Empathy Mapping
Step into your users' world: what they say, think, do, and feel.
What is it?
An empathy map is a collaborative visualization tool that captures what users say, think, do, and feel. It synthesizes research findings into a shared understanding of user needs and motivations, fostering team alignment around the human behind the data.
When to use it
Use empathy mapping after user interviews or research sessions, during design workshops, or whenever the team needs to re-center on user perspectives before making decisions.
How to do it
Gather your research data: interview transcripts, observation notes, survey results.
Draw the four quadrants: Says, Thinks, Does, Feels.
Place observations from your research into the appropriate quadrants.
Identify contradictions between what users say and what they do.
Extract pain points and unmet needs from the patterns you see.
Pro tips
The most valuable insights often sit in the gap between 'Says' and 'Does.'
One empathy map per persona. Don't mix different user segments.