EMPATHY PHASE

Lesson 2
 LEARNING OBJECTIVES

1. Explain the importance of empathy in design thinking

2. Conduct user interviews based on empathic interview guidelines
3. Identify user insights, themes, and patterns
 SUBTOPIC 1
Empathy Overview
 This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA-NC

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA

Empathy is our ability to see the world through
other people's eyes, to see what they see, feel
what they feel, and experience things as they do
“No one could understand why
you’d want to have that thing
on your face, in the way of
normal social interaction.”
1. Observe – view users and their behaviors in the context of
their lives
2. Immerse – experience what users experience
3. Engage – interact with and interview users
“What?” • Detail your observations

• Analyze how users do things (e.g.

“How?” with difficulty)

• Make educated guess about user’s

“Why?” emotions and motivations
Conduct interviews with empathy
 SUBTOPIC 2
Empathic Interview
 ✖ “usually”,
Get stories!
✓ “tell about the last time”

Ask “why?”

Ask open-ended, non-leading questions

Follow their lead

Don’t be afraid of silence

Pay attention to non-verbal cues

Go for feelings and emotions

Take notes!
Poor interview question
• Interviewer: “Do you like swimming?”
• User: “No”
• Interviewer: “How about tennis?”
• User: “No”
• Interviewer: “I play tennis. You should try it. Have you ever
thought about try tennis?
• User: “No”
Good interview question
• Tell me about delightful moments you experienced when you
went biking.
• Show me how you use your scheduling app.
• When was the last time you used your phone?
• What features did you consider when you bought your last
laptop?
If you’re stuck, ask:
• Why?
• Why did you do/say/think that?
• Really? And why was that?
• Can you say more about that?
• Tell me more
• And what were you feeling then?
 Remember, the goal is to uncover as much
insight as possible—not to confirm or negate a
preconceived notion.
1. Interview Preparation
Think about what user group
you want to involve, how to
recruit them, where the
interviews should take place,
and how you will record data
from the interview.
2. Recruiting Participants
You want to ensure that you
recruit a representative
sample of users for your
interviews.
3. The Interview Guide
Your interview guide is your
script for the interview.

If something comes up that is

not on the script during the
interview, you can explore the
idea on the fly.
• Make sure you begin by explaining the purpose of the interview
– what are you trying to achieve?
• Explain how the person’s data and any data you collect will be
used from the interview.
• Try to keep leading questions to a minimum. A good question is
“Do you use instant messaging?” rather than “How often do you
use Snapchat?”
• Keep it reasonably short. The majority of the time spent should
be the interviewee talking and the team listening.
If you find something interesting takes place in
an interview and there are no questions, on the
script, to explore that idea… explore it anyway.
Feel free to amend the script for future uses.
• Always have a beginner’s mindset.
• Suspend your judgments and keep an open mind.
• Be fully present. Show each interviewee they are the most
interesting, person you have ever met.
• Interview in pairs. One can ask questions whilst the other
takes notes.
• Explain how the person’s data and any data you collect will be
used from the interview.
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC
User Persona
Fictional character
representing users that
might use your design in
a similar way
• Behavior patterns
• Attitudes
• Skillset
• Motivations
• Goals
User Persona
Empathy Map

Said Thought

USER

Did Felt
Journey Map
• Timescale
• Scenarios
• Touchpoints
• Channels
• Thoughts / feelings