I was recently looking for a way of presenting an empathy map within a presentation that I could use at a conference or in a webinar. When I looked online I was surprised to see that there were no readily available Google Slides templates that could easily be embedded or formatted. I was able to find a couple of Google Drawing templates, but these were often cluttered or messy and I have had problems importing Drawings into my presentations and documents in the past. So I ultimately decided to just make my own empathy map template that could be used in a Google Slides presentation. This template could also be used for members of a team could collaborate within Google Slides to create their own Empathy Maps with one another in a digital format.

How to Fill out an Empathy Map

For those of you are are unfamiliar or new to the concept, empathy mapping is often done as part of design thinking and user-centered design processes. They are a way of trying to see the world through the eyes of your target users. By putting yourself into the shoes of your users you can think about the problems you are trying to solve in their lives in a more holistic manner. I would suggest starting by creating user Personas.

• Begin by focusing on one of your customer types that was identified when you created your user personas. In the center of the template is a space for you to provide a picture of the individual you are exploring and then add a fictional name to that identity.
• Next, explore how that person might think and feel. From the research that you have conducted you should be able to come up with some ideas of what this person might think and feel about the product or service you are designing. What are some of the positive or negative thoughts that this person may feel?
• Then, think about what this person might say and do. What are their currently held beliefs, actions, and solutions to the problem at-hand? Make note of this information and compare it to how they actually feel.
• Continue by exploring what your user might have already heard about similar products or services. Think about what they may have heard from a wide range of people in their lives such as colleagues, friends, and family. How does this person react to the information that they hear? How does this information compare to their held beliefs and the decisions that they have made before? What is the nature of the environment that they hear this information? Where one hears something can have a lot of impact on the decisions that one will make.
• Now think about what that person might see? What solutions already exist that they may have seen before? What does the environment look like where they tend to make decisions or where they interact with existing solutions?
• After you finish with these steps you will continue by examining what the pains and gains of this person may be. Think about the different pain points that they might experience in their daily lives while trying to accomplish their goals. What are some of the recurring situations that they find themselves in? And on the other hand, what would they gain when those problems are completed? What would be some of the positive outcomes and emotions of this person when they use your product?