Empathy In UX(E-S theory) => User Experience — Day 16
1.0 Recap
Yesterday, I looked at the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and how it translates to design. One major takeaway from this is that one should satisfy the basic needs of users before thinking about the higher needs. Here is a recap.
2.0 Empathy In UX(E-S theory)
I started reading a book titled “The Design of Everyday Things” by Don Norman. This book was recommended by my mentor and I think it’s a must-read for anyone interested in smart designs of products and services they intend to create. I also studied Empathy in UX.
The dictionary meaning of Empathy is “the ability to understand and share the feelings of another”. In design, empathy is understanding a problem from another’s point of view, and focusing on the person when creating a solution.
“Empathy is the heart of design”
Before we dive into empathy design, let’s look at the E-S theory or better still the Empathising–Systemising theory. This theory classifies people based on how they think.
2.1 Empathising Quotient(EQ) => This has to do with feelings. It means as a person, you can understand and tell how people are feeling. This is usually People Oriented.
2.2 Systemising Quotient(SQ) => This way of thinking is analytical. A person with this type of thinking is always asking how things work, the person seeks to understand and build systems. This is usually Technology Oriented.
Studies have shown that women have higher EQ than men while men have higher SQ than women. This means that women are better at understanding from users’ perspective 😎.
Improving empathy of your team can improve the user experience of your designs.
3.0 Empathy Design
Two of the assignments given while I was doing this lesson were:
- What does empathy design mean?
- Why do we need empathy design?
Empathy design is focusing on the user’s needs when designing a product or a service. You understand whatever problem you are trying to solve from the user’s point of view.
We need empathy design to gain a really deep understanding of user’s needs thereby learning from them. Also, we become better designers when we engage in empathy design.
4.0 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🙂.
