Design Thinking: Methods & Tools
Empathize
What to look for in the data you gathered:
OBSERVATIONS
Descriptions of things that could be seen.
Example: “35 students have breakfast in the
dining hall before 11 am”
ENT 200: Design Thinking: Methods & Tools
Ideate
Define
FINDINGS
Interesting things you learn about your
participants based on direct observations
or what they said. Findings help put
all the data in buckets, and people in
categories. These can be facts, issues,
needs, likes, dislikes, goals, etc.
Example 1: “Some students like to wake up at
11 am just before their first class”
Example 2: “Most students who wake up at
11 am don’t like to interact with other students”
Prototype
Test
Stanford d.School (2012)
INSIGHTS NEEDS
Inferred and deep understanding of Activities and desires with which people
something that explains the WHY behind need help. Needs are verbs, not nouns
a finding. One way to identify insights is (solutions). Needs help give direction to
to identify “tensions”, “contradictions”, the design process as they inform design
and “surprises” in what interviewees say decisions.
and do.
Example: “Students need to have breakfast”
Example: “Students wake up just before class
because they don’t like interacting with other
students”
1
Contextual Interviews

What is it?
Contextual interviews are conducted to gain a
deeper understanding of people’s environment,
how they see the world, and specifically about
their feelings and thoughts on the problem
you are working on. This approach provides a
window into their general experiences, intents,
motivations, values, perceptions, and struggles.
Contextual interviews are more effective when
they are combined with observations because
practical demonstration of something (e.g. how
to do a task, how to use a product) reveals
many steps and nuances that are absent from
verbal accounts. People take obvious details for
granted, forgetting to mention them. To conduct
these interviews, you go to the interviewee’s
environment (e.g. dining hall, dorm).
How is it done?
1. DEFINE TOPICS & INTERVIEW GUIDE:
As a team, outline a list of assumptions, topics
or issues you want to explore during the interview
that will help you gain a better understanding of
the problem. Determine a specific order or a flow
in which you will approach each topic but you
don’t need to write exact questions (unless you
would find that useful).
2. RECRUIT PARTICIPANTS: Avoid
interviewing your best friends! It will be harder
to ask unbiased questions. It is best to interview
friends of friends or just strangers.
Data you should gather from interviews:
When you are interviewing your
goal is to capture what you see
and what each participant says
as accurate as possible. Write
what you see and hear without
paraphrasing.
Aim to elicit many words from
your interviewee: about things
they like, dislike, feelings and
emotions, goals, motivations,
struggles, stories, what makes
them happy or sad, and why,
what they do everyday, etc.
Interview in pairs and/or record
each session!
VAGUE FIELD DETAILED FIELD NOTES
NOTES Aim for this level of detail in your notes!
'Yes. Well, 'Yes, well, I think with task two it was
I don't know.' slightly easier, because it was my field,
and I knew the associations that are well-
She doesn't respected. But with medicine I don’t
know the know… I don’t know the important bodies
answer. of, you know, the important medical
organisations, so, I don’t know for sure
which ones to look at'.
The mall is Sunday 4:30 pm
crowded and I'm standing next to computer store from
cold. where I can clearly see the information map.
The mall is crowded, most people are
families with young children (3-7 years old).
Families seem relaxed, some stop to look at
the "information map", others already seem
to know where they are going.

