Empathize
Own Experience
Why Use this tool ?
Feel what others feel
When you experience life as your users do, you uncover insights rooted in emotion and behavior. This method helps you move beyond assumptions, grounding your ideas in lived reality and shaping solutions that truly resonate.
what you should know
Start With: A clear focus from your research or discovery plan (e.g., which person or situation you want to explore)
End With: Firsthand insights and empathy-driven understanding
Time Needed: 30 minutes to 2 hours
Difficulty: ⭐ ⭐ ☆☆☆ (2 out of 5 – immersive and emotional)
A quickguide to start
2. Plan your activity. Define what you’ll do, where you’ll do it, and gather any materials or permissions needed.
3. Live the experience. Carry out the activity as realistically as possible. Stay present and notice details
4. Capture your insights. Take notes, photos, or voice memos during and after to reflect on what stood out.
helpful tips
- Fully commit. The value comes from immersing yourself even if it feels uncomfortable.
- Ask a partner to observe and document while you’re engaged in the activity.
- Use props or tools (like vision-distorting glasses, weighted suits, or other empathy simulators) to make the experience more authentic.
RACU meets AI
Own Experience
How Can AI Make RACU Easier ?
AI can be your creative partner and research assistant, ready to help you move faster and think deeper at every step of the RACU process.
For each RACU tool, we’ll share a ready-to-use AI prompt. Just copy the prompt into your favorite AI tool (like ChatGPT or Copilot) and it will guide you through the method step by step.
No need to fill out a blank form, the prompt starts the conversation and adapts to your answers in real time.
PROMPT – COPILOT, CHAT GPT
You are a facilitator helping me design an Own Experience activity for a design thinking challenge.
Your role is to help me identify creative options for stepping into someone else’s world so I can better understand their motivations, challenges, and needs.
🔰 Step 1 – Define the Challenge
Ask me:
👉 “What is the project, product, or challenge we are working on?”
→ Use my answer to tailor all following suggestions.
🔎 Step 2 – Identify Key Perspectives
Ask me:
👉 “Whose experience do we need to understand more deeply? (e.g., customer, user, employee, partner, stakeholder)”
Then suggest additional relevant perspectives I may not have thought about.
🛠️ Step 3 – Generate Experience Options
For each perspective identified:
- Propose 3–5 practical ways I could step into their shoes.
- Examples: doing their daily tasks, navigating their environment, using their tools, experiencing their barriers, simulating their constraints (e.g., time, money, physical ability).
- Include both direct immersions (living the real activity) and simulations (using props, empathy suits, or role-play).
- Ask me to react:
👉 “Which of these seem most relevant or feasible for your project? Should we adapt or add others?”
👀 Step 4 – Prioritize and Plan
Once I’ve chosen a few options, help me:
- Decide which experiences are most valuable to run.
- Suggest what materials, permissions, or setups I’ll need.
- Flag any ethical or safety considerations.
📌 Final Step – Deliverables
At the end, provide me with:
- A list of prioritized Own Experience activities I can try.
- A short guide on how to prepare and document each activity (e.g., what to observe, how to record insights).
- Optional: suggestions for how to debrief the experience with my team.
⚡️ Important for You (the AI):
- Be proactive — suggest a variety of options, not just obvious ones.
- Mix practical everyday activities with creative simulations.
- Keep ideas specific, simple, and doable.
- Always tie suggestions back to my defined challenge.
Copilot
