This document discusses the design thinking process of empathizing. It explains that empathizing involves understanding users by observing them, engaging with them, and experiencing their perspective. Methods discussed include conducting interviews, creating empathy maps to understand users' thoughts and feelings, using camera studies where users document their experiences, and assuming a beginner's mindset to understand users without biases. The goal of empathizing is to translate observations into insights about users' needs in order to design products and services that improve their lives.

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Session2: Design thinking
Converting Need into Demand

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Design Thinking : The Process - Empathize
DEFINE IDEATE
PROTOTY
PE
TEST
SHOW
DON’T
TELL
EMPA
THYZE

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Design Thinking : The Process

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Empathize: Why ?
•As human centered designer, you need to
“understand the people” for whom you are
designing
•Problems that you try to solve are “rarely
your own” - they are those of particular
users
•In order to design for your users, you must
build “empathy” for who they are & what
is important to them

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Empathize: Blind man vs DVD player
- 3mins video-
VS

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What do you:
•See?
•Want to ask him?
Empathize: Blind man vs DVD player

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•Watching what people do
and how they interact with
environment gives you clue
about what they think & feel
•Understanding the clues
will give you insight that
will lead you to innovative
solutions
Empathize: angry passengers - delayed
flight video – Sriwijaya Air vs Brussell Air

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•Observe: View users in their
behaviour in the context of their lives
•Engage: Interact with & interview
users through both scheduled & short
‘intercept’ encounters
•Immerse: Experience what your user
experience
Empathize: How ?

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The mission : translate observations into insights and
insights into product and services that will improve
lives.

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Empathize: Methods & tools
Assume a
beginner’s
mindset : Why ?
•We all carry our experiences, understanding, & expertise with us.
•These aspects of ourselves are incredibly valuable assets to bring to
the design challenge – but at the right time, & with intentionality.
•Our assumptions may be misconceptions & stereotypes, & can
restrict the amount of real empathy we can build.
•Assume a beginner’s mindset in order to put aside these biases, so
that you can approach a design challenge afresh.

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Empathize: Methods & tools
Assume a beginner’s mindset :
How ?
•Don’t judge. Just observe & engage users without the influence of value
judgments upon their actions, circumstances, decisions, or “issues.”
•Question everything. Question even (and especially) the things you think you
already understand. Ask questions to learn about how the user perceives the
world. Think about how a 4-year-old asks “Why?” about everything. Follow up
an answer to one “why” with a second “why.”
•Be truly curious. Strive to assume a posture of wonder & curiosity, especially
in circumstances that seem either familiar or uncomfortable.
•Find patterns. Look for interesting threads & themes that emerge across
interactions with users.
•Listen. Really. Lose your agenda & let the scene soak into your psyche.
Absorb what users say to you, & how they say it, without thinking about the next
thing you’re going to say.

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Empathize: How to use ” What, How & Why ” ?
Set-up: Divide a sheet into three sections: What?, How?, & Why?
Start with concrete observations:
•What is the person you’re observing doing in a particular situation or photograph?
•Use descriptive phrases packed with adjectives & relative descriptions.
Move to understanding:
•How is the person you’re observing doing what they are doing?
•Does it require effort? Do they appear rushed? Pained?
•Does the activity or situation appear to be impacting the user’s state of being either
positively or negatively?
•Again, use as many descriptive phrases as possible here.
Step out on a limb of interpretation:
•Why is the person you’re observing doing what they’re doing, & in the particular way that
they are doing it?
•This step usually requires that you make informed guesses regarding motivation & emotions.
•Step out on a limb in order to project meaning into the situation that you have been
observing. This step will reveal assumptions that you should test with users, & often uncovers
unexpected realizations about a particular situation.

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Empathize: User Camera Study –> Why ?
•In empathy work, you want to understand your users’
lives, & specific tasks within the context of their lives.
•A User Camera Study allows us to understand a user’s
experience by seeing it through their eyes.
•It also allows you to understand environments to which
you might not normally have access.

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Empathize: User Camera Study – How ?
1. Identify subjects whose perspective you are interested in learning more about.
2. Briefly explain the purpose of the study, & ask if they would be willing to
take photographs of their experiences. Get permission to use images they take.
3. Provide a camera to your subject & instructions such as:
•“We would like to understand what a day in your life feels like. On a day of your
choosing, take this camera with you everywhere you go, & take photos of experiences
that are important to you.” Or, you could try:
•“Please document your [morning routine] experience with this camera.” Or,
•“Take pictures of things that are meaningful to you in your kitchen.”
Frame your request a little broader than what you believe your problem space
might be, in order to capture the surrounding context. Many insights can emerge
from that surrounding space.
4. Afterwards, have your subject walk you through the pictures & explain the
significance of what they captured. Return to a good empathetic interviewing
technique to understand the deeper meaning of the visuals & experience they
represent.

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Traditional VS Design Thinking?

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Empathize: IDEO METHOD CARD video
- 3mins video-

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Empathy Map

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Using the Empathy Map
framework you will process what
happened in the interview,
make inferences about the
thoughts and feelings of the
person based on what they said,
and connect the dots to identify a
need or problem he/she has
related to the challenge.

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SAY section. Write down here all the quotes from the interview
that catch your attention as you review your notes. Be as literal
as possible (as opposed to rephrasing what they said in your own
words).

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Do :
DO section (optional). If you observed the person in action,
describe here behaviors you saw. You can also
combine interview and observation, by asking the person to
walk you through what they are doing.
**Note that you may not have anything in this section if you
did not have the chance to do observations**

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THINK and FEEL sections. Here is
where you will make inferences
(educated guesses) about the
meaning of what the person said.
What if you are wrong? You
may very well be, but if you don’t
take a leap and make inferences,
you won’t get at deep unexpected
needs. At later stages in the
process you will get more data that
will allow you to refine your
understanding and definition of the
problem.

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STAKEHOLDER needs a way to ________(PROBLEM/NEED)____ Because ____(INSIGHT)_____

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STAKEHOLDER: Here you should describe the person you
are designing for (one you interviewed).
Use at least 5 adjectives to describe that person.
Make sure you add enough information to paint a picture
of the person to someone who has not met him/her
(“A detailed-oriented, reliable, degree-holding accountant,
who is curious and able to work in teams, as well as
collaborative and creative”).

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PROBLEM/NEED: Use VERBS instead of NOUNS to
define the problem/need.
Nouns are often already solutions: as an example,
contrast “Joe needs a better pencil” with “Joe
needs a better way to write” or “Joe needs a better
way to capture data.”
In the first case the solution is already implied in
the problem statement, so there is only
opportunity for incremental innovation. In the
latter frames, there is an opportunity to come up
with innovative solutions that may go beyond an
improved pencil.

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INSIGHT: Here you provide a justification for the need you
stated. The insight often comes from connecting the dots
between different elements on the empathy map.

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Business Model Generation

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Next week’s class assignment: Empathize
•Get insight from your local street food vendors
•Who are they ?
•What issues do they face & Why ?
•How can you help them?
Each team: Present 10mins
sharing of street vendor
interview, findings on
•Vendor’s background
•Key issues faced
•Proposed solutions

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Define

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IDEA must “fail”..
to be continued

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Before it can be
succeed...

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Dare to make mistakes?
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Idea?

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@WisnuDewobroto : ASSUMPTION = RISK!

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Idea?

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THANK YOU