d.

hasso plattner
Coach

Coach #

Institute of Design at Stanford

EMPATHY
FIELDGUIDE

d.
Empathize

Empathy is when you can feel what another person

is feeling. Empathy is the foundation of a human-
centered design process; by deeply understanding
people we are better able to design for them.

To empathize, we:
Immerse: Experience what your user experiences.
Observe: View users and their behavior in the context
of their lives.
Engage: Interact with and interview users through
both scheduled and short ‘intercept’ encounters.

Empathize to discover people’s expressed and latent

needs so that you can meet them through your
design solutions.

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Journey Map Understand People
Through observation and interviews, we can build a
picture of our users’ motivations based on what they
say, do, think, and feel.

<<< OBSERVE INFER >>>

You can directly observe what people say and do. The
job of the designer is also to infer what they think and
feel. This will help you undestand the deeper meaning.
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 Examples of questions you
Observation
Technique: What?|How?|Why?
might ask after s/he draws “This is a sharp turn-
the journey map. around. Talk to me about
how you are feeling right
This simple scaffolding allows you to move from now as you get ready to
concrete observations of a particular scene to thinking board”
about the more abstract emotions and motives that
are at play in the situation. “Tell me about the
pretzel shop. Why did
Divide a sheet into three sections: you have a feeling of
What?, How?, and Why? guilt? Why pleasure?”

1 What is the person you’re observing doing in a

particular situation? Note the obvious as well as the
surprising. Just report the objective facts.

2 How is he doing it? Does it require effort? Does

he appear rushed? Pained? Happy? Is the activity
impacting the user in either positive or negative way?

3 Why is he doing what he’s doing, in the way he’s doing

it? This step usually requires that you make informed
guesses regarding motivation and emotions. This
step will reveal assumptions that you should ask users
about, and often uncovers unexpected realizations.

“This is the first down-

turn after feelings getting
better over time. Tell me
“You started off low. about that.”
Can you recount the
story there? What
happened before this?”
CC photo: flickr/@Saigon
4
Empathy Tool: Journey Map
You can initiate a different type of conversation by
asking the interviewee to create something that
represents how they experience an issue or a journey.
An effective form of this is a journey map. Ask the
person to sketch their journey of a specific event
or timeline. Asking them to draw an emotional arc
will spark their memory about feelings and give you
entry point to talk about very specific moments and
inflection points.
The most important thing is that you talk about what
s/he draws. Think of the sketch as your opening to a
deep conversation.

“Could you plot out your emotions from arrival at the

airport until now? And label some points on the graph.”

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Observation
Technique: What?|How?|Why?
Who are your extreme users?

1. List 3-5 aspects of your project.

2. Then write a number of options for who is extreme
What is the person doing? in each of those aspects.
(what are the observable facts?)

How is the person doing that?

(what emotions and techniques are present?)

Why is the person doing that? in that way?

(what inferences can we draw?)

6
Extreme Users
Extreme users are people who are extreme in
some aspect related to your project. Because
extreme users’ behaviors and feelings are
amplified, they help you notice nuances and
develop insights. Engage with extreme users
to discover remarkable insights that help you
understand the larger population.

The extreme could be a consistent attribute or a

temporal situation. For example, for an air travel
design challenge, extremes might include:
- A family with young children flying
- Someone who is scared of flying
- Someone who uses the wheelchair services
- A foriegner who doesn’t speak the local language
- Someone who commutes by plane
- Someone with a short connection time
- Someone with oversized or precious baggage

CC photo: flickr/chloester

14
How to interview?
Have a conversation.

Be human.
Seek stories.
Talk about feelings.

Anatomy of an interview
Explore
Emotions

Evoke Follow-up
Stories & Question
Statements

Build Thank &

Rapport Wrap-up

Intro
Intro Project
Yourself

time

Adapted from Michael Barry

8
 Be human: build rapport
Interview tips
Introduction: introduce yourself and your project in way
Don’t suggest answers to your questions: Even if they that is comfortable to you. Try something like:
pause before answering, don’t help them by suggesting “We’re in a Stanford design workshop. We’re doing a
an answer. This can unintentionally get people to say project on the __________ experience. Could we talk to
things that agree with your expectations. Ask questions you for a few minutes?” Exchange names.
neutrally.
Kickoff: shift the focus to your user.
“How are you doing today?” (and actually listen).
Don’t be afraid of silence: Often if you allow there to be
silence, a person will reflect on what they’ve just said Build trust: offer something of yourself. Be affirming.
and say something deeper.
“Tell me a little bit about (your experience today . . . , how
you use . . . , what you think about . . .)”
Look for inconsistencies: Sometimes what people say
and what they do (or say later) are different. Gracefully
Seek stories
probe these contradictions.
Evoke specific stories to learn about what your
Be aware of nonverbal cues: Consider body language interviewee does, and more importantly, thinks and feels.
and emotions. We are talking about the past and present, not the future.
“Can you tell me about the first time you ______?
Stay on the same path of a question: Respond to what
What do you remember about that (day)?”
your interviewee offers and follow up to go deeper. Use
simple queries to get him to say more: “What was your best/worst/craziest/most memorable
“Oh, why do you say that?” experience with (area of focus).”
“What were you feeling at that point?”
“Could you tell me story about a time . . .”
ASK “WHY?” “What would I find surprising about . . .”
“What is the reason for that?”
Talk about feelings
“Walk me through how you . . . (made that decision,
completed that task, got to a place, etc.). What were you
thinking at that point?”
“Why do you say that? . . . “Tell me more.”
“How did you feel at that moment, when ____ happened?”
“Could you tell me why is that important to you? What
12 And remember to take thorough notes! >> emotions do you have (about that)?”
 2. On this page, rewrite your questions to be open-
Interview preparation ended and neutrally-stated — and organize them into
Do this now: a conversation arc. Think of your questions not just as
1. On this page, quickly list a bunch of potential topics to cover, but as ways to get people to share.
questions to ask, covering a number of different
aspects of the topic. Build rapport

Understand your user

Dig for stories and emotions

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(Remember, this is just a guide. Let the conversation flow.)