Empathy Workshop Activities

Gain empathy by trying something new.

Imagine a day in the life of a person you're designing for - their morning routine, diet, hobbies, commute, commonly used products, and more.

Let people show you what matters to them.

Give people a chance to explain their priorities in their own words by inviting them to create a care package for a specific purpose.

Get fresh and perspective by trying something new and (slightly) scary.

Often, we're designing for behavior change. To find emotional common ground with the people you're designing for, observe how it feels to wade into the unknown, and experience how scary trying something new can be.

Identify some of your user's key emotions.

Offer prompts in an interview to uncover people's emotions about things that might not come up otherwise and set yourself up for more engaging conversation.

Writing with empathy is all about inhabiting the shoes (or paws) of something that is not yourself. In this exercise, we ask participants to imagine the perspective of a fox and then write from the point of view of the fox.

Get a window in someone else's life. Gain access to the parts of someone's life you might not otherwise see by having them keep a photo diary for a few days or weeks.