Over the last decades, due to the ongoing transition related to the globalization and product standardization within the world market, respective products have gradually began to look similar. Additionally, observant customers increasingly would like to feel special and get the impression that business produced something especially for them.
That is why producers from various business areas should carefully analyze their customer’s needs and constantly make adjustments to the products and services. Preferably, if those adjustments were market disruptive. Together with the development of the technology we can observe big successes as well as spectacular disasters. What might be the reason for the latter? It could be wrong marketing campaign or the situation in which no one, apart from inventor, is interested in the product. Is there a remedy for the lack of attention? Customers simply choose those products, services or activities which were designed thoughtfully for them. I think that Frank Chimero, illustrator and author of The Shape of Design, got it right by saying: “People ignore design that ignores people”.
Design and Design Thinking
The word design has shifted its meaning. It is no longer connected only with esthetics. Design is no longer an activity – it is the way of thinking. It is something that should take place before taking the action. Design Thinking approach is serving as the tool to produce solutions that customers will love. The whole concept is human-centered and targeted on the user. It changes completely the way in which products and services are being produced. It sets customer and his needs at the center of the process. In result processes and services will be welcomed by users, technologically workable and economically justified.
Innovation starts with empathy
Why? The deep understanding of the needs and problems of the user is the first stage of Design Thinking. The crucial thing is to recognize the hidden and intuitive motivations which affect human’s choices and behaviors. By using an empathic approach you attempt to get closer to the users, their lives and experiences. The approach will increase the likelihood of designing a product or service that meets the user’s needs. Design empathy is founded on the user’s real experiences to address new challenges. By allowing a deep understanding of the user’s needs (by stepping into the users shoes), the design process will be enabled to not only focus upon rational and practical aspects, but will enable to dig deeper into personal experiences and private contexts. This, as a result, will unlock a creative ability for innovation.
According to Dr. Prabhjot Singh, Director of Systems Design at the Earth Institute “We spend a lot time designing the bridge, but not enough time thinking about the people who are crossing it.” This is so true! Have you ever come across the product you didn’t want to use or didn’t know how to use? It is becoming more and more obvious that the product that does not suit its users will simply not sell. Let’s consider the example of Segway HT (Segway Human Transporter) – a two-wheeled self-balancing electric vehicle, ridden while standing up. Why it didn’t become popular and didn’t sell well in Poland? Mainly due to the cost (you could buy few labelled bikes or scooter instead) and lack of access to spare parts.
What is Empathy?
Empathy is often defined as a skill or an interpersonal ability to understand other people’s feelings and thoughts without having had the same experience. IDEO (global design company) defines empathy as the following: “Empathy is the capacity to step into other people’s shoes, to understand their lives, and start to solve problems from their perspective”. Human-centered Design Thinking approach is premised on empathy. The people you are designing your product or service for should become your North Star, a specific roadmap which enables to create innovative solutions. All you have to do is empathize, understand them and bring them along with you in the design process. With empathy, we can gain insights that could not be gathered by any other methods. Check out the story of the The Embrace Warmer at: embraceglobal.org. A team of postgraduate students from Stanford University in USA has worked on the development of a new type of incubator for developing countries. Their direct contact with mothers in remote village settings of Nepal who were unable to reach hospitals, helped them to reframe their challenge to a warming device rather than a new kind of incubator.
Empathise methods
Empathy helps design thinkers to set aside their own assumptions about the world in order to gain insight into their users and their needs. Margaret Mead was right when saying “What people say, what people do, and what they say they do are entirely different things”. People might not express all the details. They may hold back some information because of fear or lack of trust. Additionally, they may express themselves not in very articulated way which requires emotional sensitivity and intuition in order to extract the right insight.
Please find some of the Empathize methods:
- Assume a beginner’s mindset
- Ask What-How-Why
- Ask the 5 whys
- Conduct interviews with empathy
- Build empathy with analogies
- Use photo and video user-based studies
- Use personal photo and video journals
- Engage with extreme users
- Story share-and-capture
- Create journey maps.
Development of the empathy is needed to thoroughly understand people. In many cases observation of people’s behavior can prove that users apply their own adjustments which might in result become the inspiration towards new products or services.
How it works?
Gaining empathy is a fundamental starting point in design. The importance of “stepping into the users shoes” brings the new perspectives on how and what the user needs. In order to get this insight the designer needs to find a way to people’s minds and hearts in order to create innovative solutions. Empathy in design is often seen as a basic emotional aspect and a key quality of a designer. A human-centered approach to design puts the users of the service in the center of the design process and brings the designer a deep understanding of the user’s circumstances and experiences. Reaching these insights inform and inspire the designer and is one of the most important parts of design. The designer needs to relate to the user, meaning going beyond just knowing about the user. This is where empathy becomes important.
Challenges
For most people gaining empathy is intuitive. However, there might be the challenge of forgetting of designer’s own role, expertise, values and opinions. It might be needed to empathize with a user far away from the designers own perspective. The potential conflict created between the designer and the user’s perception can result in failing to empathize with people of different views, experiences and who have conflicting ideas. It is maybe one of the most challenging limitations when considering the designers empathic horizon, and the designer might not even realize the empathic failure as a result of being blinded by own values and believes recognizes empathy as a core ability that is crucial for the designer in.
If you would like to create a product or service that will differentiate from multiple similar ones – get to know your users and empathize with them to understand why and how they would like to use it.
According to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella “empathy is, among other things, a key source of business innovation”. He says also that although many regard it as a “soft skill” not especially relevant to the “hard work of business”, it is a wellspring for innovation, since innovation comes from one’s ability to grasp customers’ unmet, unarticulated needs.
[ENG] Project Manager with 10 years of experience passionate about sharing the knowledge. Is always learning and cConfesses that she cannot start her day without a cup of coffee. Managing projects during the standard working hours was not enough for her and she joined the local PMI Wroclaw community in 2017. Sha passed the PMP exam the same year. In 2020 she was elected as the PMI Poland Chapter Board Member. Currently she is responsible for PMI Poland Chapter membership. Actively supports the PMI chapter XChange initiative and is fond of getting to know different cultures and perspectives. Enjoys hiking and playing board games. Speaker for international conferences and co-author of the book The Xchange Effect. A Virtual Journey of Cross-Country Collaboration and Co-Creation.
[PL] Kierowniczka projektów z 10 letnim doświadczeniem i pasjonatka dzielenia się wiedzą. Ciągle się uczy i wyznaje, że nie wyobraża sobie rozpoczęcia dnia bez wypicia filiżanki kawy. Zarządzanie projektami w standardowych godzinach pracy jej nie wystarcza, dlatego od 2017 roku aktywnie działa jako wolontariuszka w PMI Poland Chapter. Posiadaczka certyfikatu PMP. Od 2020 roku członkini zarządu PMI Poland Chapter. Obecnie odpowiedzialna za obszar członkostwo w PMI PC. Aktywnie wspiera globalną inicjatywę Chapter Xchange. Uwielbia chodzić po górach i grać w planszówki. Prelegentka na międzynarodowych konferencjach. Współautorka książki The XChange effect. A Virtual Journey of Cross-Country Collaboration and Co-Creation.