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Empathy

2:16 with Lis Hubert

This video will cover the next important skill needed to become a great UX Designer. Empathy.

Quick Reference

  • 0:00

    Not only are UXer's utilizing system's

  • 0:03

    thinking when curating a user's experience, but

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    they are, during the creation of the

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    system, thinking from a user's perspective first.

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    Doing this type of thinking is

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    a bit different from practicing user-centered design.

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    Allow me to explain this by introducing to you the

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    next important skill needed to become a great UX designer Empathy.

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    Webster's dictionary defines empathy as the feeling that you understand and share

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    another person's experiences and emotions, or

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    the ability to share someone else's feelings.

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    Empathy is a skill that all great UXers hold dear.

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    We do user research and observe people in our everyday lives in

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    order to be able to curate our talent of sharing someone else's feelings.

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    Because of this, we are able to really

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    be in the user's shoes while evaluating the experience.

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    Having empathy is important for UX designer because we are

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    responsible for looking out for the user's needs, goals and tasks.

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    We are, in essence, the user advocate.

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    This means that when you are sitting in a meeting talking about requirements or

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    features, it's your job to think, how

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    does this requirement or feature benefit the user?

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    Does it benefit or harm the user?

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    How does this feature or requirement help the user

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    reach their goals, fulfill their needs and complete their tasks?

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    And you can answer these question by using your

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    skill of empathy to put yourself in the user's shoes.

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    Also you are not only responsible for being

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    the user advocate during requirements and features discussions, but

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    you are responsible for ensuring that the user

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    is considered at each stage of the product development.

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    When a visual designer comes to you with a

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    new treatment, you, as the UXer, should think user first.

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    How does this benefit the user?

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    Does it benefit the user?

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    And so on.

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    When a developer comes to you with a question.

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    When the Q A person comes to you with a bug and

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    a proposed change, all of these times you are thinking user first,

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    and you can think user first because you've curated your skill of

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    empathy and thus, know what it's like to be in your user's shoes.

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    Thinking user first is a key to UCD

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    practices because we can't always physically involve the user.

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    However, having the UXer as the user advocate available at times

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    when the real users can't be available, is the next best thing.

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