Mia Krysa

We know that in the design thinking process, the first step is to empathize. As designers, we must think about other human experiences as if they were our own. How can we design a useful product if we don’t empathize with the people using the product? How do we foster better experiences? Think about your target audience and product in a much broader, but deeper sense.

Here’s an example of empathetic thinking in action. As long as you are able, I’m assuming you’ve grown up with the ability to use kitchen tools without any issues. You know how to eat with a fork, cut with a knife, and peel vegetables with a potato peeler. There’s virtually nothing wrong with the kitchen utensils themselves — they serve their purpose, right?

But what if you have arthritis? What if holding kitchen utensils causes pain? Or you can’t move your fingers correctly?

Sam Farber, the founder of OXO, noticed these issues and designed a new and improved peeler, “that was easy to hold and control, no matter the size or shape of your hand or the strength of your grip.” It’s soft to the touch, non-slip, dishwasher safe, and easier to use. Over three decades later, this style of design is still used when engineering kitchen tools. And it all started because his wife developed arthritis and struggled to use her peeler.

How do we empathize like Sam?

1. Service Safari. This research method gives us a front-row seat to the issues that some people may be facing. It allows us to literally “walk in someone else’s shoes.” Think about following someone throughout their day, and noticing frequent obstacles they might encounter in the wild. What could make their day-to-day lives easier?
2. Love Letter/Breakup Letter. Write a letter to a product or service that you enjoy. Include what you “value and expect from the objects in your everyday life”. This will show what people really like or dislike about a specific product or service. Then, you can hone in and brainstorm solutions to refine the result.
3. Co-creation. It’s exactly what it sounds like. Co-creation is especially helpful in the early steps of design thinking but can be effective no matter where you’re at in the process. Bring people together who are of similar demographics, live in the same area, or go to the same school. Discuss the problems they face and bounce ideas off of one another. With lots of different perspectives involved, you might find that you learn much more about your product or service much earlier on. This allows you to keep refining and understanding until you get your product right.

Empathizing allows us to not only be better designers, but better people. It’s important to embrace experiences from all backgrounds so that we can better understand how to solve problems. Empathy is crucial to design success.