LESSON 2

EMPATHY
WHAT IS IT

• em·pa·thy: the intellectual identification with or vicarious experiencing of the feelings, thoughts,
or attitudes of another

• you can think through the experience of another by understanding it completely

• you can feel what another is feeling by immersing yourself completely in an experience

HOW YOU WILL USE IT

•need finding: discovering people’s explicit and implicit needs so that you can meet them
through your designs

•need: a physical, psychological or cultural requirement of an individual or group that is missing

or not met through existing solution

Types of needs

MEANING- stories created to make sense of the experience

USE - the work to be accomplished

USABILITY- access to the use

WHY IT IS IMPORTANT

• you want to design something that will be used by people

• to design something that people will use, it has to fill a need and fit into their lives

• to design something meaningful you need to understand their lives, their behavior, their
beliefs

WHAT TO seek out

•people are sense making….so get their stories

•notice the odd ball, the one who does not fit into the situation (and go talk to him/her)
•notice the master, someone who breezes through the situation (and go talk to
him/her)

•body language and non-verbal cues

HOW TO SEEK

Attitude

• this is not about you. you want to design for others, and you don’t know what
you don’t know. that means, you want to learn everything you can about them.

• respect: each person is an expert in his/her own life. treat each person and
his/her viewpoint with respect.

• beginner’s eyes: view an experience as though it were your first time

encountering it (pretend you are visiting from a foreign country). what is
“normal” behavior