3. FOLLOW BASIC INTERVIEW STRUCTURE (30-45 min):

1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Introduce Ask Initiate Ask in-depth Ask to unpack Wrap Thank
Yourself demographic conversation questions to stories & for specific up person!
questions with general understand what they examples
questions think and feel about
Gender, hometown,
class (junior, senior, About their life, what the problem Ask WHY!
etc.), major, etc. they do, how they
are feeling, etc.
Ask for STORIES!
This is the core of the interview!
ENT 200: Design Thinking: Methods & Tools 2
Empathy Maps
Empathy map examples
What is it?
An Empathy Map is a tool to help
synthesize and categorize data
gathered from observation and
interview notes (so verbal and non-
verbal cues) into pre-determined
activities. In each empathy map,
you cluster data from across all
participants of a study that show
similar needs, goals, challenges,
and ways of thinking about a given
problem (so even if the data doesn’t
come from the same person).
ENT 200: Design Thinking: Methods & Tools
How is it done?
1. CREATE TEMPLATES: Divide a page into six
sections. Think big: the size of each template should be
big enough for each team member to put a sticky note
inside each section.
2. LABEL AND NUMBER EACH SECTION with an
activity. Numbering each section gives an explicit order
to the sequence of activities your team will examine.
3. REVIEW RESEARCH DATA AND POPULATE
each section using participant’s actual words.
See “BOX 1” for help on how to populate each section.
1.SAY 2. DO BOX 1: USE THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS TO
POPULATE EACH ACTIVITY:
SAY
• What did you hear the participant specifically saying?
• Which expressions, phrases or words did the participant
use frequently?
• What do they say about the problem you are exploring?
6. CHARACT.
DO
Look for both conscious and unconscious actions.
3. GOALS
Picture or
• What actions and behaviors did you notice?
Drawing • What was the participant doing?
• What activities did the participant enjoy?
• What specific things did the participant do daily?
• What behaviours did you notice?
GOALS
• What were the participant’s dreams and hopes?
• What was the participant trying to get done?
• How did the participant measure success?
• What results was the participant trying to achieve?
5. FEELINGS 4. PAINS
CHALLENGES OR PAINS
NEEDS & INSIGHTS • What were the participant’s fears?
• What were the participant’s frustrations?
• Was there anything that was painful for them to do?
Empathy map template FEELINGS
Emotions cannot be observed directly. You must infer them
by paying careful attention to various clues: e.g. body
language, facial expressions, tone, choice of words.
• What emotions might your subject be feeling?
• How did the participant feel?
4. A
 DD A PICTURE OR DRAWING to represent the • How did the environment affect the participant’s feelings?
emerging user and increase empathy. • How did the participant deal with their feelings?
• Were their feelings manifested somehow through their
body language or the tone/pace/volume of their voice?
5. INTERPRET MAPS. After populating all activities of
each template, each resulting empathy map represents CHARACTERISTICS
a group of participants that shares those similar feelings • Who are them? (gender, age, class, major, etc.)
and goals. These similarities may or may not respond to
their demographic characteristics.
6. IDENTIFY NEEDS & INSIGHTS. Read each empathy
map and infer what needs and insights emerge. Write
them down on the bottom of each empathy map.
3
Personas

What is it? Persona Name

Picture or
Personas are fictional profiles created to divide the Quote
Drawing
participants from a study based on similar needs. Each
persona combines similar perspectives on a conscious or
unconscious need. Each persona represents a synthesis of 1 Characteristics & Interests (e.g. mostly Freshmen, male, love sports, or love
characteristics, needs, likes and struggles of different COS, etc.)
people you have interviewed, rather than one actual
person.

How is it done?
1. R
 E-READ YOUR EMPATHY MAPS. Each empathy 2 Behaviors (e.g. how much they study, socialize, interact with others, wakes up
map represents a Persona as it provides psychographic early, late, eats alone or with friends, etc.)
information (interests, attitudes, goals, values, struggles,
etc.) about your participants.

2. P
 OPULATE PERSONA TEMPLATE. Populate
each dimension with a couple of sentences or bullet
points based on findings from your research. Write
directly on the sheet or use the post-it notes if you have a
big template. 3 Motivations or Goals (e.g. become a doctor, have many friends, be a good
student, etc..)
The goal of each persona is to clearly show their specific
needs in relation to the problem you are working on.
The more details you add, the more direction you would
have during idea generation, and the more others will
empathize with them.

3. A
 DD A NAME & VISUAL. Give each persona a name
and a “face” that summarizes their needs and who they 4 Needs & Struggles (e.g. need to feel less stressed, need to deal with pressure,
Each empathy map represents a Persona
would represent. need to make more friends, need to feel included, etc.)

