Building Empathy & Understanding
Learn to deeply understand your users through empathy and research
Your Progress
Section 2 of 5The Foundation of User-Centric Design
Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of others. In product design, empathy means truly understanding your users' context, challenges, goals, and emotions—not just what they do, but why they do it.
Building empathy requires active effort. You must talk to users, observe them, and immerse yourself in their world. Only then can you design solutions that truly serve their needs.
Practice Building Empathy
Complete these exercises to practice stepping into your users' shoes:
Exercise 1 of 3
33%Imagine you are a 65-year-old user trying to use your product for the first time. What challenges might they face?
💡 Things to Consider:
- • Small text or buttons
- • Unfamiliar technical terms
- • Complex navigation
Research Methods for Understanding Users
Different research methods serve different goals. Choose the right method for what you need to learn:
User Interviews
Deep 1-on-1 conversations to understand motivations
Field Studies
Observe users in their natural environment
Diary Studies
Users document their experiences over time
Building Empathy: Best Practices
Listen Without Judgment
Suspend your assumptions. Let users share their experiences without defending your product or jumping to solutions.
Observe Behavior
What users say and what they do often differ. Watch actual behavior in context to see the truth.
Ask Why Repeatedly
Dig deeper with follow-up questions. The first answer is rarely the real motivation or pain point.
Research Continuously
User needs evolve. Make research an ongoing practice, not a one-time project.
Common Mistake
Don't confuse feature requests with user needs. When a user says "I want feature X," dig deeper to understand what problem they're trying to solve. The solution might be completely different from their request.
Key Takeaways
- •Empathy requires actively understanding users' context, challenges, and emotions
- •Use different research methods for different goals: understand, validate, measure
- •Listen without judgment, observe behavior, and ask why repeatedly
- •Don't confuse feature requests with underlying user needs