The ability to understand someone else’s feelings or thoughts in a situation**.**

• Ask lots of questions.
• Become more observant.
• Be an active listener.
• Request input.
  • It’s important that the feedback you receive is objective and unbiased.
  • So, it’s important to request input from a variety of sources and a diverse group of users.
• Have an open mind.
  • Your goal is to understand users, not to complicate their feedback with your own opinions and emotions.
• Keep current on UX research.
  • Follow researchers and join online communities to stay up-to-date on the research that affects UX designers and the users you’re designing for.

Creating an empathy map

• Step 1: Add the user’s name.

• Step 2: The “SAYS” square. Use verbatim quotes from the interview. In other words, write down exactly what the person said; don’t summarize

• Step 3: The “THINKS” square. Here, you can summarize the thoughts expressed by the user.

• Step 4: The “DOES” square.

  • Actions were taken to overcome the challenges the user faced. All those actions can go in the “DOES” square.

• Step 5: The “FEELS” square.

  • List the feelings the user expresses. The notes you include may overlap with some of what you listed in the “THINKS” square.
  • If the user doesn’t explicitly mention any feelings during the interview, you can probe for feelings with the question: “How does this make you feel?”