Practice Design Thinking: Gaining Empathy

1. Empathize – Interview your partner (8 minutes)

• Interview your partner about their experiences (and challenges) when getting to class. Record your notes from the interview in your Design Journal. Partner A interviews Partner B for 3-4 minutes; then switch.
• Your challenge is to design something useful and meaningful to your partner. The most important part of designing for someone is to gain empathy for that person.

2. Dig deeper (8 minutes)

• Try to dig for stories, feelings, and emotion.
• Partner A asks follow up questions and digs deeper for 3-4 minutes; then switch.
• Record any additional notes in your Design Journal.

3. Capture findings (2-3 minutes)

• Try to synthesize your learning into a few needs that you have discovered and a few insights you find interesting. Record these in your Design Journal.
• Needs should be verbs. Think about it this way: in the process of getting to class what challenges does your partner face? Insights are discoveries that you might be able to leverage when creating solutions.