An empathy map helps understand user needs by synthesizing clues about a user's words, actions, thoughts, and feelings. The empathy map has four quadrants for what the user says, does, thinks, and feels. Researchers collect quotes and observations to populate the "say" and "do" quadrants, then interpret the user's potential thoughts and feelings based on these. Examining any surprising, contradictory, or intriguing insights leads to articulating the underlying user needs.