• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

  • Home
  • UX Articles
  • UX Advice
  • UX Resources
  • UX Glossary
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
You are here: Home / UX Advice / Why is empathy so important in design?

Why is empathy so important in design?

December 7, 2020 by uday nandan

If you thought any project just involves building wireframes, prototypes, UI and delivery to the client, then your thoughts are wrong. The first step to any project starts with understanding the problem and the users, who will be using the solution of the problem. And to understand your users, you need to have empathy. Getting to know them, their pain points, their experiences; these are important to know before you start jumping into solutions. Empathy will help you understand the actual problem and will help you come up with better solutions.

Let’s take a simple example to help you understand how important empathy is. You are tasked with building a new app where users can rent cycles to explore the city. Before you get started with building ideas and solutions, do some groundwork. Go around the city, and talk to people to understand how this could help them, ask them questions on the need and demand, whether it is worth it or no, how they navigate the city, etc. This is where you understand the pain points, the experiences of the users, and that is what we call empathy. You will unearth quite a bit of information when you just a lend an ear and listen to people. All the inputs you receive, you can apply them to your work to come up with viable solutions and prototypes. When you empathize with your users, you build more user-centric usable products, and isn’t that what needs to be done to develop a world-class product?

Filed Under: UX Advice

About uday nandan

Uday is the founder and CEO of Index Studio, a digital design studio based out of Hyderabad, India. He has amassed a decade of experience in the fields of UX Strategy and Design, graphics, product development, and has worked with a couple of companies and startups. In his free times, he is also an avid photographer and an accomplished artist working with multiple mediums.

Primary Sidebar

Featured Articles

Designing for Voice User Interface (VUI)

March 29, 2023 By uday nandan

Designing for Voice User Interfaces (VUI) has become an increasingly important area of focus for designers and developers as voice-enabled devices continue to proliferate. Unlike traditional graphical … [Read More...] about Designing for Voice User Interface (VUI)

Human Centered Design vs. Design Thinking

December 29, 2022 By uday nandan

Human-centered design (HCD) and design thinking are two approaches to design that prioritize the needs and experiences of people. Both approaches are focused on understanding users and creating … [Read More...] about Human Centered Design vs. Design Thinking

Featured UX FAQs

What are the best practices when introducing UI and UX changes to products with a large user base?

September 25, 2018 By Dimitrios Stamatis

Having a large user base means that you have established a product that is used and appreciated by … [Read More...] about What are the best practices when introducing UI and UX changes to products with a large user base?

What is the difference between a landing page and a home page?

September 10, 2018 By uday nandan

The homepage is the main page of the website or the application on which the user will land. In case … [Read More...] about What is the difference between a landing page and a home page?

Is it a fact that only big companies need a UX designer?

February 21, 2019 By uday nandan

Not really. Everyone from a small startup to a big company requires the services of a UX Designer. … [Read More...] about Is it a fact that only big companies need a UX designer?

What is persuasive design? What are some examples in practice?

September 22, 2018 By Dimitrios Stamatis

Persuasive design is one of the many tools in a designers toolbox. It can be applied to products or … [Read More...] about What is persuasive design? What are some examples in practice?

Copyright © 2025 · TheUXStudio