{"id":1422,"date":"2019-09-30T12:27:20","date_gmt":"2019-09-30T12:27:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.chittlesoft.com\/blog\/?p=1422"},"modified":"2024-08-22T07:32:00","modified_gmt":"2024-08-22T07:32:00","slug":"design-thinking-empathizing-with-your-user","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chittlesoft.com\/blog\/design-thinking-empathizing-with-your-user\/","title":{"rendered":"Design Thinking: Empathizing with your user"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1428\" src=\"https:\/\/www.chittlesoft.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Blog-post-70.jpg\" alt=\"Design Thinking\" width=\"770\" height=\"342\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.chittlesoft.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Blog-post-70.jpg 770w, https:\/\/www.chittlesoft.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Blog-post-70-300x133.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.chittlesoft.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Blog-post-70-768x341.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.chittlesoft.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Blog-post-70-155x69.jpg 155w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 770px) 100vw, 770px\" \/><br><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Our previous blog covered <\/span><a class=\"blueunderline\" href=\"https:\/\/www.chittlesoft.com\/blog\/design-thinking-in-5-stages\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the 5 stages of Design Thinking<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> proposed by the&nbsp;<\/span><a class=\"blueunderline\" href=\"https:\/\/hpi.de\/en\/school-of-design-thinking.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hasso-Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford (d.school)<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. The underlying goal of this process is to help organizations keep up with the global movement towards a human-centered design (HCD) approach. Empathy is integral to the success of this model, and we\u2019ll be looking at that stage in more detail here.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><b>What is Empathy?<\/b><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Empathy is \u201cthe ability to share someone else&#8217;s feelings or experiences by imagining what it would be like to be in that person&#8217;s situation.\u201d <\/span><a class=\"blueunderline\" href=\"https:\/\/dictionary.cambridge.org\/dictionary\/english\/empathy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(source)<\/span><\/a><br><strong>Here\u2019s what it entails:&nbsp;<\/strong><br><iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/1Evwgu369Jw\" width=\"853\" height=\"480\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><br><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Simply put, empathy involves putting yourself in someone else\u2019s shoes. To successfully empathize with users, designers will need to shelve their own perceptions, beliefs, and biases. They will need to become listeners and show the user that not only have they identified their challenge, they understand it.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><b>Will it affect my product?<\/b><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Absolutely &#8211; how you understand and connect with your users\u2019 pain points will set the tone for your product. In the video below, AirBnB\u2019s Tina Baretto explains that designing with empathy means approaching a problem from a different space or angle. She goes on to say, \u201cit\u2019s amazing how innovative you can be if you\u2019re thinking outside yourself\u2026 by not designing for ourselves, we can incite better experiences.\u201d Empathy could, therefore, determine the success of your product.&nbsp;<\/span><br><iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/i3J00p2l2us\" width=\"853\" height=\"480\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h4><b>How can designers introduce empathy into their design process?&nbsp;<\/b><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There are various tools and methods that designers use, including the following:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>&nbsp;Empathy Mapping <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">is a popular choice. One of our Graphic and Experience Design experts describes how you can go about that <\/span><a class=\"blueunderline\" href=\"https:\/\/anadea.info\/blog\/empathy-mapping-for-design-thinking\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">here<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is what the process might look like, and how you can use empathy mapping to break out of the box.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/QHFzIG99jvw\" width=\"853\" height=\"480\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Storyboarding <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">is another way to understand the customer experience better. Sketch the journey one step at a time. It will help you isolate the challenges that come up, and the decisions your user is likely to make along the way. It\u2019s a great exercise for the team to work on together, to get everyone on the same page.&nbsp;<\/span><\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1423\" src=\"https:\/\/www.chittlesoft.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/60sf_storyboard.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\"><br><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201960 second films \u2013 storyboarding\u2019 by Paul Logan<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Empathy Interviews <\/b>give you access to points you may not otherwise consider. <a class=\"blueunderline\" style=\"background-color: #ffffff;\" href=\"https:\/\/webdesign.tutsplus.com\/articles\/techniques-of-empathy-interviews-in-design-thinking--cms-31219\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Lorca Lokassa Sa<\/a> compares them to a doctor\u2019s appointment. In that scenario, you are the user being observed, while the doctor is the researcher. The doctor has to be a skilled interviewer and an unbiased, attentive listener whose job it is to make the right diagnosis and recommendation. To get useful insights, you will need to select your interviewees carefully, plan your questions well, be engaging in your delivery, and encourage honest responses. For inspiration, check out this creative explanation of what it means to demonstrate empathy to your users.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/XcYrvvu2ElM\" width=\"697\" height=\"392\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><br><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Such tools and methods point to the fact that it takes a significant amount of thought and careful research to understand your user. The Chittlesoft team can help you out with that, so drop us a quick message <\/span><a class=\"blueunderline\" href=\"https:\/\/www.chittlesoft.com\/contactus.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">here<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">!&nbsp;<\/span><br><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Our next blog will cover stage 2 of the design thinking process: defining the problem.<\/span><br><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Many of our customers come to us in search of a good creative branding agency or digital design studio in Pune and then find all the design services they need under one roof. Learn how we use&nbsp;<\/span><\/i><a class=\"blueunderline\" href=\"https:\/\/www.chittlesoft.com\/solutions.html\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">our design expertise<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&nbsp;to supplement your resources!<\/span><\/i><br><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Key Sources:<\/span><\/i><br><a class=\"blueunderline\" href=\"https:\/\/dictionary.cambridge.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">https:\/\/dictionary.cambridge.org\/<\/span><\/a><br><a class=\"blueunderline\" href=\"https:\/\/dribbble.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">https:\/\/dribbble.com\/<\/span><\/a><br><a class=\"blueunderline\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Our previous blog covered the 5 stages of Design Thinking proposed by the&nbsp;Hasso-Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford (d.school). The underlying goal of this process is to help organizations keep up with the global movement towards a human-centered design (HCD) approach. Empathy is integral to the success of this model, and we\u2019ll be looking at [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":1428,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[101],"class_list":["post-1422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-design","tag-designs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chittlesoft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1422","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chittlesoft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chittlesoft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chittlesoft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chittlesoft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1422"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.chittlesoft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1422\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7305,"href":"https:\/\/www.chittlesoft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1422\/revisions\/7305"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chittlesoft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chittlesoft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chittlesoft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chittlesoft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}