I am the user; I am not the user

The dualistic mindset that can prevent catastrophic design decisions.

I don’t think I became a good designer until I became an empathetic designer. And yet, that’s not entirely accurate: how can I be truly empathetic with people I’ve never met, people I can only conjure in my mind?

Empathy is defined as the ability to understand and share the feelings of other people. I’m designing products for millions of people. I can’t possibly understand them all. I can’t truly share their feelings. So what can I do?

Over the years, I’ve adopted a dualistic approach to this problem. First, I imagine myself as the primary user. Then I acknowledge I am absolutely not the primary user, and go from there.

I am the user

When I begin designing a product or feature, I start by asking myself how I would feel if I were the end-user. “Do I like this? Would I use it? How does it make me feel?” I consider a negative response a warning sign: I might be going down the wrong path. A positive response tells me I might be headed in the right direction.