4. A
 DD A QUOTE. For each persona, include a direct
quote (extracted from your data) to illustrate their
essence and add authenticity.

Persona template: Each Persona represents a segment of the

target audience that share similar needs and behaviors

ENT 200: Design Thinking: Methods & Tools 4

Affinity Diagram

What is it?
Use this tool to organize research data or ideas generated
during a brainstorming session. Ideas and data with similar
meaning or referring to similar topics are sorted and
clustered into groups, creating categories or themes.

How is it done? 
1. EXTRACT DATA. Write on individual post-its one idea,
interesting words or expressions from your research notes
(write big and clear not small!). Put all post-its on a wall or
whiteboard so each team member can see them.

2. O
 RGANIZE POST-ITS. Rearrange sticky notes, and
put those with related meaning together in columns
or clusters. Repeat these steps until all sticky notes are
included in a cluster.
When working with a team, a possible starting point is
for each person to choose the three ideas they find most
interesting and put them up as the first elements of a
cluster. Then each person looks for other post-it notes
with similar or related ideas. Post-it notes with ideas or
observations that fit in multiple places should be written
again for each cluster.

3. IDENTIFY THEMES. Once all sticky notes are

organized, read each column or cluster; combine any
columns with similar ideas or meaning. Each resulting
column or cluster is a theme. At the end of the process,
you should have four to six main themes.
Define a headline or concept that represents the main
idea of each theme. If you have many more (like 10
themes), re-read post-its within each theme to determine
whether they are unique and distinctive enough. Too
many themes often indicate overlapping meanings that Affinity diagram examples
can be merged.

ENT 200: Design Thinking: Methods & Tools 5

Four Quadrants Matrix

LONELINESS

PRACTICAL CREATIVE

PERSONA’S
Four Quadrants matrix examples NEEDS

2. PLOT IDEAS: Plot post-its with ideas in each quadrant, Four Quadrants template: Plot your team’s brainstorming session ideas
according to where they fall along the spectrum. This sorting step in each quadrant according to where they fall along the spectrum.

What is it? should be done together with your team. Discuss ideas if you are
unsure where they should fall. Write, combine or change any idea Idea Idea Idea Idea
Use this tool to organize ideas generated during a brainstorming as you see fit!
session. The matrix is based on sets of specific dimensions: Idea Idea Idea Idea
HORIZONTAL AXIS: level of creativity, and VERTICAL AXIS: degree of 3. EXPLORE AND DISCUSS IDEAS: Once all ideas are
connection with project topic and persona’s needs. plotted, analyze and rank them in each quadrant, to determine Idea Idea Idea
which ones have a balance between creative and practical
thinking, and also address persona’s needs and the overaching Idea Idea
How is it done?  problem. Ideas that fall in the middle of the matrix are more likely
to address all project criteria.
1. C
 REATE MATRIX: Divide a whiteboard into a 2x2 matrix with
opposing dimensions on each end of the spectrum of each axis: 4. SELECT AND DEVELOP: Narrow down ideas to two or three
•V
 ERTICAL AXIS: Loneliness (top) / Persona’s needs (bottom) that the team can start working and developing design concepts.
•H
 ORIZONTAL AXIS: Practical (left side) / Creative (right side) Write one sentence to summarize each selected idea.
ENT 200: Design Thinking: Methods & Tools 6
Storyboards

What is it?
A storyboard is a visual way to communicate ideas, concepts,
and stories to team members and stakeholders by introducing
context and presenting a realistic scenario. Key people, moments,
tasks or steps described in a scenario are represented by drawings
or collages, and put together as frames in a narrative form.

