A snapshot of the user’s overall character. It’s divided into four sections:
1. Says
2. Does
3. Thinks
4. Feels

Timebox of filling an empathy map is around 10 minutes.

User Archetype

Stable Sarah is a user archetype; mid 30s, homemaker, creative, knows technology but not expert.
A user archetype can be an urban college student, a grandma, …, etc.

SAYS – Exact quotes (or assumed quotes): “I adore my family!”
DOES – What Sarah does in daily life: “Pick up kids from soccor.”
THINKS – Sarah’s private inner thoughts: “I need to stay on budget.”
FEELS – User emotive terms: “Happy to attend Emma Con!”, “Frustrated with …”

Collecting Data for User Archetype

• Send online surveys
• Interview directly
• Start with minimal info and build along the way
• Check app’s store reviews

Buckets

Buckets are groups in the empathy map containing similar post-its, even repetitive ones, whereas each bucket should be titled as the common theme it contains. An example in the case of Stable Sarah would be: “Family First”.
Conducting this with a team is always advantageous.

Timeboxing of bucket/group theming is around 5 minutes.

End of exercise: you should know what the user likes and dislikes
Empathy maps may contain conflicting info.