1. QUESTIONS / INTERVIEW > EMPATHY MAP > PROBLEM STATEMENT
Situation of the interviewed person: You finished High School.At the moment you´re working on your
final thesis for your bachelor studies on communication design.Within a month, you´ll no longer be a
student, but an entrant.You´re female and 24 years old, single, with > 2 years work experience in
communication design.You like to party and hang out with friends.You have a difficult family
backround (father died 2 years ago, one older sister, one younger brother) – you wish to have a closer
connection to your family.You live together with a friend in a flat that belongs to your family.You don´t
have to pay a lot of money for a comfortable house.
My Questions for you:
1.When you´re working on your thesis, can you easily focus on your work or does your mind wander
towards the time after?
My thoughts zone out to the time after and my future.
2. How are your thoughts alike?
Will i find a job? What exactly do i want to do? Do i want to stay in that town i am currently living?
Do i want to move to another city and get new experiences? Will i stay in touch with friends i made
during my studies? Will i be earning enough money? Can i handle all that? Am i ready for all that?
These questions occupy myself a lot.
3. Can you define your most important needs in your current situation.
Acutally, my prevailling mood at the moment is very positive. I am getting enough help, inspiration and
praise. But i´d need definitly more time for everything, also for preparing for the time after. I´d love to
look for jobs already and work on applications, but i don´t have time.
4.What motivates you?
I want my family and friends to be proud of me, and of course be myself proud too.Thinking about a
life as i imagine it and wherein i can do what i love, does motivate me.
5.What inspires you?
People who are in line with themselves and live the way they always imagined it. People who realize
their dreams.
6.What makes you insecure?
When i finish my studies, i´ll apply for jobs. Receiving denials will surely make me insecure.At the
moment my own self-doubts are unsettling me, but no exterior influences.
7. Do you feel your life is changing right now? How does that feel? Good, bad, great, frightening,
liberating?
Definitly. I am about to start a new period of life. On one hand, it feels very frightening, but mostly i
feel happy and very curious about what´s going to happen.
8. Can you define your specific needs and problems at that moment of your life?
I do have problems to make decicions and to find out, what is the right thing for me. Sometimes i wish
i had someone more experienced.
9. Did you already think about these things and put them in question?
These questions are my daily companion.
10. Do you talk about these questions with people?
Yes. I talk about these things with my family, my friends and schoolmates.

2. EMPATHY MAP
SAY
I don´t have enough time to work on my thesis and meanwhile check out interesting jobs. I would
love to live in another city for some time. I want the lifestyle people have there. I coul´d apply for a lot
of jobs there.There are a lot of possibilities.
DO
Talk about my thoughts with friends and family. I check out jobs from time to time. I don´t apply. I
procrastinate. I sell my ticket for a festival i bought some time ago to have more time for working on
my thesis.
THINK
Will i find a job? What do i really want to do? Am i doing the right thing? Being single is not so bad.
FEEL
Happy, curious, frightened, insecure, doubtful.
PROBLEM STATEMENT
Personal problem statement: I do have problems to make decicions and to find out, what is the right
thing for me.
Problem statment by the interviewer:
1. Finding out what is the right thing for someone is a process. It is alright not to know exactly what
that is for someone like the interviewed person.The problem is that this feeling (“i need to know
what i want to do”) restrains the person.
2.Too many opportunities cause a feeling of indecision.This also restrains the person and provoques
self-doubt.
> the problem: restraint / self-doubt.
> what to do: help to clear out stuff, to find a line, make the process visible, show up possibilities,
make the person talk and think, ask questions, listen, be a vis-à-vis.