Start by browsing the different steps, methods, tips and examples throughout this toolkit to get an understanding of the overall process. As you explore, make notes and consider which methods might be most suitable for your end user and project.
Once you’ve explored the toolkit, use your notes to plan your empathy strategy and put it into action. Begin with Step 1 to better understand your end user, then use your findings in Step 2 to define a meaningful challenge and establish some initial design criteria. Remember, your strategy doesn’t have to be fixed. You can revisit methods, gather additional insights and adjust your approach as you learn more about your end user.
There are a range of methods you can use to better understand your end user. Explore the options below and consider which might be most suitable for your project. Start by gathering insights through methods such as online research, interviews, simulations and observations. Then consider using Challenge Mapping or an Empathy Map to organise your findings, identify key insights and uncover opportunities for design. You don’t need to use every method, and you’re welcome to explore others beyond those included here.
Online research can be an invaluable tool in the design process as it allows you to gather insights from multiple global sources in a short period of time. Rather than reinventing the wheel, you can 'stand on the shoulder of giants' but where possible, ensure you couple this with your own primary research methods.
Interviews are a great way to thoroughly understand the needs and wants of your end users. In addition to revealing answers to your planned questions, the direct face-to-face nature of interviews can lead to surprising insights that you might not have considered. The key to a good interview is careful and considerate planning.
Simulations can help you explore some of the practical challenges your end user might experience when completing everyday activities. They can highlight potential barriers and prompt useful questions, but remember that a simulation cannot fully represent someone's lived experience. Use your findings alongside other empathy methods, particularly direct conversations with your end user.
Observations are a creative approach to learning about those we are designing for without interfering with their natural behaviours. When performing observations, ensure you plan suitable activities that your end user is comfortable doing.
Challenge mapping is a method used for identifying pain points in an individual’s daily routine. It is particularly useful when your end user struggles with multiple tasks throughout the day as it can help you to hone in on the most important area. It works best when combined with other methods such as interviews. Check out the video below and to access the challenge mapping template with examples, copy and paste this link into your browser - https://bit.ly/3fml2JU.
Empathy maps are a great way to bring together the highlights from interviews, observations and other practical methods - ensuring teams have a common understanding of their end user. Simply create a quad chart (with the labels: says, thinks, does, feels) and map out key insights in the relevant quadrants. The activity encourages you to think about your end user from multiple angles and provides you with an organised dataset that can be analysed for trends and opportunities.
Using the insights gathered from your empathy studies, it’s now time to frame the challenge. In simple terms, this means analysing your key insights to hone in on a specific challenge or set of challenges that you will aim to solve. Remember, the goal is to figure out what challenge to solve, not what solution to make! A good way to do this is to explore multiple How Might We questions before selecting the most suitable one. Take a look at the examples below, then spend a few minutes experimenting with your own How Might We questions before selecting one to take forward.
Bev experiences difficulties with hand mobility, making it challenging to operate her TV independently. Rather than asking, “How might we design a remote control that Bev can use?”, a more open-ended question would be “How might we help Bev independently control her TV?” This leaves room to explore different solutions rather than assuming a remote control is the answer.
For Cath, who has osteoarthritis, we might frame the challenge as – ‘How might we help Cath to comfortably stand up from various positions in her boat?’. Again, we are not suggesting a solution at this stage. A poor example would be, ‘How might we create handles to help Cath stand up comfortably in her boat?’.
Once you’ve framed your challenge, the next step is to create a list of initial design criteria based on what you’ve learned about your end user. These describe what a successful solution should achieve and will help guide your ideas. For example, if Bev has difficulty gripping and pressing the small buttons on a conventional TV remote, her design criteria might include:
Notice how these criteria relate to Bev’s specific needs and circumstances, rather than describing a particular solution. Take time to consider what matters most to your end user and create your own list of criteria based on the insights you’ve gathered. These are your initial design criteria, which you’ll revisit and refine during the Idea Generation toolkit as you explore different solutions.
Here are some useful tips and strategies to consider when developing empathy for your end user. Explore the advice below and think about how you might apply it to your own empathy activities.
A good strategy is to combine a practical empathy method with a mapping method. For example, you might perform a user interview and use your insights to create a challenge map. Alternatively, if designing for a Make:able Champion, you might perform a careful observation of their case study video and make educated assumptions to create an empathy map.
Check out this conversation with Chad Leaman and Justin Pezzin from Makers Making Change, where they talk about best practices for working with people with disabilities.
Andy Lin, Founder and Director of The Emerging Tech Lab at Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center, talks to us about getting to know your end users and not just their disability.
Documenting your empathy studies is very important but your priority is to ensure your end user is comfortable with your methods. For example, if they are uncomfortable speaking on camera, you might suggest an audio recording or use photography and notes.
Remember that both you and your end user share the common goal of achieving a life-improving solution. As long as you are respectful and make them feel comfortable, don't be afraid to ask difficult questions. It's important to focus your efforts on learning about them rather than only sympathising with them.
When developing empathy, we want to get both a broad overview of their lifestyle but also in-depth insights into individual activities. For example, if you're interviewing your end user and come across an interesting point about a specific task they struggle with, dig deep into that to fully understand it and don't be afraid to veer off from your initial interview plan/questions.
Documenting your empathy studies is an important part of the Make:able Challenge. You don’t need to worry about editing your final submission video just yet, but try to capture plenty of photos and videos throughout your activities. It’s better to have more footage than you need rather than discover you’re missing something later! Explore the examples below to see how other teams have documented their empathy studies. Think about which types of footage might be useful for your own project, and remember to pay attention to clear, high-quality audio when recording videos.
When interviewing end users, we recommend setting up your camera in a still position using a tripod or another means of stabilisation. This allows you to focus on the interview itself. Don’t worry about any mistakes too as these can be edited out afterwards.
You may consider asking your end user to perform various tasks that you can record. In this example, the team used multiple camera angles, which gives the viewer more perspective.
Another observation technique is to ask your end user to go about their daily routine and capture footage of them in context. This is a great way to make parts of your video look natural without too much ‘staging’.
In addition to documenting information about their disability, bring the video to life by including footage of your end user’s hobbies, interests and personality. These insights can also inspire the actual look and feel of your design further down the line.
B-Roll is supplementary footage that is used in between your primary scenes to add context, texture and interesting layers to your final video. Short background clips of your activities are a great b-roll technique to show your team in action.
Random clips from your end user’s life are another b-roll technique that can be used in the introductory scenes of your video.
Top-down shots such as this example arthritis simulation can break up your regular scenes. They work great with a good quality voice over.
Don’t forget to document the insights you gained from your empathy studies. This example shows a screen recording of key learnings.
Explore these optional resources for a real-world example of developing empathy during a Make:able project, along with practical advice on working with people with disabilities.
In this stage of Rob’s Make:able Challenge, he shares his process of developing empathy for Cath, which involved an interview, observation studies and much more.
Join Shanelle Waiting, the Makers Making Change Alberta coordinator, as she presents a session about disability awareness training. A great resource that shares support and advice for interacting with people with disabilities.
Watch former Make:able finalist Yuvraj Mander's TEDx talk exploring what independence really means. Drawing on his experience designing assistive technology, he challenges assumptions about disability and highlights the importance of understanding individual needs.
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