How scenarios support empathy in design: a case study of undergraduate students

In user-centred design, there is recognition that designers must understand the perspectives of the users for whom the product or service is being designed. Sometimes however, designers may not have direct access to end users or their environment and must rely on techniques to evoke their own and others experiences to uncover user needs. The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of scenarios in developing empathy for the users in an undergraduate design project where there was a lack of access to users and the context of use.