Empathy Map, Personas and Mobile Ethnography Research

Empathy map

Why is the method beneficial?

The aim of this map is to discover the user's actual needs and to get rid of false presumptions about them. It is better to draw a map before engaging users to define what you do not know and what you need to know; as a result, you will see the difference between your presumptions and the information you gained from the study participants. Empathy maps allow you to establish a strong connection with the end user. Empathy maps can enable you to develop solutions valuable for people.

Empathy consists of 4 essential elements: observation, listening, feeling and doing. Therefore, you may draw an empathy map containing all of the user's needs, wants and interests according to these particular parameters.

The effectiveness of the design thinking process is based on a deep understanding of the user for whom we create a product or a service. The empathy map is one tool that lets us summarise observation results and uncover unexpected insights.

The map assists to quickly:

• Organise available information about the user
• Analyse the information
• Draw conclusions
• Find contradictions between different parts of the map, for instance, between what users say and what they do

How do we use the method?

1. Divide a large sheet of paper or a board into four equal parts.
2. Place a user's photo or a short description in the centre of your map.
3. In each square, write: Say, Do, Think, Feel.
4. Fill in the map by writing on sticky notes and placing them in corresponding squares:
   • Say: How does the user perceive him/herself? What is his/her opinion?
   • Do: How does he/she behave? How does he/she look like and spend free time? Write some quotations and pivot words which describe the user in detail (based on interviews and study).
   • Think: What does the user think about? What distresses him or her? What are his or her beliefs? Whose opinion does he or she trust? What is important for him or her?
   • Feel: What feelings does he or she experience? What fears and disappointments does he or she have? What is his or her behaviour? What troubles and what pleases him or her most of all?
5. Take a step backwards: explore users' needs.
   • If you have doubts concerning an assumption or an observation, place a question mark next to it. It will signal that the statement needs to be confirmed or removed.
   • Pay attention to solutions which meet the user's needs. Are they appropriate or do they require further work? Ask yourself why this solution has been proposed. Which of the users' goals does it satisfy?
6. While watching videos made by users and yourself in the observation stage, pay attention to the gestures, manner of speaking, and body language of the users.
7. Document unusual behaviour. Ask the "why" question.

There can be two types of empathy maps:

• For one user.
• For a group of users.

The principle of making maps is the same for both types of empathy maps. An empathy map for a group of users can be divided according to different parameters. For instance, a map can be divided according to gender (male/female users) or age (children/elderly individuals) criteria. The project objective is the most effective when you go through all the stages of observation, taking into account all impressions and user needs. In the end, these are the people who will buy your product or service. The more accurate our observations and records are, the higher the quality of the final results will be.

Having made an empathy map, sum up the data:

1. Are all observations and quotations written down?
2. Have you looked through all the photos and grasped all meanings in the videos?
3. Are there questions or notes with question marks?
4. Are all the data consistent and ready for further analysis?

Here is an example of an empathy map:

DO

• Attended a "Welcome" course
• Has not discussed tasks for the probationary period because the boss was pressed for time
• Sometimes does nothing because he or she does not understand what he or she has to do

SAY

• I knew it would not be easy
• I have not come here to have a comfortable life
• I see that my boss does not seem fond of me - our longest personal meeting took place at my job interview

THINK

• Everything will get on the right track
• I misjudged my boss
• I could do more

FEEL

• Bewildered
• Offended with the boss

Materials and equipment

A flip chart or board (or any other suitable surface), marker pens, sticky notes, masking tape, and sheets of A3 paper.

Try it!

1. Define users
2. Collect all necessary information (photographic observation, video, interview)
3. Make an empathy map model for one user
4. Analyse the results:
   • What things have you succeeded in achieving through this process?
   • What difficulties did you face?
   • What was the most important part of the process?

Personas

Why is the method beneficial?

The personas method comes directly after the empathy map. By the time we start working at personas, we must:

• Understand the user’s wants and needs.
• Finish the primary analysis of available data by means of using an empathy map.

A persona is a generalised character which embodies all the findings of collected observations, interviews and empathy mapping. This character may involve typical characteristics of the user, specific aspects of his or her lifestyle, some behavioural patterns - overall, everything that was discovered by the project team throughout their research.

A generalised character can be used for coming up with interesting observations, defining personality traits, and for understanding the type of a potential user or a group of people. This is an attempt to focus attention on essential and significant features of the user and to become imbued with the user's life.

How do we use the method?

1. You'll need the following materials:
   • A sheet of A3 paper or a board
   • Marker pens
   • An Empathy map
2. You should draw the user or attach a photo of a person who looks like the generalised character (you can find a corresponding photo or drawing and cut it out of any magazine).
3. The generalised character may be given a fictitious name.
4. Based on the research results that you obtained, we define the following characteristics of the user profile:
   • Age
   • Place of residence
   • One outstanding quotation
   • Married/single
   • Has or has no children
   • Education
   • Key skill
   • Habits
   • Life history
   • Hobbies
   • Interests
   • Dream(s)
   • Life goals
   • Reading interests
   • Where does he spend his or her free time
   • Ways of spending weekends and holidays

Materials and equipment

A flip chart, board (or any other suitable surface), marker pens, sticky notes, masking tape, and sheets of A3 paper.

Try it!

1. Synthesise a user persona based on the collected data and the empathy map.
2. Analyse a persona:
   • What things did you succeed in?
   • What things did you lack?
   • What was the most important part of the process?

Mobile ethnography research

Why is the method beneficial?

Many methods of the Empathising stage were borrowed from ethnographic research in anthropology because these tools provide good results. Observation and interviews are some of these useful methods. Mobile ethnography is also a useful method for user observation. Despite its seemingly scientific name, the use of this method is widespread in the modern world: many people take photos of moments in life that they consider important, funny or memorable; they share impressions of the news, events or of their views. Based on such data, we may form a notion of another person's values and mindset.

The core of the method is to encourage study participants to use their mobile phones to document their day. In this approach, participants take photos and videos and subsequently write down their thoughts and opinions about events happening around them.

This method is important for helping us see the world through a user's eyes and experience his or her environment. As a result, we gain more information about his or her motivations than when doing an in-depth interview. In addition, mobile ethnography allows users to focus their attention on the moments which are most important for them within their contexts, some of which may not surface during in-depth interviews.

How do we use the method?

1. Set a goal to apply mobile ethnography.
2. Choose a group of users for your study.
3. Prepare the instruction on how to arrange mobile ethnography, keeping the following things in mind:
   • What should users document? For instance, their activities during the day; what they pay attention to; what they order in a restaurant; how they do their daily shopping.
   • How should they document these activities? For instance, they can do it with their mobile phones. You will likely have to buy a smartphone for this study if the target group does not have the necessary equipment.
   • How will the information be collected from users?
4. Define the period range when the mobile ethnography will be carried out. You will probably not gain all insights in just one day; therefore, it is better to give the users a week to create their ethnography.
5. Establish a means of collecting all necessary information. How will the information be sent afterwards? For instance, it can be uploaded directly to a dedicated server. The main concern here is that the data transmission must not create an inconvenience for the user.

Materials and equipment

Mobile device with photo and video-recording features or camera.

Try it!

Conduct research single-handedly using the Mobile ethnography method.