Empathy Mapping: A Guide to Getting Inside a User’s Head

Source: UX Booth

“Well, as a user, I wouldn’t do that.”
“Our users aren’t going to worry about that.”
“It’s my project. I know what users think.”

We’ve all heard comments like this. These are phrases UX professionals do not say.

As designers, we are not the users. We don’t know what they would do or how they think. No amount of training or expertise tells us what is going on in users’ heads. We can research, observe, ask, and surmise. And when we take the time to better understand them, we can empathize.

Empathy is a critical part of human-centered design. There are endless conversations about its importance in user experience work, but few focus on how to help others achieve it. As researchers, when we experience a user’s struggle first hand, feel the frustration, and hear their words, we can’t help but empathize. But behind every UX’er is a team, a client, or a company CEO that wasn’t there. They don’t understand the users wants and needs. It is our job to help them–but how? Try empathy mapping.

UX professionals often face challenging situations where colleagues and stakeholders default to their own opinions and feelings and forget about the intended target audience. While an empathy mapping session won’t alter a company culture that doesn’t value user research, it can help focus participants on users by putting them “in their shoes” when interacting with a product or service.