The big idea: Empathy is a skill you practice in the field: watch what people do, ask how they feel, and seek out the people at the edges, because what people say and what they do are often different.
In 60 seconds
- Empathy is a field skill: watch what people do, ask how they feel, and seek out people at the edges.
- Use AEIOU to log facts, and keep your guesses in a separate Why column to test later.
- Interview for stories about real past moments, not opinions about the future.
Do this: complete three observations and three interviews for your team’s challenge to build your Empathy grade.
How empathy fieldwork works
Immerse
Experience what your user experiences. Ride the route, stand in the line, fill out the form.
You gain: you know how it feels, not just how it works.
Observe
Watch people in the context of their lives. Note what they do, not what you assume.
You gain: behavior people would never think to mention.
Engage
Talk with people, in planned interviews and quick “intercepts” on the spot.
You gain: stories, feelings and the “why” behind behavior.
Immerse, observe and engage come from the Stanford d.school Empathy Field Guide.
Two tools for seeing clearly
AEIOU: five lenses for any setting
- Activities. What are people trying to get done? What steps, how long, with whom?
- Environments. The whole setting: layout, light, noise, signs, shared and private spaces.
- Interactions. Person to person and person to thing. Routine and unusual moments.
- Objects. What people carry, use or repurpose. Unintended uses are clues.
- Users. Who is there, their roles and relationships, and who is at the edge.
What? How? Why?: from facts to meaning
- What? What is the person doing? Only the facts a camera would catch.
- How? How are they doing it? Rushed, careful, frustrated, easy?
- Why? Why that way? Your best guess about motives. Every guess becomes a question to ask.
The empathy continuum
Apathy
I do not know or care about your experience.
Sounds like: “Not my problem.”
Pity
I notice and feel sorry for you, from a distance.
Sounds like: “That is too bad.”
Sympathy
I feel for you, through my own lens.
Sounds like: “I know exactly how you feel.”
Empathy
I understand your experience and feelings from your side.
Sounds like: “Tell me what that was like.”
Compassion
Empathy in action. I want to help relieve it.
Sounds like: “What would make this better for you?”
Empathy without losing yourself
Empathy lets you step into another person’s shoes and see the world from their side, without losing your own judgment or your path to the goal. You still have a design challenge to solve.
Extremes and mainstreams
Mainstream users show you what is typical. Extreme users (the expert, the first-timer, the person with the most at stake) feel needs more strongly, so the needs are easier to see. Talk to both. What you design for the extremes often works better for everyone.
Empathy on the Edge
This IDEO paper in your readings is about scaling and sustaining a human-centered approach. The takeaway: empathy is a habit a team keeps all the way through a project, not a box you check in week one.
Run an observationA 20-minute routine you can repeat at any site
- Pick a spot where the activity happens, at a busy time. Say who you are if anyone asks.
- Split the lenses. Each teammate owns one or two AEIOU lenses so nothing gets missed.
- Write facts first. “Leaves the line after 4 minutes,” not “gets impatient.” Add times, counts and positions.
- Mark guesses as guesses. Put feelings and motives in a separate Why column and plan a question to test each one.
- Sketch the space. A quick floor plan shows bottlenecks words miss.
- Compare notes right away. Look for things that show up under more than one lens. Those are patterns.
The AEIOU framework was developed by Mark Baskinger and Bruce Hanington (Carnegie Mellon, Universal Methods of Design).
Interview for stories, not opinionsThe shape of a good interview and the habits that keep it honest
A good interview builds in stages: introduce yourself and the project, start easy, build rapport, ask for specific stories, then dig into emotions with follow-ups. Close by thanking them. (This arc comes from Michael Barry, as taught in the d.school Empathy Field Guide.)
Ask for stories
“Tell me about the last time you…” beats “Do you like…?” Stories are about real past events, not guesses about the future.
Talk about feelings
“What were you thinking at that point?” “How did you feel when that happened?”
Ask why, again
Keep asking why, kindly, until you reach what matters to them. This is the 5 Whys method.
Stay quiet
Do not fill pauses or suggest answers. Silence often brings the deepest answer.
Notice contradictions
When what they say and what they do differ, ask about it gently. That gap is often the insight.
Watch the body
Note tone, pauses and body language. Write down exact quotes.
Find your extremesA quick way to list who to talk to
List three to five aspects of your challenge. For each, ask who is extreme on that aspect. For example, if your challenge is about visitors getting around London:
- Experience: a first-time visitor and a tour guide who walks the same route every day.
- Mobility: a wheelchair user and a parent pushing a stroller.
- Language: a visitor who does not speak English.
- Time: a traveler with only a few hours between flights.
- Stakes: someone traveling for a medical appointment.
Other ways in: ask an expert, try the experience yourself (immersion), look at an analogous setting (an airport for a hospital, a theme park for a train station), or ask people to show you what is in their bag.
Fieldwork ethicsRespect the people who help you
- Introduce yourself truthfully and tell people they can stop at any time.
- Ask before taking photos or video, and never photograph children without a parent’s permission.
- Keep what people tell you confidential. Use first names or roles in your notes, not full names.
