What is an empathy map — and how it's different from a persona.
Short answer
An empathy map is a collaborative visualization tool that captures what a user Says, Thinks, Does, and Feels — and optionally their Pains and Gains. Developed by XPLANE and popularized by the Strategyzer team, it's used in design thinking and product discovery to build a shared understanding of the user before jumping to solutions. Unlike a persona, it focuses on observed behaviors and emotional context rather than demographic and fictional detail.
The empathy map was created by Dave Gray at XPLANE (later documented in Gamestorming, 2010) and was further popularized by Strategyzer as a companion to the Business Model Canvas. It's now a standard tool in design thinking workshops, product discovery, and UX research synthesis.
The standard four quadrants.
Says. Direct quotes and observations from user research — what the user actually said in interviews, surveys, or support conversations. Only put things here that were literally spoken. Paraphrases and interpretations go in Thinks.
Thinks. What the user is thinking but not necessarily saying aloud. In user interviews, you often infer this from hesitations, what they avoid saying, or what they say when pressed. Thoughts are often the anxieties, motivations, and mental models behind the surface behavior.
Does. Observed actions and behaviors. What did the user physically do? Where did they go? What did they click? How did they work around the problem? Does is grounded in observation — screen recordings, session data, field research — not assumption.
Feels. The emotional state of the user — frustrated, anxious, excited, overwhelmed. Use adjectives and emotional vocabulary. This quadrant is the hardest to fill without research; it requires listening for emotional signals, not just functional descriptions.
Pains and Gains (extended version). Many teams add two more sections: Pains (what frustrates them, what keeps them up at night, what they fear) and Gains (what they want to achieve, what success looks like, what value they hope to capture).
Empathy map vs. persona. A persona is a composite, semi-fictional profile of a user segment: name, photo, demographic details, life context. An empathy map is a behavioral and emotional profile built directly from research observations. Personas tell a story about who a user is; empathy maps describe what they experience. Both are useful — empathy maps are better for generating design insight; personas are better for aligning cross-functional teams on who they're building for.
Building one. Run the empathy map at a whiteboard. Participants silently write sticky notes for each quadrant — one observation per note — from research data they've collected. Then cluster, discuss, and identify the highest-priority pains and gains. The result is a shared, evidence-based picture of the user that the team can reference throughout product development.
Snap the completed empathy map with BoardSnap. The AI reads the four quadrants and produces a structured user summary organized by Says/Thinks/Does/Feels.
Frequently asked
Who created the empathy map?
Dave Gray, co-founder of XPLANE, created the empathy map. It was introduced in the book *Gamestorming* (2010), co-authored by Gray, Sunni Brown, and James Macanufo. Strategyzer later adapted it as a companion to the Business Model Canvas, which significantly increased its adoption in product and business design communities.
Does an empathy map replace user personas?
No — they serve different purposes. Empathy maps are better for design insight during discovery. Personas are better for team alignment and communication. Many teams build empathy maps first (from research) and use them to validate or refine their existing personas. They complement each other rather than compete.
Can you build an empathy map without user research?
You can — it becomes a hypothesis empathy map, capturing your team's current assumptions about the user rather than observed data. Hypothesis maps are useful as a starting point and as a checklist for what you need to research. Label hypothesis maps explicitly as assumptions so the team doesn't treat them as facts.
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