EMPATHIZING WITH USERS

Empathy forms the basis of all my work. While adjusting for the different business contexts in which I may work, I always strive to empathize and design for human needs. And…I am always seeking new ways to uncover and understand the complex needs of the people I serve.

Co-Creative Journey Mapping

Using novel approaches to user research, I led teams to develop new techniques of co-creating user journey maps. By catering to a user’s creativity through story telling, we developed an emoji system and diary that enabled our team to identify emotional pain points and delights throughout their journey on a health and well-being project.

Field observation of delivery biker adaptations: water-resistant phone storage mounted on handlebars and magnets holding a paper note for hands-free reading, illustrating how users invent workarounds when designed solutions don't exist. — Field observation in action…a delivery biker’s improvised water-resistant phone storage and magnet-mounted note paper, revealing unmet needs that no product had yet addressed.

Journey Map Comparisons

By overlaying multiple user journey maps, our team was able to identify patterns to develop compelling insights across many users at once.

Diet Journey Opportunity chart plotting multiple participants' weight loss progress across three stages (First Attempt, Repetition and Realization, Maintenance), with participant photos at each inflection point. — Overlaying the journeys of many participants at once…a Diet Journey chart revealing that stages 1 and 2 are universal trial-and-error phases, regardless of age or background.

Distributed User Research

In order to train large numbers of client employees on innovation techniques and reach an even greater number of users, I improved upon this technique for training a sales force to implement cursory user research and generate insights from the field.

Two insurance company jobs-to-be-done: 'Help me evaluate, select and approve effective weight loss treatments' and 'Help me reduce unnecessary medical treatments and guard against fraud', each with stakeholder, problem, and design implications. — Jobs-to-be-done framed from the insurance company perspective…each job unpacked into who, what, why, and the design implications that follow.

Observations

If companies cannot serve a particular need, users will find a way to serve it themselves. We can use this…the workarounds and adaptations people invent…as a rich source of opportunity.

Observation of delivery bikers: mobile shipping offices with air-conditioning units set up on public sidewalks, and packages being aggregated from smaller to larger trucks on the street. — Delivery bikers set up mobile shipping offices, complete with air-con, on public sidewalks…revealing an entire informal logistics infrastructure invisible to most.

Delivery men playing cards on a public sidewalk while waiting for assignment, with no central office to report to. — Delivery men alleviate boredom playing cards on the sidewalk while waiting for assignments…their ‘office’ is public space, revealing a major gap in working conditions.

User research session: a participant's diet diary and medication packets spread on a table, with handwritten journey notes and printed photo strips documenting their health routine. — A participant walks through their diet diary…handwritten notes, photo strips, and medication packs laid out together to reconstruct the emotional texture of their daily health routine.

Diet Journey and Opportunity chart: a curve showing participant weight loss progress across three stages (First Attempt, Repetition and Realization, Maintenance) with participant portrait photos at each inflection point. — The Diet Journey chart…overlaying many individual stories onto a single arc to surface shared patterns and identify where intervention can most shorten the struggle.

Corporate lobby at an 'Innovation in Customer Value Proposition' fair, with a large floor-level signage diamond and project posters displayed in the background. — An ‘Innovation in Customer Value Proposition’ fair…bringing research outputs out of the conference room and into a public forum where the whole organization could engage.