- Do not paste personal or identifying details into AI tools.
You will go deeper on consent and research ethics in Stakeholder Interviews and Ethics.
Try it: AEIOU Observation Logger
Tool · IB 407
AEIOU Observation Logger
Log what you see in the field under five lenses, then spot gaps, guesses and patterns.
- 1Observe
- 2Check
- 3Share
Lens
Possible pattern
All checks
All possible patterns
Put it to work: your observations, interviews and the Empathy grade
Your team needs three observations and three interviews for your team’s challenge. They feed the Empathy grade (40 points), which rewards a full spectrum of human-centered insights: rich descriptions, surprising insights and deep needs. Document as you go in your individual notebook and in the closed Facebook group.
Fieldwork in five steps
Plan who and where
Choose three observation sites and three people to interview. At least one person should be an extreme user.
Your deliverable: a fieldwork plan in your project plan: sites, times, interviewees, and who owns which AEIOU lens.
Observe with AEIOU
Spend at least 20 minutes per site. Write facts first and mark guesses. Sketch the space.
Your deliverable: AEIOU notes in your individual notebook, eight or more per site, with every lens covered.
Interview for stories
Use a conversation arc, not a survey. Ask for specific stories and follow the feelings.
Your deliverable: interview notes with exact quotes and at least one surprise per interview.
Document with permission
Take photos or short videos only with consent. They bring your story to life later.
Your deliverable: pictures and video posted in the closed Facebook group.
Download your learnings
Right after fieldwork, put each quote or observation on its own Post-it, one board per person you met. Prepare a three to five minute story about each interviewee.
Your deliverable: interview briefings for the class, ready for Interpret/Define.
A worked exampleOne observation, written badly and then well
For example, a team observes the ticket hall of a busy London rail station at 8 a.m.
Weak note
“Tourists are confused by the ticket machines and annoyed.”
Strong note
“Family of four stops at the machine for 3 minutes. Dad switches the screen language twice. Daughter photographs the fare chart. They join the staffed window line instead (7 people).”
The strong note gives facts, times and objects. It shows a workaround (photographing the chart) and raises a question to ask: what were they unsure about?
Do this, not thatHabits that earn the top Empathy score
Do this
- Watch first, then interview. Behavior tells you what to ask.
- Include at least one extreme user.
- Write exact quotes and the moment they said it.
- Ask about specific past experiences.
- Debrief as a team the same day while memories are fresh.
Not that
- Asking “Would you use…?” or pitching your idea.
- Interviewing only classmates or people like you.
- Writing “they seemed frustrated” with no evidence.
- Running the interview like a survey, question after question.
- Taking photos without asking.
Before you submitCheck your fieldwork before the morning briefing
- [ ] We completed three observations and three interviews.
- [ ] Every AEIOU lens has notes from every site.
- [ ] Facts and guesses are kept separate in our notes.
- [ ] At least one interviewee is an extreme user.
- [ ] Each interview has exact quotes and one surprise.
- [ ] Photos and video were taken with permission and posted in the closed Facebook group.
- [ ] Each of us has notes in our individual notebook.
Go deeper
Back to all IB 407 topics · Next: Need-Finding: Seeing What People Need
In-class team activity · 25 min
Ten-Minute Field Safari
By the end: A short AEIOU log from a real spot, one caught inference turned back into fact, a list of extreme users for your team's challenge, and two story questions ready for interviews. Your instructor will give you the password in class.
Part of the Smith GLS human-centered leadership sequence: IB 407, BUAD 317 and BUAD 497, toward the Human Centered Consulting Certificate.
Frequently asked questions
What is empathy in design thinking?
In design thinking, empathy is a skill you practice in the field, not a feeling you wait for. You watch what people do, ask how they feel and look hardest at the people at the edges. Empathy lets you see the world from another person's side without losing your own judgment, because you still have a design challenge to solve.
What is the AEIOU observation framework?
AEIOU is a framework of five lenses for observing any setting: Activities, Environments, Interactions, Objects and Users. It prompts you to note what people are trying to get done, the whole setting, person-to-person and person-to-thing moments, what people carry or repurpose, and who is there, including who is at the edge. It was developed by Mark Baskinger and Bruce Hanington.
What is the difference between sympathy and empathy?
Sympathy means feeling for someone through your own lens, as in "I know exactly how you feel." Empathy means understanding their experience and feelings from their side, as in "Tell me what that was like." On the empathy continuum, both sit between pity and compassion, which is empathy in action: "What would make this better for you?"
Why should you interview extreme users?
Extreme users, such as the expert, the first-timer or the person with the most at stake, feel needs more strongly, so those needs are easier to see. Mainstream users show you what is typical, so talk to both. What you design for the extremes often works better for everyone. To find extremes, list aspects of your challenge and ask who is extreme on each.
How do you write good field observation notes?
Write facts first, the way a camera would catch them, with times, counts and positions. Keep guesses in a separate column and turn each one into a question to ask. For example, "tourists are confused" is weak, while a note that a family stopped at a ticket machine for 3 minutes and switched the screen language twice is strong, because it shows behavior.