EMPATHY IN HUMAN INTERACTION DESIGN

October 2020

Angela Hutchison, UX Strategist and Researcher

angelamhutchison@gmail.com

Good morning or afternoon or middle of the night, not sure when you are
listening to this. I hope you find this useful as you engage with your
assignment coming up. I know you are going into your Mobile app Dev
course and there is something super close to my heart and that is designing
with people in mind
I am Angela. My background is in marketing research and UX research and
parenting coaching. Basically my job has always been about understanding
people and why they do what they do
 YOU ARE DESIGNING AN APP
Where do you even begin!

You are probably not the typical user of the app you
are designing

Who is the typical user?

Why would they be interested in this app?

It's ok NOT to know all these answers at the start

(unless maybe it’s a fast food delivery app :))

Do you have any idea who would be interested in this app?
Do you know or are you just thinking it’s a pretty cool idea? Or has a client
asked you to build something in a world you have never given any thought
to?
Before you dive in, there is a way through this that takes all the guesswork
out and makes sure you make an app THAT PEOPLE WILL LOVE AND
USE
Sometimes we do think we know the answers, but until we speak to real
people, we may be guessing with our own biases
 “ You’ve gotta start with the
customer experience and
work backwards to the
technology.
Steve Jobs
Innovator

Comp sci - so maybe you all hate Apple,

I’m not sure, but while he could be
annoying he said this about technology
And Steve Krug, another UX person said this. Ultimately, the point I am
making is you are designing software for humans, for real people, with real
needs
THE SWEET SPOT
It's about the business, the customer and the tech

You are going to find one day that it is not ALL about the people. There isn’t
much point building something and trying to commercialise it if there is no
business value and no way to make a viable business. You also have to be
able to make the tech you are making and have the right tools at your
disposal. And then there is the customer, the human, the reason you are
making the thing in the first place. And finding the intersection here is key.
In business it is not easy. Too many stakeholders
DESIGN THINKING IS A PROCESS THAT TAKES THE
GUESSWORK OUT OF DEVELOPMENT
The “human-centred design” process (HCD). The same process behind Design Thinking, Service Design,
UX design.
Diverging

EMPATHISE IDEATE

PROTO
DEFINE TYPE &
TEST

Converging

I am covering the importance of empathy and understanding

user needs. But users don’t tell us these things as clearly as we
would like. We have to interpret and figure put how to define the
problem and then we have to make sure we look at all possible
solutions before attaching to one idea- - make what we make
more robust. You assignment coming up will not cover in depth
the problem solving piece nd the ideation piece, but I would
encourage you to take these steps too.
EMPATHISE
DESIGN THINKING IS PEOPLE-CENTRED
See the problem from diverse points of view, so you can make
a service that works for the people who will use it.

Working directly with the people you’re designing for keeps

your solutions truly on track.

See human needs and goals that go beyond organisational

silos and technical systems.
DEFINE DESIGN THINKING IS “95% ABOUT THE PROBLEM”
If you try to prescribe a cure before diagnosing the sickness, you’ll cause more
harm than good.

Falling in love with a solution means you’ll stick with a bad idea against the
evidence.

Fall in love with the problem, and you’ll see many more solutions.
 CREATE MAKE A
CHOICES CHOICE

IDEATE DESIGN THINKING IS INTUITIVE AND EXPLORATORY

To have a good idea, gather lots of input and generate lots of ideas.
Somewhere in the pile, there will be gems.

The best ideas sometimes come from leaps of intuition, not just logical
deduction.

Make sure you’re choosing between the best options, not the default options.

- Give examples doing divergent and conversant at the same time. (ie what
not to do)
PROTOT
YPE
& TEST
DESIGN THINKING IS EXPERIMENTAL AND ITERATIVE
Making mockups, pushes your ideas further and makes things that seems crazy
suddenly seem possible.

Trying out ideas on on colleagues, stakeholders, and target customers lets you
gather impartial feedback and “get out of your own head.”

Watch, listen, learn. Then change and improve your ideas. They’ll end up far
better.
WE START WITH EMPATHY EMPATHISE
What is empathy?

“Empathy is the art of stepping

imaginatively into the shoes of
another person, understanding their
feelings and perspectives, and using
that understanding to guide your
actions”

Roman Krznaric

It sounds easy. It’’s much harder in practise. We are trained to fix problems
with OUR solutions, rather than really look at the deep needs of others
Gaining a better understanding of the users of the products you build.
Suspending your own beliefs and ideas and perspectives and listening to
someone else’s. Suspend your own beliefs for a second and look at how
others experience the world around them. Listening to feelings too
WHY DO WE NEED EMPATHY FOR REAL USERS?
BECAUSE HUMANS ARE BAD DESIGNERS EMPATHISE

Because you’re a human, you… Having empathy for users makes sure
you…
Only consider evidence that’s easy to Discover new insights.
find or remember.
Availability bias
Try out new ideas and
You consider any change as a loss. demonstrate their potential.
Status Quo bias

Develop an irrational love of the things Diverge past your first idea to find
you create. the best idea.
Ikea effect.

Look for information that confirms your beliefs, Test, learn and face the truth.
and ignore contradicting evidence.
Confirmation bias

We have many confirmation biases

GAINING INSIGHTS SAVES DEV TIME EMPATHISE

Seeing the problem from diverse points of

view and understanding real user needs helps
you build products and services and features
that add value to users’ lives

And, in a way that adds value

It means we don’t waste development time

on useless features

Eg. Recent piece of work for a financial institution where they wanted to
design a new website, goal being - effective comm tool. The user very
clearly did not need a comms tool, wanted that inside the banking app, and
only needed the website to be a place where new accounts could be
opened. This insight we uncovered from the findings, I will talk about that a
bit later, how we got to this
HOW WE DO EMPATHY?
EMPATHISE
Types of research

Observation: Often what people say and what people do are two different things, it’s
important to observe behaviour and see what people do relative to what they say they do

Contextual interviews or ethnography: Talking to people in an environment where

they use a product or service provides additional insight than recollection

User interviews: Here it is important to listen for feelings and unspoken thoughts to really
understand how people experience a product or service.

