Ontario Parks Empathy Map

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Whilst studying IMM at Sheridan College, one of the bigger modules in the program is Interaction Design. My first assignment was to create an empathy map for a digital product or service and receive feedback from someone who is an actual user of the service/product. When I found a user to interview, we had it set that the digital product will be Ontario Parks.

Who is the user?

-> The user is a 31 year old male who is an avid camper and camps either solo or with a group and prefers late-summer camping.

-> The user also likes off-roading and enjoys being outdoor

-> When the user looks for a campsite, he generally looks for interesting areas near the campsite where he can off-road, hike, or take his canoe.

-> Most importantly, the user depends on reviews, blogs and articles when choosing campsites. This means that his largest influence isn’t based on what is given by the Ontario Parks on their website.

User Research

When I sat down with the user, I asked him to go through the website with the goal of booking a campsite for a long-weekend and reserving it online. I took note of 4 key things:

What the user is doing actively on the website, especially when it comes to filtering, choosing and looking at restrictions.

What the user thinks this is fairly subjective, but I put myself in his shoes and imagines what I would think when going through the booking process.

What the user says this is pretty straightforward, but lack of talking sometimes means the user is either frustrated or too concentrated

What the user feels again this is subjective, but I think of emotional keywords that applies to the user’s process.

Mapping the User

From the previous note-taking exercise, I narrowed down the notes into the 5 main parts of my empathy map:

Tasks: Reserving a campsite online has several subtasks that the user completes. When filtering online, the user has too look at what’s available on the days he picks, and then look at the restrictions on the campsite for those available days. Finally, the user will look at details like location and amenities.

Influences: The user almost always has a clear idea of which campground he is picking when entering the Parks Ontario site. This is mainly because his influences come from articles and ratings on google maps.

Pain Points: The legend and restrictions given below the map of the campground are sometimes vague. Mainly, the user has gone into a campground to finally book a site, but it turns out there are no “green” sites available even though the campground appears on the searches.

Feelings: The main feeling I identified is indifference. The user is not excited or enjoys the experience, but needs to go through it in order to reserve a site.

Overall Goals: The user wants to be able to book the best campsite for his needs, based on the information available and not just whatever is available.