Empathy Mapping: The First Step in Design Thinking
This article from the Nielsen Norman Group explains the concept and utility of empathy maps in the context of design thinking and user experience (UX) design. Empathy maps are collaborative visualizations that capture user attitudes, behaviors, and emotions, helping UX professionals gain a shared understanding of users and prioritize their needs. The piece outlines the definition, format, and process for creating empathy maps, as well as their benefits and common pitfalls to avoid.
Original reporting · nngroup.com
Read “Empathy Mapping: The First Step in Design Thinking” at Nielsen Norman Group →How this was written. 1to1 wrote this article with a language model from Nielsen Norman Group’s reporting (model: @cf/ibm-granite/granite-4.0-h-micro); it describes that reporting rather than adding to it. The original, linked above, is the full story.
Key points from Nielsen Norman Group’s report
- Empathy maps are collaborative visualizations that capture user attitudes, behaviors, and emotions, helping UX teams gain a shared understanding of users and prioritize their needs.
- Empathy maps can represent either a single user (one-user/individual empathy map) or an aggregate of data from multiple users belonging to the same user segment (aggregated empathy maps).
- Empathy maps are beneficial throughout the UX design process, from the initial stages to inform design decisions and educate team members about user needs, and can also be used as a research instrument by having users fill out the map themselves
From the source
Empathy maps help UX teams visualize user attitudes and behaviors, building a shared understanding of end users while highlighting gaps in existing user data.