Empathy Mapping
A visual tool to understand and articulate users' thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, fostering user-centered design.
What is it?
Empathy Mapping is a collaborative visualization tool that captures what users say, think, do, and feel, helping teams gain deeper insights into user experiences and perspectives.
When to use it?
Use Empathy Mapping during the early stages of the design process, after initial user research, to synthesize findings and build a shared understanding of user needs among team members.
Why use it?
It fosters empathy within the team, aligns stakeholders on user perspectives, and uncovers insights that inform user-centered design decisions, ensuring the final product resonates with its intended audience.
How to use it?
Create a four-quadrant map labeled Says, Thinks, Does, and Feels. Populate each quadrant with observations from user research, capturing direct quotes, behaviors, thoughts, and emotions to build a comprehensive user profile.
How not to use it?
Avoid making assumptions without user research data, neglecting to involve cross-functional teams, or treating the empathy map as a one-time activity rather than a living document to be updated as new insights emerge.
Resources
Want to dive deeper, check these out:
+ Empathy Mapping: A Guide to Getting Inside a User's Head - UX Booth+ Empathy Maps and How to Build Them - UXmatters+ A Complete Guide to Empathy Mapping for Beginners - DesignlabSimilar UX Methods
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