Empathy – How to Improve Your Designs by Developing Empathy for Your Target Group

This article is about using empathy to improve the designs of programs and materials.

It states that using empathy in the design process is on the one hand about collecting subjective information and on the other hand about objectively analysing it. The best way to collect the subjective information is to embed yourself in the context of your target group and gain personal insights into the experiences they have.

There are three different approaches:

• Looking at what people do
• Asking people to participate
• Trying things yourself

The article offers four steps in the process developing empathy for an intended audience:

• Discovery
• Immersion
• Connection
• Detachment

It also explains how to collect and analyze data so as to develop empathy.

Last modified: April 5, 2022

Language: English