Introduction to Empathy in UX

6 min readJun 15, 2022

Imagine you walk into a new coffee shop, and the barista takes one look at you and says, “You’ll have a medium-sized latte, no sugar!” Then proceeds to run the order and asks for payment. If by chance you like your coffee that way, you’d be pleased, and might even tip the barista. But if you don’t take your coffee that way, you’d be livid. “Do you expect me to pay for that?” “How dare you serve me coffee without first asking how I like it?”

As designers, this is exactly what we do when we create products based on our assumptions. We’re basically shooting aimlessly and hoping it hits our target.

I understand how easy it is to think of ourselves as potential users when working on products we are familiar with. Say you’re designing a mobile app for ordering food online, you might think to yourself: “I love ordering food online and I know a lot about food delivery apps, so that makes me a user, right?”

Wrong!

The phrase “you are not your user” is an axiom in the UX design community for a reason. You cannot be a user of a product you are designing. Your mere involvement in the creation of the product, means you have biases that can affect your objectivity: You want your clients to be satisfied, your company to be successful, and your team to be happy.

But your users are not concerned with all those. Rather, they are more focused on their own needs and desires. So to create meaningful designs, it is imperative that you get to understand these users, anticipate what they’ll need, and provide them with the tools they need when they need them.

And how do we do this? By empathizing with the users.

What is Empathy?

Simply put, empathy is our ability to see the world through other people’s eyes i.e. to see what they see, feel what they feel, and experience things the way they do. Sure, we’ll never truly be able to experience a product through someone else’s eyes. But we can strive to get as close to this as possible.

To achieve this empathic state, we need to set aside our own assumptions and biases and focus on understanding the ideas, thoughts, and needs of others instead. And this is done through user research, which kicks off the design process and is carried out throughout the entire process.

User research here refers to ethnography, which is the study of humans in their culture. We are not just seeking opinions, but want to understand our users in their natural environment.

Why empathize with users?

To replace your assumptions and biases about the users’ needs with actual insights
Understand the true needs and priorities of your users
Understand the context in which your users will interact with what you are designing
Create a mental model of how the users see the world
Learn how real people use language to ensure the app/site reflects their own voice.

How to empathize with users

Ask a lot of questions: Curiosity is a core part of empathizing with users. Don’t assume that you know the wants and needs of your users. Instead, ask questions. Open-ended questions like what, how, and why are particularly useful here. When a user says something that is particularly interesting or somewhat unclear, say, “Tell me more.”
Practice active listening: Pay careful attention to what is being said by the user you’re interacting with. This is not the time to give your input or think of a response to what they’re saying.
Be observant: Focus on the whole user, not just what they are saying. Do their eyes light up when they talk about an experience? Are they hesitant to share certain information? Are there signs of frustration when they talk about an experience? These subtle signs contain more clues than their words.
Be open-minded: Identify your biases and set them aside before speaking to the user. Ignore any urge to relate something the user has said to your own experience, as this can cause you to unwittingly introduce certain biases that might skew their responses.

Best Research Practices

Here is a checklist of some of the best practices to ensure you stay on course while carrying out your research:

Set realistic expectations: To ensure a successful study, set the expectations upfront for everyone involved. This includes the methods to be employed, the questions to be answered, and the decisions to be reached based on the findings. Get to know what your team members and managers hope to achieve from the study. Also, tell them what to expect.
Phrase questions correctly: What is the big question you are trying to answer (goal of the project)? Conducing research is pointless if you can’t clearly state what you want to find out and why you need to.
Be prepared: For a smoother workflow, ensure that you get your materials and process in order before you start:
(i) Collect supplies — computer, list of questions, pencil, and paper, and a voice recorder (if necessary)
(ii) Research the users — learn what you can about the people you’ll be talking to
(iii) Script interview questions
(iv) Practice asking the questions
Take notes: You want to be sure that you accurately capture every important information:
(i) Highlight compelling quotes
(ii) Take notes that reflect the natural language the participants use
(iii) Document observations — the participants’ body language, facial expressions, moods, etc.
Allow enough time for analysis: After doing your research, don’t just rush off to start creating solutions without giving yourself enough time to digest the information. Taking time to analyze the data at this stage can save you lots of time in the future.

What questions to ask

The questions you ask should be based on your research goals. For example, if you’re are designing an app that helps people order food from their local restaurant, here are some sample questions you can use:

Tell me about yourself (age, occupation, family status)
Walk me through a typical day in your life
How do you plan your daily meals?
How often do you order meals from restaurants? Which ones?
What’s the motivation/reason?
How do you decide where to order food from?
What device(s) do you use when ordering food?
Can you tell me about your last meal ordering experience? What stood out for you?
What are the challenges you face (or have faced) when ordering meals online?
Feel free to share any comments/suggestions you think will help make ordering food more enjoyable for you and others.

What to do with the data you collect

Having spoken to a representative sample of your target audience, you now have a ton of data to work with. Next, you need to analyze the data to find themes. These include common behavioral patterns, user needs and priorities, and mental models.

You can use an affinity diagram to distill the patterns and insights from the data gathered. The affinity diagram will help create visual clusters around user types. These can then be converted into personas that can guide you throughout the design process.

Conclusion

The importance of empathy in our job as designers cannot be overemphasized. It is especially important within the field of design thinking, as it allows us to truly understand the needs of the people we design for.

So, as UX designers, it is crucial that we begin every design project by empathizing with our users.