How is it done?
DEFINE IDEA IN DETAIL: As a team, determine key aspects
of your idea responding to the 5Ws and H questions:
• WHO: Who is the main character (this is your Persona!), and who are the
players that would be involved in your idea?
• WHAT: What is the idea about: a service, a product, an experience, etc.?
• WHERE: In what settings or locations would the idea occur or be manifested?
• WHEN: Is there a specific timeframe in which the idea would be used or https://sidlaurea.com/2015/10/30/collectively-thinking-design/
occured? Storyboard template: Create 4 or 6 frames depending on how much details you
• WHY: In which way this idea would mitigate the problem? Clearly indicate want to add to the story. Add a title and short description for each frame to help
how the idea would address the problem and respond to your intended you tell the story.
persona’s needs.
• HOW: In which way would your audience interact or be part of the idea?

DEFINE SCENARIO: Describe a specific moment in which

your intended persona would interact with or use your idea.
Determine key elements that would be involved in that experience,
and how it can be told in 4 or 6 frames.

DRAW SCENARIO AS FRAMES: Follow this structure to

help you illustrate each key component of your idea:
•F  RAME 1: Introduce the idea in a nutshell (what + why)
• FRAME 2: Introduce the intended persona in a nutshell (who/s)
• FRAMES 3-6: Explain how the idea would work using the scenario as an
example and including visual cues to establish context and setting, and
adding details (where, when + how). This is the meat of your storyboard!

Give the storyboard a title, and develop a narrative that

Storyboard examples
complements and explains the drawings to share your storyboard
with others. But don’t overthink it – it’s impressive how much you
can communicate in just a few minutes of drawing!

ENT 200: Design Thinking: Methods & Tools 7

User Journey maps Persona!

Post-its

Pfizer Finland Vaccines | Digital Strategy Workshop

Mapping the Vaccination Journey

Title
STAGE 1
PRE-VACCINATION STAGE 2
VACCINATION STAGE 3
POST-VACCINATION

1. Identify
activities
chronologically

2. Identify
people
involved

3. Identify
touchpoints

4. Identify
pain points

5. Identify
magic points

6. Identify gaps
/ unknowns

https://yzoedesign.wordpress.com/2013/05/06/user-journey-map-based-on-experience-prototyping-may-6/

User journey map examples User journey map template: The columns represent main stages in the
journey. The rows represent different types of activities, interactions, and
people involved in the journey, and how the intended audience feels at each
stage in the journey while interacting with your idea. Populate the last three
rows with data gathered after you have tested your idea. The squares represent
post-its which can be colour-coded as needed.

What is it? How is it done?

A User Journey Map is a visual representation of a persona’s
interactions with an idea (e.g. journey through a service, the
use of a product or the emotions of an experience) plotted
chronologically. Journey maps can be created to:
• Illustrate an ideal scenario. These maps are based on what
you think would happen from when a persona first would
become aware of the idea to when they would stop using it,
showing all the different points of contact in the journey.
• Illustrate research findings. These maps are based on real
data after you have tested the idea.
DEFINE SCENARIO: Based on everything you have learned so
far about your intended persona, think of a scenario in which they
would interact with or use your chosen idea. Define as many details
as you can about that interaction: when, where, why, what, how, who.
TO CREATE THE JOURNEY MAP:
1. Identify a persona’s points of view, experiences and emotions
about the scenario’s main subject.
2. Identify and define broad steps that a persona goes through
in that scenario to achieve their goal. Use these to create the
journey’s general structure.
3. Identify activities and plot them chronologically as a sequence
(timeline), following the general structure you created.
4. Simultaneously, identify people involved in the journey and at
each step, and any:
• Touchpoints: instances where a persona interacts with your
idea to achieve their objectives
• Pain points: challenges or struggles a persona faces along the
way when interacting with your idea
• Magic points: parts of the idea that worked well for a persona.
5. After mapping all this data as a sequence (this could involve
parallel tracks), identify any gaps and unknowns. These are parts
of the journey that are unclear and parts where you would like to
learn more and explore further.
6. You can add images or visuals to personalize the journey and
facilitate empathic engagement.

ENT 200: Design Thinking: Methods & Tools 8