Empathy Snapshots: Beyond the User Persona
Looking at products and projects through the lens of Design Thinking is one of my favorite things. It’s how I approach most projects and it allows many pockets or modules for expansion. The first step in Design Thinking is Empathy and many products fail because their creators fail to properly understand the user from an empathetic perspective, or fail to adapt as a majority of users help to shape the platform in new or nuanced ways that the developers and designers don’t see or refuse to adapt to . In the beginning stages of building a digital product, it is vital to always consider your users.
There’s this funny meme that shows a worker at his desk looking lovingly at a picture frame. The caption says, “Remember who you are doing this for.” You expect the frame to be filled with a photograph of his family, but instead, it says something unexpected and often sarcastic like “The IRS” or “Your Boss.” In this case, imagine it says The Users. It’s funny, but it’s true. You are doing this for The Users. If we neglect the users, we neglect the purpose. If we neglect the purpose, we lose sight of the meaning and our digital product becomes just noise.
If we neglect the users, we neglect the purpose. If we neglect the purpose, we lose sight of the meaning and our digital product becomes just noise.
The Room of Consequence
Did you ever listen to Adventures in Odyssey as a kid? My family loves us some AIO (did you know it’s an app now?). In AIO, there’s a concept called the “Room of Consequence” that one of the main characters, Whit, invented. The Room of Consequence is a place where you can see scenarios of your life played out how you want them to, but without real-life consequences attached; it is all simulated.
It’s a great teaching tool in the program, but it got me thinking about how we can use our own knowledge to craft scenarios for our user personas, moving beyond just static data. That’s where I came up with the concept of Empathy Snapshots to aid students in their journey of creating user personas, understanding their users, and designing for them.
The Elephant in the Room: AI
I’m fully aware that bringing up AI right now is like bringing up politics at the Thanksgiving table, but here we go. Artificial Intelligence can greatly aid, or it can hinder at great costs. When doing User Research (UXR), it’s important to understand that AI should not be used to bypass a knowledge gap. No, that knowledge gap should be filled with actual knowledge!
There is a danger, especially with students, to say, “Here is the formula, plug this in and play,” while the gap remains as wide as ever. I am constantly reminded of Ecclesiastes 1:9 when thinking of AI: “There is nothing new under the sun.” Or the Keane lyrics: “I dream in emails, worn out phrases, miles after miles of just worn out phrases.“ from the song Perfect symmetry, with our increasing reliance and praise of AI. If you decide to implement Empathy Snapshots in your classroom or your workflow methodology, please make sure that you (or your students) have taken the time to craft user personas with original, creative thought. Do not start with AI. Create the Empathy Snapshots from your own imagination and intelligence first. Typing the formula into ChatGPT or Gemini immediately will only keep that knowledge gap empty.
On the flip side AI can expand it, enhance it, and expound upon it, or make it junk. Use cautiously.
Oh, and one more tip. If you’re going to use AI in anything, own it. Know it backwards and forwards, tweak it, review it, use it as a base, template, whatever. Don’t copy and paste and never look at it again.
Clients are going to hate that, and your profs notice it. Paying customers are going to be suspicious of it and your conversions will drop.
Personally, I am more interested in helping shape your flawed thoughts than your perfect sterile AI generation. To me; AI is a fluorescent overhead light, human though is the soft ambiance of a lamp that gives the room character and mood.
The Empathy Snapshot Formula
Empathy Snapshots for Design Thinking fit right within the modality of Empathy. Remember, Design Thinking starts with Empathy.
To build one, we use a specific formula to turn a static persona into a narrative:
Formula: Problem + Background + Daily Experience
- Problem: The challenge your user faces. This can range from a major “wicked problem” to a small daily inconvenience.
- Background: Key details about the user; demographics, lifestyle, motivations, and routines.
- Daily Experience: How the problem affects them emotionally and practically throughout their day.
Putting it Together
When you combine these elements, you get a prompt that looks like this:
“Describe a day in the life of someone [User Persona] affected by [Problem]. How does this challenge shape their thoughts, feelings, and daily routines?”
The purpose here is to step into the user’s shoes to see the emotional and practical impact of the problem, which eventually guides your solutions. This differs from a standard persona because it is story-driven, focused, and experiential.
Deliverables & How to Use
If you are treating this as an assignment or a project step, here is the workflow:
- Three Snapshots: Create three snapshots (200–300 words each). Before using AI, make sure you really know your user, their daily life, struggles, and motivations. AI can add depth and nuance, but it can’t replace genuine human understanding.
- AI Reflection: (Optional/If applicable) Write a reflection (150–200 words). If you used AI after your initial draft, how did it help? Did it offer new angles or emotional depth? Did it miss pain points? Or did it fall flat?
Why AI Helps (and Why It Doesn’t)
AI amplifies empathy. But it absolutely doesn’t replace it.
Never trust AI to provide or generate the empathy for you. You need to create the Empathy Snapshots on your own before you start prompting. This helps activate your own empathy muscles and helps you think through different scenarios.
It is okay to use AI later when you feel like you’ve exhausted all the scenarios you can think of and if your professor or boss allows it. This will either help you realize that you actually didn’t think of anything, or help you come to the realization that, wow, AI doesn’t know everything!
AI is fantastic at seeing patterns, which can be beneficial in getting to know your users. At the end of the day, though, you need to trust your intuition and your gut over what AI says. Intuition is much more valuable and naturally engrained in us as humans. It’s that muscle memory, that natural reflex. For instance, my son fell off his bike recently. To protect his head, he instinctively reached out with his arm. He got a scuffed-up wrist, but an intact melon. That was human reflex in action. You’ll see your human reflex in action as you exercise your empathy muscles as well, crafting and practicing empathy in these Empathy Snapshots within the realm of Design Thinking, and the result? More intuitive, Human-Centered products. Typing in AI prompts all day? You’ll be a prompter of prompts with no understanding, not an empathizer of human-centered design working to create solutions that solve, alleviate and help fix real issues.