Worked example

Empathy Map Example for Students

An empathy map helps you understand the person you are designing for by sorting what they say, think, feel and do. This page walks through a complete example so you can see how each quadrant is filled in before trying your own.

Open the Empathy Map tool →

The person and the problem

Maya, Year 8

Maya brings lunch from home and catches an early bus. The design problem: a better way for a student to carry lunch to school. A classmate interviewed her for ten minutes and watched her pack her bag.

The empathy map, filled in

Each note from the interview goes into one of four quadrants. Three notes in each is enough to start.

Says

Words Maya actually said in the interview.

  • “I just grab whatever is in the cupboard.”
  • “My sandwich is always squashed by lunch.”
  • “I don’t have time to wash a lunchbox every night.”

Thinks

What she seems to believe but did not say out loud.

  • A big lunchbox looks like something for younger kids.
  • Packing lunch well takes too long in the morning.
  • Buying from the canteen would be easier, but it costs too much.

Feels

Her emotions, with the reason for each.

  • Annoyed when her food is crushed or has leaked onto her books.
  • A bit embarrassed to take out a bulky box in front of friends.
  • Rushed every morning, because the bus leaves at 7:20.

Does

Things we watched her do.

  • Wraps her sandwich in foil and drops it into the bottom of her bag.
  • Puts her water bottle and books on top of it.
  • Throws the foil away at school and brings nothing home.

What the map shows

Read across the quadrants and look for things that do not match. Maya says her sandwich is always squashed, but she does put it at the bottom of her bag with books on top. She thinks a lunchbox looks childish and feels embarrassed by a bulky one, so she will not use the thing that would fix it.

Her need in one sentence: Maya needs a way to protect her lunch that is slim, quick to pack and does not look like a lunchbox.

That sentence is what you design for. It came from the map, not from what the designer would want for their own lunch.

Tips for writing good entries

  • Write what you saw or heard“Puts books on top of her lunch” is useful. “Doesn’t care about her lunch” is a guess.
  • Use their exact words in SaysCopy the sentence as they said it, with quotation marks. Do not tidy it up.
  • Give a reason for each feeling“Annoyed” is not enough. “Annoyed when food leaks onto her books” tells you what to fix.
  • Look for where the boxes disagreeWhen what someone says does not match what they do, you have usually found the real need.

Now try your own

The Empathy Map tool has the same layout as this example, empty and ready to fill in. It is free and needs no login.

Open the Empathy Map tool →

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