Missing project resources in "Intro to design thinking"

Hey there Kassandra Escoe Great question! It can definitely seem confusing at first, but let me clarify how this process works.

In design thinking, it's true that we aim to avoid making assumptions about users. However, when we're working with a fictional character, like Stable Sarah, we're using exercises like empathy maps to help build a deeper understanding of a user archetype. An empathy map in this case doesn't represent an individual user profile, but rather a collective view of what a group of users (like Sarah and others similar to her) might think, feel, say, and do. This helps us get inside the mind of that general audience, even though we're working with a single example.

Now in real-world scenarios, creating an empathy map before user interviews can help structure and guide research by outlining initial assumptions about users. For example, when designing an app for freelancers, you might hypothesize their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors based on what you already know. This empathy map provides a starting point, allowing you to focus your interviews on validating or adjusting these insights. It doesn't replace user research but helps make the process more efficient and targeted, ensuring you explore the most relevant areas during interviews.

Regarding the activity where you’re asked to sort Post-Its documenting Sarah’s words—what you're doing here is organizing any information you think represents her thoughts, feelings, actions, etc. These Post-Its represent various perspectives of this user archetype. Sorting them is part of empathizing with your users before diving into deeper research, and it helps the design team focus on key insights.

As for not having a video of the interview, while that could be a helpful learning tool, this exercise encourages you to start making educated guesses based on what we know about users like Sarah. The goal isn't to have a fully accurate, research-backed profile yet but rather to build an initial understanding. Later on, actual user interviews would refine these assumptions. In this case, empathy maps are simply an easier and more flexible way to represent and start thinking about users, especially when we're designing for a fictional scenario like "Emma Con."

This method gets the process moving and helps generate ideas, which will later be validated with actual research! I hope that clears it up.