Empathy In-depth => Design Thinking — Day 14
1.0 Recap
Yesterday, I wrote about the benefits of design thinking. I gave some personal examples that highlighted these benefits. You can check it out here.
2.0 Empathy In-depth
Today, I studied in-depth about empathy, one of the stages of design thinking. In Day12, I talked a little bit about these stages.
When someone asks, how do you empathize with users? As a designer, you empathize with users when you:
- appreciate them as human beings
- see their world
- understand their feelings
The 5 stages of design thinking are not done sequentially i.e it can take any order since it’s an iterative process, but most design projects begin with the empathizing phase.
2.1 User-Based Studies(using photo and videos)
This means you can take photographs and make videos of users you are designing for. You can do these recordings while the users are experiencing the problem you are trying to solve.
2.2 Conducting Interviews With Empathy
I think this is a common one being used to capture user’s empathy. Talking directly to the people you are designing for, and being mindful of how they respond to your empathetic questions might be the best way to capture their needs. These questions must show genuine empathy which is why designers need to think about the right questions to ask.
2.3 Sharing Inspiring Stories
Storytelling is a great way to inspire people. This will allow users to connect with you as a designer and then open up about the problem or issue they are experiencing.
2.4 Engaging Extreme Users
“Why Extreme Users Boost Your Innovation”
When you are gathering information about users you want to or are designing for, you need to also think about extreme users, think about different people that will benefit from your solution. Engaging extreme users allows designers to think deeply about the problem and gain another perspective about it.
3.0 Resources
The best way to learn is by asking questions and letting people know how you understand the topic. Feel free to leave a comment, we will definitely learn from it🙂.