Usability testing: Once we have a product, spending time giving target users tasks and
seeing if they can complete those tasks

For example
GETTING THE BEST INSIGHTS
EMPATHISE
Questioning : Uncovering what people need, not what
they think they want

Good questioning: Questioning that is GIGO:

(garbage in, garbage out)
Ask about specific events, not general events:
When did you last ……. Tell me about that
Do you like this product or service?
Show me: Would you use this product?
What you have, what you did, what you are doing now
Can you see yourself using this in the future?

X
Open-Ended: not close-ended
What do you think about that?

Emotional impact
How does that make you feel?

Why, why, why?

You would be amazed how many people report on this - 95% of people said
that they would use this product, we must launch it immediately. It tells you
nothing other than that people like to please others
 EMPATHISE
5 WHYS: FIND ROOT CAUSES

People might bring you a solution of what

they think needs to be designed.
But people are experts in their problems,
rather than their solutions.
Ask “why?”, and you discover the real
drivers behind their request.
That lets you explore more solutions, and
often find a better one.

Eg bridge
I need a bridge
It’s not as simple as it seems, you can go in circles, it is more important to
use intuition. I have read many and they are not real - it just provides a way
to look at info - like we need a bridge, why, to get across the rive, why, to
communicate with the people on the other side, Oh if you want to
communicate maybe we need walkie talkies rather than a bridge. But many
other aspects are in play - do we want to talk to the people
HOW MANY INTERVIEWS ARE ENOUGH? EMPATHISE

• One is too little, two can be two diverse views,

• 3 gives you enough to look at themes,
• Ideally you want at least 5 interviews, so that you start hearing some of
the same insights again and again
• This does depend on a homogeneous target market. If you have extremely
different types of users, do 5 per type
• Think of demographics, accessibility issues (people often ignore
accessibility)

For example
 MAKING SENSE OF THE FINDINGS? EMPATHISE
Affinity sorting

Once you have completed interviews, there is a lot of data

that you have recorded and transcribed

Review the transcripts and write sticky notes for each insight
from the interview from each user

Put the sticky notes up on a physical wall or a virtual wall

Start combining similar ideas and creating headlines/themes

for these ideas

Preferably work in teams and keep reviewing your thinking

TIPS for stickies: Write in capital letters, then anyone can read
what you wrote.
Remember to put the interviewee initials on each sticky so that
you know where the insight came from.

Sometimes people say the same things over and over again and you forget
it’s not different users
 REPORTING THE FINDINGS EMPATHISE

Sometimes you need to make a report of the insights as a

deliverable

• Report insights as themes using

• “People feel…People say…..

• Back up your statement with a quote or two from your

transcripts

• Make intuitive recommendations based on these insights

Sometimes people say the same things over and over again and you forget
it’s not different users
 EMPATHY MAPS EMPATHISE

• Helps establish common ground amongst all team members

• Puts something up on the wall to refer to when developing to help keep

everyone on track

• Removes bias from designs and aligns the team on a single, shared
understanding of the user

• Discover weaknesses in research

• Uncover user needs that the user themselves may not even be aware of

• Understand what drives users’ behaviours

• Guide towards meaningful innovation

CREATING AN EMPATHY MAP EMPATHISE

Says: Examples of what people have said in an interview

“I have never used the website”

Thinks: Examples of what people think through your observation

“I feel a bit stupid for not being able to find how to get to the next page”

Does: Examples of what people have done through questioning

“I use the banking app for everything, so have no need for the website””

Feels: Examples of how people feel

“I am confused with contradictory information coming at me,

I am worried I am going to make a mistake”
EMPATHY IS THE FIRST STEP IN THE PROCESS OF
DEVELOPMENT
Diverging

EMPATHISE IDEATE

PROTOT
DEFINE YPE &
TEST

Converging

I am covering the importance of empathy and understanding

user needs. But users don’t tell us these things as clearly as we
would like. We have to interpret and figure put how to define the
problem and then we have to make sure we look at all possible
solutions before attaching to one idea- - make what we make
more robust. You assignment coming up will not cover in depth
the problem solving piece nd the ideation piece, but I would
encourage you to take these steps too.
SUGGESTED READINGS
EMPATHISE

Norman Nielsen Group: https://www.nngroup.com/

The Design of Everyday things: Don Norman

Don’t Make me Think, Steven Krug

100 Things Every Designer needs to know about People - Susan Weinschenk

The Internet is full of articles on UX research and it is worthwhile to read a

varying set. I would read these. Don Norman because mobile apps are the
design of everyday things nowadays. I would choose some key books
 Humans have the ability to
empathise, to see other
points of view,
Go forth and use this
ability to make great digital
products

Thank you

If you have any questions at all, pop me an email. I would just like to leave
you with a quote
“
Design is a funny word.
Some people think design
means “how it looks.”
But of course if you dig
deeper, its really “how it
works.”

Steve Jobs
Innovator
“
Design thinking is a human
centred approach to innovation
that draws from the designer’s
toolkit to integrate the needs of
the people, the possibilities of
technology, and the
requirements for business
success
Tim Brown
CEO of IDEO
 Flickr: Roberto Trombett
YOU HAVE TO DO IT WITH
110% CONVICTION
• Immerse yourself: think in the shower.
• Face the discomfort of identifying
problems with existing ideas.
• Keep practising: Just like for every
new skill you want to truly master.