NN/g article by Rachel Krause and Sarah Gibbons introducing empathy maps: collaborative visualizations that capture what a team knows about a user or user segment, organized in four quadrants — Says, Thinks, Does, Feels — around the user at the center. Unlike journey maps, they capture a mindset rather than a sequence of steps. The article covers one-user vs. aggregated maps, a six-step process for building maps from qualitative research, their use as a supplementary research instrument, guidance on AI (organizing evidence you already have is different from asking AI to generate evidence you don’t have), and common mistakes such as mapping assumptions instead of data, defining segments too broadly, or letting maps go stale. According to the authors, maps grounded in real data help align teams, surface gaps in research, and prioritize user needs. https://www.nngroup.com/articles/empathy-mapping/