Page 73 - The Design Thinking Playbook

1.5 How to build empathy with the user

In the needfinding revolving around the theme of “health for seniors,” Priya has realized how important it is
to develop empathy for a target group. Empathy is the ability and willingness to recognize and understand
the thoughts, emotions, motives, and personality traits of another person. By definition, design thinking
is an empathetic, optimistic, and creative way of working to shape the future. When we look at any
number of offers for seniors on the market, we can see that frequently neither empathy for seniors nor an
optimistic basic attitude exists. Retirees do not want to be referred to as “generation 65+,” “best agers,”
or as a target group in the “silver markets.” Neither do they want to book a trip for seniors on the Internet
or be invited to “exercises for seniors.” Retirees are not interested in illnesses. They want to stay healthy
and mobile. In most cases, they feel up to fifteen years younger than they actually are. If you don’t want
to make the same mistakes and in the end deliver a brilliant performance with a major flop on the market,
empathy with the users is elementary.

How can we build empathy with the potential user (by way of the example of “seniors”)?

Priya already has an idea for it. She has developed a prototype smartphone for seniors. It has a simple in-
terface to a blood pressure measurement device. The prototype, named the “ImedHeinz,” is a little clunky,
due to the large keys and an analog interface to the blood pressure measurement device. The enclosure for
the smartphone is reminiscent of the smart pocket calculators from the 1980s.

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