Building on the development of my user personas, I created an empathy map for each user group in order to gain a deeper understanding of their experiences. This encouraged me to reflect on the emotional, cognitive and behavioural ways in which each user experiences the problem and better evaluate the impact of the identified issues from the users’ perspectives, rather than relying solely on assumptions.

These empathy maps have helped inform my design direction as they highlight the key pain points and desired gains of both children and their parents. They also provided clear objectives for the project, particularly in relation to reducing user anxieties and enhancing positive experiences.