Cape of Empathy is a game that can be played in a variety of ways to promote empathy for our customer’s experience. The game can be played in the context of a design workshop to energize a team, or at a sales conference to educated our partners.
I coined the phrase “Cape of Empathy” to describe what we as UX professionals must do to identify and remedy customer pain points. An idea was hatched to gamify this concept as a way to foster empathy and empower customer-centric solutions in our designs. The game or activity can be used in the context of a design thinking workshop to energize a team, or at a sales, a conference to educated our partners. Models for such games are well known in the domain of the superhero genre.
I worked as a product designer and the chief architect of the game, and partner up with the visual designer, design director, and content strategist. Total of 4 team members.
By having participants suspend belief and wear a Cape of Empathy, they will become empowered to both identify and remedy customer pain points and defeat the Villains of customer experience.
The player whose turn it is for the first time must take the Oath of Empathy before the Cape of Empathy is bestowed on them to wear. The following is the Oath:
UX challenges sorted on the spinner wheel