Developed by Dave Gray and Scott Matthews at XPLANE and first published in Gamestorming (Dave Gray, Sunni Brown, and James Macanufo, 2010).
A one-page canvas that sorts research notes on a customer into what they say, think, do, and feel, making the gaps between stated and actual behavior visible.
When to reach for it
Right after customer interviews or observation, when the team needs one shared picture of the person before designing anything.
How it runs
- Pick one customer or user type per map.
- Gather interview notes, observations, and support logs.
- Sort the material into says, thinks, does, and feels.
- Mark where what people say departs from what they do.
- Add pains and gains, then draw the design implications.
Where it sits in SOLVE eX
Go to the source
- Gamestorming: A Playbook for Innovators, Rulebreakers, and Changemakers, O'Reilly, 2010
- Updated Empathy Map Canvas, Medium, 2017
- The Empathy Map: A Human-Centered Tool for Understanding How Your Audience Thinks, XPLANE, 2021