Empathy: Design-Thinking’s 1st Component
Design thinking is broken down into 5 components: Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype and Test. This is a great framework for anyone who is unfamiliar with design as it can have such a profound impact on any business. Today I’d like to focus in on the first of these components: empathy.
One of the reasons businesses fail is because they lose touch with their customers. On the road to “streamlining,” “industrializing” and “optimizing” businesses can forget all about the valuable connection they had with the people they once so enthusiastically served. I can’t help but think about Kodak being forced into bankruptcy by the digital camera, a technology that it had, itself, ironically invented. Could Kodak have turned things around had they been more empathetic? It’s a good question to debate.
In a business context, where does something like empathy come in?... First of all, what even is empathy exactly?
Empathy is the ability to metaphorically “walk in someone else’s shoes.” I know that’s a cliche. But that’s it. Some people think empathy is about feelings. It’s really only partially about feelings. And many people confuse empathy with sympathy which has more to do with internalizing another person’s suffering. You can empathize with anyone. It doesn’t mean you agree with them. It just means you can understand their emotional state and their rationale for thinking and for action. Adolf Hitler was arguably the most evil human being that ever lived. I’d refrain from trying to sympathize with him. Empathizing with someone like Hitler however could be the key to steering history away from ever repeating the atrocities of the holocaust.
Ok. So what does any of this have to do with design?
Designers solve problems for people. The course of human history has resulted in countless multitudes of human designs that have been the result of doing one simple thing: solving a problem. Smart phones, paper clips, space shuttles and speed bumps… all designs that resulted from originally overcoming an obstacle. “If it doesn’t occur in nature, it’s been designed” is a quote from the folks at IDEO. Now think of all of the objects that you see. Hats, tables, houses, paper, lawnmowers… all came from someone, somewhere saying, “I wish I had something that could do this…”
And that statement lead to either that person inventing/designing the thing OR to a designer of some sort hearing the need, empathizing with person in question and their situation and then coming up with a design as a solution…
You’re going to want your house to be cool in the summer. Here’s an air conditioner! You need shade from the sun for your eyes when playing baseball. Here’s a baseball cap! You’re going to want to quickly fly from point A to point B. Here’s an airplane! And so forth and so on.
If you run a business or a team that serves a function, you’re solving a problem. Think of your value proposition. Somewhere in there you’re saying, “we’ve uniquely designed a solution to your problem that no one else our the market has for you.” It’s fundamentally about empathy. You’re really trying to connect with your customer and help them solve their problem. If you’re not doing this you’re selling to them and trying to make money off of them which is a whole other bag of worms.
Now think of some branded spaces that you may encounter like a Starbucks or an Apple Store. Even tough they’re set up in completely different ways these environments were both created using empathy as the common tool. An average Starbucks has both comfortable seating as well as wooden tables and chairs to mimic a homelike environment so that customers will immediately feel at home. By the same token they’ll have specific kinds of music playing as well as artwork on the walls and aromas in the air that you would never find at home. So now the customer is experiencing something familiar but different as well. In many ways the typical Starbucks environment was built from empathy. Now think of an Apple Store. There are strategically placed seats and waist high tables to accommodate optimal browsing. Customers don’t have to bend or sit. They walk right up to any table as if it was waiting for them. Apple devices are on display on every surface and genius bar members easily walk around looking for anyone needing assistance. They aren’t “selling” like old-school retailer shoe stores reps. They are there to assist you with your connection to their offering. Again, this environmental design comes from Apple empathizing with their customers.
Well versed and qualified brand design teams can step in and help create these arguably amazing environments without us even noticing they’re doing it. In fact we just start to “like” Apple and Starbucks unconsciously because we know they’ve “thought of us” in these ways. There are other components that got these environments to where they’ve arrived but it all intuitively began with empathy.