empathy from Greek empatheia (from em- ‘in’ + pathos ‘feeling’) People often confuse the words empathy and sympathy. Empathy means ‘the ability to understand and share the feelings of another’ (as in both authors have the skill to make you feel empathy with their heroines), whereas sympathy means ‘feelings of pity and sorrow for someone else’s misfortune’ (as in they had great sympathy for the flood victims).
Last week we looked at project planning and considered some of the aspects of design thinking in the project development process: The design thinking process consists of five stages: empathising, defining, ideating, prototyping and testing. Empathising relates to direct interaction with users. The ideation phase includes brainstorming and generating solutions, while the prototype phase implies rapidly making numerous prototypes.
Design thinking reveals a perspective that is deeper than the obvious benefits of the products and services offered to customers. It encompasses digging down to understand the behaviour, thoughts and attitude of users. Collins, H. (2018). Empathy. In Creative research : the theory and practice of research for the creative industries (2nd ed.) (pp. 62-66). London : Bloomsbury Visual Arts.
You can use empathy to try and better understand your audience or intended users. Once you have an idea who your intended users are, you can begin by observing them, listening to them, speaking with them and documenting their feedback.
margaret_mead_valitool_samoal
4 Phases of Research in Empathy 1) Discovery — The process of discovery begins with identifying and approaching your intended users. The aim of this phase is to identify the behaviour of your intended users and discover some of the reasons that influence their behaviour and the way they work/interact with technology/produce or consume information. 2) Immersion — Try and step into the shoes of your intended user, see how they understand their work and the immediate world around them. Try and feel what they feel when they interact with technology.
3) Connection — After immersion try and reconnect with your intended user, to share insights, to learn more from their perspective. 4) Detachment — After a process of immersion and sharing, it’s important to detach and to understand your intended user’s experience from some distance. https://www.qed42.com/blog/how-empathy-works-in-design-thinking
We also need to identity ‘needs’ which can be human, emotional or physical necessities. These ‘needs’ will help define your design. One way of ensuring you focus on the problems to solve and not leap straight to creating a solution is to remember that needs are verbs (activities and desires with which your user could use help), not nouns (solutions). You can identify needs directly out of the user traits you note, or from contradictions between two traits such as a disconnect between what they say and what they do. You can then write these on your empathy map.
Designers normally test prototypes with users to evaluate solutions, but you can also gain empathy through prototyping, bringing forth different information than simply interviewing and observation might. Of course, whenever you test with a user you should consider both what you can learn about your potential solution and what you can learn about the person - you can always use more empathetic understanding. Collins, H. (2018). Empathy. In Creative research : the theory and practice of research for the creative industries (2nd ed.) (pp. 62-66). London : Bloomsbury Visual Arts.
The following basic tips can help in creating an interview which inspires a rich, honest discussion, rather than a closed confirmation of things you already know.
INTERVIEW TECHNIQUES: Ask why. Even when you think you know the answer, ask people why they do or say things. Never say ‘usually’ when asking a question. Instead, ask about a specific instance or occurrence, such as ‘tell me about the last time you… Encourage stories. Whether or not the stories people tell are true, they reveal how they think about the world. Ask questions that get people telling stories. Look for inconsistencies. Sometimes what people say and what they do are different. These inconsistencies often hide interesting insights. Pay attention to nonverbal cues. Be aware of body language and emotions. Don’t be afraid of silence. Interviewers often feel the need to ask another question when there is a pause. If you allow for silence, a person can reflect on what they’ve just said and may reveal something deeper.
image: glassdoor.com/behavioural-interview-questions
Don’t suggest answers to your questions. Even if they pause before answering, don’t help them by suggesting an answer. This can unintentionally get people to say things that agree with your expectations. Ask questions neutrally. ‘What do you think about new films?’ is a better question than ‘Don’t you think new films are great?’ because the first question doesn’t imply that there is a right answer. Don’t ask binary questions. Binary questions can be answered in a word; you want to host a conversation built upon stories. Make sure you’re prepared to capture. You should use a voice recorder - it is impossible to properly engage a user and take detailed notes at the same time.
image: nevertherightword.com
Once you have an idea of your intended user’s needs from undertaking interviews and recording observations, you can start to focus your findings by using some of the following techniques: image: seek.co.nz
Developing a persona, The persona method, which is an ethnographic method of data collection, can help identify the user’s needs and desires. Personas represent a ‘character’ with which client and design teams can engage and use efficiently in the design process.
1. Personas:
User personas are realistic representations of your typical users. A persona usually includes key characteristics like challenges, motivations, personality, demographics, uses for your product, and a potential scenario. This helps you to empathize and understand what an ideal experience for each of your different user groups might be.
Defines when, where and how the story takes place. The scenario is a narrative that describes how the person behaves as a result of a series of events.
Defines who the story is about. The users’ attitudes, motivation, pain points and goals. 2. Scenario:
3. Goal: Defines what the persona wants or needs to do. The goal equals the motivation of why the persona has the need and what they want to achieve.
Stakeholder map,
Rapid prototyping
This is an experimental phase, and the aim is to identify the best possible solution for each of the problems identified during the first three stages. The solutions are implemented within the prototypes, and, one by one, they are investigated and either accepted, improved and re-examined, or rejected on the basis of the users’ experiences.
The rapid prototype is a quick formation of visual and experiential manifestations of concepts. It can assist in determining which solutions are technologically possible. Prototypes can be created and quickly tested using this method. It can thus support communication in multidisciplinary teams in collaborative settings, such as workshops, by facilitating conversations and feedback regarding solutions for a particular product or service. Rapid prototyping is a form of research because by undertaking a prototype you will have a better idea of what is feasible and where the challenges lie in your concept. They can also generate quick ideas to immediately improve the design and obtain direct feedback.