey and emotions across touchpoints helps

identify potential pain points. By knowing these pain areas, businesses
Improved user experience may improve user experience and create more engaging and gratifying
engagements with their products and services.

Jan 14, 2024 Design Thinking (DJ19ITC702) 17

 Personas
• Personas are fictional characters, which you
create based upon your research to
represent the different user types that might
use your service, product, site, or brand in a
similar way.
• Creating personas will help you understand
your users’ needs, experiences, behaviors
and goals.
• It can help you recognize that different
people have different needs and
expectations, and it can also help you
identify with the user you’re designing for.

Jan 14, 2024 Design Thinking (DJ19ITC702) 18

Example of How to Make a Persona Description
• Hard facts

• Interests and values

• Use of the service/product

• A typical day

• Future goals

Jan 14, 2024 Design Thinking (DJ19ITC702) 19

Templates for Personas

Jan 14, 2024

Design Thinking (DJ19ITC702) 20
Things to be done prior to Empathy Mapping
• What do you want to achieve throughout the empathy mapping session? Are you
Step 1: Establish goals looking to improve the user experience of a particular product or service? Are you
trying to solve a problem, or identify new opportunities?

• Who is your target customer or user? What are their characteristics, behaviors, and
Step 2: Define your user attitudes?

Step 3: Gather your research • By using user interviews, observations, and surveys.

• Using research as a jumping-off point to explore the emotions, experiences, and pain
Step 4: Refine your empathy map points of your users.

• you can review and refine your user personas, create user flows, and adjust the overall
Step 5: Review and analyze product design strategy.

Jan 14, 2024

Design Thinking (DJ19ITC702) 21
Example of Empathy Mapping

Jan 14, 2024 Design Thinking (DJ19ITC702) 22

Case Study on Arcturus IV
• Arcturus is a star in a constellation.

• It is 33 light years from Earth. So, if you were to send the signal today from Earth, it would be
received 33 years later there.

• Case Study- Create a personal transportation for the Methanians.

• There, the atmosphere that they have is not oxygen rich but methane rich. So the people living
there are called as the Methanians or Methaniance. They have three fingers in each hand and three
eyes.

• So, they were very different from Earthlings, also, is their temperature, their average summer
temperature was -50° C and their average winter temperature is -110° C. Also, another thing to be
noticed is that their gravity is 11 times more than that of Earth.

• In terms of industrial evolution as well, they were probably lower in the ranking scale and few
people own what looks like a scooter to us.

Jan 14, 2024 Design Thinking (DJ19ITC702) 23

Customer Journey Mapping
• Nearly 70% of online shoppers • The customer journey is the series of
abandoned their carts in 2021. interactions a customer has with a
brand, product, or business as they
• Why would a customer spend become aware of a pain point and make
hours looking through a store a purchase decision.
and adding products to their
cart just to close the tab right at • A customer journey map is a visual
the last second? representation of the customer's
experience with a company. It also
• Understanding your customers' provides insight into the needs of
minds can be extremely potential customers at every stage of
challenging. this journey and the factors that directly
or indirectly motivate or inhibit their
progress.

Jan 14, 2024 Design Thinking (DJ19ITC702) 24

Customer Journey Stages
• In the awareness stage, customers have realized that they have a problem and a pain point to solve for. At this point, a
Awareness customer may not yet know that they need a product or service, but they will begin doing research either way.
Stage

• In the consideration stage, customers have done enough research to realize that they need a product or service. At this
point, they begin to compare brands and their offerings.
Consideration

• In the decision stage, customers have chosen a solution and are ready to buy.
Decision Stage

• In the retention stage, customers have purchased a solution and stay with the company they purchased from, as opposed
Retention to leaving for another provider.
Stage

• In the loyalty stage, customers not only choose to stay with a company — they actively promote it to their family, friends,
and colleagues.
Loyalty Stage

Jan 14, 2024 Design Thinking (DJ19ITC702) 25

 Steps for Creating a Customer Journey Map

Determine
Use Profile your Highlight the Take the
Set clear Make the
customer personas and your target List out all resources customer
objectives for necessary
journey map define their customer touchpoints. you have and journey
the map. changes.
templates. goals. personas. the ones yourself.
you'll need.

Jan 14, 2024 Design Thinking (DJ19ITC702) 26

What's included in a customer journey map?

The
User User
Buying Emotions Solutions
Actions Research
Process

What is customer What or where is the

thinking or feeling? buyer researching?

What is the customer ‘s How can we help the

action? buyer in his journey?

Jan 14, 2024 Design Thinking (DJ19ITC702) 27

Customer Journey Mapping Templates

Jan 14, 2024 Design Thinking (DJ19ITC702) 28

Example

Jan 14, 2024 Design Thinking (DJ19ITC702) 29

Types of questions to help build empathy for
people
Introductory • What does a day at work look like?

questions
• Can you tell me more about your role and responsibilities?

• For instance, “What does a day at work look like?” can be reframed as “How do you usually prioritize tasks during a
Follow-up typical day at work?”

questions
• Another example, if you hear, “I’m always putting out fires,” you can ask, “What are the consequences of that in your
workplace?”

Probing • Ask participants to elaborate on an answer with an example.

• Can you tell me more about that?
questions • What led you to that conclusion?

Interpreting • When you want to ensure you’ve understood a participant’s answer, you can ask interpreting questions.
• For example, if a user has told you they’d never buy from a specific brand again, you might want to clarify if the
questions decision was based on their shopping experience or the quality of the product or both.

Jan 14, 2024 Design Thinking (DJ19ITC702) 30

How might we questions

• How Might We (HMW) questions

is a technique for the problem
definition phase of design
thinking. It is a technique that
allows you to sift through all the
stubborn and rigid issues
discovered during the research of
the Empathy step and helps
to define solvable problems.

Jan 14, 2024 Design Thinking (DJ19ITC702) 31

 How might we questions
Start with the Problems (or • Problem: Users aren't aware of the full product offerings.
Insights) You’ve Uncovered • HMW: How might we increase awareness of the full product offerings?

Avoid Suggesting a Solution • Insight: Users are often unsure about which form to complete when they file their taxes.
in Your HMW Question • HMW: How might we make users feel confident they are filing their taxes correctly?

• Insight: Users often spend a long time checking their submission for mistakes.
Keep Your HMWs Broad • HMW: How might we support users to efficiently draft submissions that they’re happy with?

Focus Your HMWs on the • Problem: Users often call us because they’re unsure about the application process.
Desired Outcome • HMW: How might we make users feel confident they have all the information they need?

Phrase Your HMW • Problem: Users find the return process difficult.
Questions Positively • HMW: How might we make the return process quick and intuitive?

Jan 14, 2024 Design Thinking (DJ19ITC702) 32

Example of How might we questions

Jan 14, 2024 Design Thinking (DJ19ITC702) 33