E N G R . R O S E LY N L . B A L A • Design Thinking cannot begin without a deeper understanding of the people you are designing for. • In order to gain those insights, it is important for you as a design thinker to empathize with the people you’re designing for so that you can understand their needs, thoughts, emotions and motivations. EMPATHY • the ability to grasp what is going on in someone’s head • a smart entrepreneur should know empathy when dealing with people • without empathy, an entrepreneur will not be able to connect with his or her customer and even his/her employees Customer/Empathy Plans Customer Empathy is understanding the underlying needs and feelings of customers.
• Entrepreneur utilize customer
empathy to create products that not only help users accomplish a task but also fit into their overall workflow and lifestyle.
• Having customer empathy means
seeing them as “people” and not just “users.” Process of Empathy Plans 1. Sit in and talk with your customer (interview) Make time to interface with a real person and not just their words on a screen. Even in casual conversations, we can gather additional information that gives us a far better sense for the customer feelings If these conversations can happen in person, you get the added benefit of reading their facial expressions and body language. These subtle clues don’t come through on an email or question posted in a forum, but they can tell you plenty about how a customer is feeling Process of Empathy Plans 2. Ask users about their problems, not for solutions Customers often have good ideas, but it’s not their job to come up with your product strategy. Instead of asking them what they want, delve into where they’re at right now. What are they trying to do, what’s standing in their way, what bothers them, what delights them. It’s your job to get feedback from multiple sources and synthesize it to make decisions. Letting an individual customer prescribe a particular implementation will only result in a product that makes one person happy. Process of Empathy Plans 3.Dive into the data Analyze the data you’ve gathered during interview. Understand the trends about their feelings and problems
4. Contsruct an Empathy Map
a simple, easy-to-digest visual that captures knowledge about a user’s behaviors and attitudes. It is a useful tool to helps teams better understand their users. STEPS IN CREATING EMPATHY MAP Step 1: Establish Focus and Goals • Who is the person for the map? • This is the user who you want to understand and empathize with. Summarize his or her situation and role. If you have multiple personas, each one will need their own map. • What is the desired outcome? • This is what you hope the user will do. What does success look like? For example, what does he or she need to do differently or decide? While the exercise is about building empathy and not selling or designing anything, answering this question helps focus participants and set context for the activity. STEPS IN CREATING EMPATHY MAP Step 2: Capture the Outside World Start by examining the user’s experience and imagine what it is like to be her. Complete the sections of the map to capture what she sees, says, does, and hears. What does she SEE? What is she encountering in her daily experiences? These could be people, their activities, or things. What are the people around her doing? What is she watching, reading, and exposed to in her environment or the marketplace that could influence her? Consider alternative products and services or something the competition is doing. Remember this is her world, not yours, so don’t assume that your company or product is commanding her attention.What does she DO and SAY? STEPS IN CREATING EMPATHY MAP Step 2: Capture the Outside World What are her behaviors and how does she conduct herself? What is her attitude and what does she say? This may change depending on where she is, who she is with, or is nearby. Attitude can be actions towards others or how she conveys something. If applicable, note how her behavior has changed recently or changes in a public versus private settings. What does she HEAR? What is the user hearing and how is it influencing her? Consider personal connections with family, friends, and coworkers along wth what is being said in the media by bloggers, social media influencers, and experts in fields. Focus on things that impact her thinking—not superfluous information streams. Influencers should focus on the people, things, or places that influence how the user acts. STEPS IN CREATING EMPATHY MAP Step 3: Explore inside the mind What does she THINK and FEEL? What matters to the user that she is thinking about it? Consider positive and negative sides of thoughts. What makes her feel good or bad? What does she worry about or what keeps her up at night? Her mind is exploring paths and possibilities as she considers doing or trying something. How does she feel? Frightened? Excited? Anxious?
Next, explore the specifics of her pains and gains. What does success and failure look like? Capture frustrations and challenges, the obstacles that stand in her way. What goals and dreams does she have? Gains are what she aspires to achieve or have.. EXAMPLE OF CUSTOMER EMPATHY MAP
This is Janelle who loves to
drink cofee. Base on conducting an interview this is the map created to emphatize her needs and wants What is a User Persona? User personas are representations of y o u r t a r g e t customers. Creating user personas involves researching and outlining your ideal customer’s goals, pain points, behaviour, and d e m o g r a p h i c information. • Whether you’re developing a smartphone app or a product, it’s very important to understand who will be using the product. In order to solve a real user problem, you need to have a clear problem statement in mind; in order to write this problem statement, you first need to understand your users and their needs. What to include in a user persona? Usually, a persona is presented as a one or two-page document with a description that includes the following attributes:
• Persona name and photo. Do not use real names or photos
of people you know because they will bias the objectivity of your personas. Remember that the persona should be realistic but fictional, not real. • Demographics. Age, education, family status. • Interests. What gets your persona excited and what are they most into. What to include in a user persona? • Future goals. The goals that the persona wants to achieve. It might include health goals (like cutting down on unhealthy eating habits) and academic goals (like being dean’s lister or colege scholar in the next few years). • Frustrations. Pain points that the user has (for example, the user might have troubles using a product because they aren’t very tech-savvy). • Context-specific details. Information about the persona that has a direct impact on product design. For example, if you design an eCommerce website (shopee), you might want to include a persona's purchase behavior. EXAMPLE OF USER PERSONA ACTIVITY # 2 CREATION OF CUSTOMER EMPATHY MAP AND USER PERSONA • The activity will be done in groups (5 groups). Create an Empathy Map and user persona. Conduct an interview to the ISU students (female and male customer ) identifying their needs and wants. Construct an empathy map and user persona for your ideal male and female customer base on the information you have gathered during the interview.Prepare a presentation (PPT) on thursday to discussed your user person and emathy map. Refer to the videos below for your guide in doing the activity. • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkKf3Mhszww • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwF9a56WFWA E N G R . R O S E LY N L . B A L A Technical Skill- Graduate of BS Agricultural Engineering, Board Passer, Attnded Seminar about Hydroponics by DOST, NC2 holder
