#9 Empathize - Lecture 01 | Design Thinking - A Primer

Main ideas / lessons (Design Thinking Module 1: Empathize)

• Empathize is the central “heart” of design thinking.

  • The goal of this stage is to understand what people are truly experiencing by putting yourself in their shoes (“figuratively” entering their mindset).

• Empathy requires perspective-taking, ideally done as a team.

  • Approach it as two roles:
    • One person observes.
    • Another person goes through the experience (roles can be swapped).
  • Doing it alone is possible, but creates double work.

How empathy is demonstrated (two IDEO-style case examples)

Example 1: Emergency room patients (healthcare / trauma context)

• Problem focus: Emergency room care is urgent, but designers wanted to understand what patients actually experience.
• Method used:
  • A team member wore/positioned a camera near their temple to record the experience as if they were a patient.
  • The person was wheeled in from an ambulance, moved through the process in the emergency room while the video recorded continuously.
• Key insight:
  • When the patient “watched” the experience via the recording, the video showed that patients mostly see the roof/ceiling, while staff actions occur beyond that view.
• Implication:
  • The insight becomes a problem direction: if patients primarily see the roof, solutions could aim to reduce the drama/trauma by improving that visible environment and experience.

Example 2: Senior citizen medication access (day-to-day healthcare)

• Problem focus: Help an elderly person’s daily life needs (not an emergency).
• Initial approach that didn’t reveal needs:
  • Calling first and asking what’s wrong often yields “I’m fine.”
• Empathic observation method:
  • Designers visited the person’s home and asked permission to observe while she continued daily life (acting like “bugs on the wall”).
• Key observed need:
  • The person had arthritic/crooked fingers and struggled with a childproof medication bottle.
  • Instead of normal opening, the bottle required pressing from the top while rotating.
  • Unable to perform that action, she used a hacksaw to cut the bottle’s neck to retrieve medication.
• Implication / design requirement:
  • Empathy revealed a hidden usability problem.
  • A solution should:
    • Help adults with limited hand strength/mobility.
    • Still maintain child-resistant behavior (so children cannot easily open it).

Why observation matters (needs are often not verbally expressed)

• The lecturer argues that asking alone can miss real needs because:
  • People who need help may not be able to articulate it.
• Therefore, empathy often requires direct observation + visual methods that don’t rely heavily on language.

Methodology introduced: Customer Journey Mapping (visual, sticky-note technique)

What it is

• Customer journey mapping is presented as:
  • Simple
  • Visual
  • Interview-based
  • Often built using sticky notes that can be moved/edited as understanding improves
• Purpose: map the entire journey of the customer, including actions and emotions over time.

How it is built (step-by-step)

1. Create a customer “persona”

   • Choose a specific person (often fictional) with:
     • Age range (keep it specific, not overly broad)
     • Geography/location (helps shadow/track real customers)
     • Role/context (e.g., “30-something working mom”)

2. Define the journey phases

   • Break the timeline into phases such as:
     • Before
     • During
     • After
   • Add more steps later; the lecturer suggests starting with at least a few.

3. List what the person does in each phase

   • Capture concrete activities chronologically.
   • Tip: use one sticky note per step so it stays readable and rearrangeable.

4. Capture emotional status per step

   • Mark emotions using simple symbols:
     • Smiley face (happy)
     • Sad face / low point (sad, stressed, uncomfortable)

5. Start from imagination + team input

   • First draft can come from:
     • your own assumptions/experience,
     • teammates’ insights,
   • Arrange chronologically.

6. Validate/adjust with real fieldwork

   • Go to the field and interview real customers.
   • Compare what you assumed vs what you learn.
   • Add new sticky notes or correct the journey where necessary.

7. Extract insights and decide what to solve

   • Pull out pain points and use guiding questions:
     • Is the problem broad enough to generate multiple solutions?
     • Is the problem narrow enough to avoid being overwhelmed?
     • Is it something you’re skilled enough to tackle (can you make an impact)?

8. Update the map iteratively

   • As new observations arrive, reposition/move/add sticky notes and refine understanding.

Lecturer’s own customer-journey example: “Mrs. Meena” commuting by bike (helmet/scarf)

• Concern observed: People take steps to protect from dust/heat/sun but often don’t wear a helmet.
• Journey structure used:
  • Before: packing lunch, getting kids ready, then preparing for riding (scarf, helmet).
  • During: commuting in traffic (sun/dust/heat exposure).
  • After: parking bike safely, then removing scarf/helmet.
• Observed/assumed barriers in the map:
  • Difficulty wearing scarf and helmet together.
  • Heat → sweating.
  • Perception/myth about sweating leading to hair loss.
  • Dust exposure concern for illness.
  • Parking/heavy bike handling issues.
• Outcome: these become design opportunities to improve commuting experience and safety behaviors.

Additional example of journey mapping (student case)

• Middle-aged mother with a child seeking a public toilet/bathroom in a city.
• Demonstrated that journey maps can be:
  • generic or highly detailed, including
  • multiple steps during the journey,
  • emotional state throughout,
  • a “before/during/after” structure.

Generic guidance emphasized

• Use specific age + specific geography to make the map actionable.
• Don’t crowd the map—use sticky notes per step and rearrange during team discussion.
• Keep the process manageable: initial mapping can be based on imagination, then refined by real interviews/observation.
• Empathy outputs are used to select problems worth solving, based on scope and your ability to create impact.

Speakers / sources featured

• The lecturer / instructor (unnamed in subtitles)
• IDEO (Design Thinking firm; referenced via their cases/videos/blogs)
• Case subjects described from the stories:
  • Emergency room patient(s) (recorded via camera simulation)
  • A senior citizen woman in her mid-60s (medication bottle case)
  • “Missus of me” / “Mrs. Meena” (fictional persona created for the lecturer’s example)
  • “A middle aged mother with a child” (student’s persona example)
• A student (credited with discovering the hair-loss perception/sweating connection in the helmet example)