Empathy- What is it good for in UX?
JULY 22nd 9:00AM PDT; 12:00AM EDT; 5:00 PM BST (UK); 18:00 CET; 22:30 PM IST
30 minutes
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No Time for Empathy
Empathy gets a bad wrap, and sometimes it’s justified. Overall, it’s a brain-based phenomenon that defines human social interactions. But many people criticising empathy seem to be missing the advanced understanding of empathy emerging in the field of social neuroscience:
“Empathy is the fundamental weakness of Western civilisation”, Elon Musk riffed with controversial podcaster Joe Rogan.
In 2019, Don Norman, grandfather of Human-Centred Design, penned a short essay for Adobe’s blog: “Why I Don’t Believe in Empathic Design”. In it, he said empathy is useless and we should focus on solving users’ problems.
In Rethinking Empathy, we explored the origins of the empathy backlash: Design Thinking encouraged workshopping empathy (faking it) without conducting in-depth ethnographic interviews, contextual inquiry, or task analysis.
Why is Empathy such a ‘trigger’ word?
UX people don’t like to discuss empathy; it’s barely mentioned anymore for fear of setting the house on fire. It might be because empathy is experienced differently. It’s shaped by neurotype, culture, and other human communication factors. Moreover, folks on the autism spectrum and neurotypicals experience empathy differently, known as the ‘Double Empathy Problem‘ (Milton, 2012).
In UX and Service Design, the question is how to use it appropriately and how to help your team cultivate organic, not fake, empathy.
What we’ll cover in Empathy- What is it good for in UX?
- What is empathy from a 2025 perspective?
- What influences building your empathy skills
- How to use empathy science to bring your team along
- Open Q&A
About Miniclasses:
A brief, but deep-dive into a topic, led by Frank Spillers a UX veteran with 25 years in the field, with clients like Nike, Intel, Microsoft, World Bank, CIty of New York, Mayor of London and more. The sessions provide an orientation to key points on a topic. The sessions are FREE- join the Open Circle for access. Get a paid membership for $49 per month (discounted) or $99 standard for access to 250 video trainings, workshop upskilling, mentoring from Frank Spillers and more. Also see: What kind of people join the UXIC?
| Date: | 22 Jul 2025 |
|---|---|
| Time: | 09:00 am PDT 12:00 pm EDT 05:00 pm BST 06:00 pm CEST |
| Check Your Timezone | |
Who You will Learn From
Frank Spillers
Founder - UX Inner Circle
Frank Spillers, MS, founded the UX Inner Circle in 2020 to support senior practitioners facing complex challenges. The community exists to sharpen thinking, increase your confidence, and pressure-test real decisions. It’s built for people doing the work, not just talking about it. Frank founded an award-winning UX and Service Design consultancy (Experience Dynamics) and now leads UX and Service Design at numerous organisations, including the UK Government Digital Service. He has worked with and led teams to deliver hundreds of products and services over several decades. His work spans government, enterprise platforms, nonprofits, and global brands. He brings 25+ years as a senior UX and Service Design leader. His focus areas include Inclusive Design, accessibility, emotion-led design, cross-cultural UX, VR/AR, and UX leadership. His work has directly increased conversion by 88% and revenue by 300% for organizations including Nike, Microsoft, Intel, Capital One, Global Disability Rights Now!, the World Bank, and the City of New York.
