Empathy is one of the most overused words in design. Everyone talks about it, but few truly practice it. In service design, we’re told empathy is the foundation of meaningful, human-centered work. Yet when the deadlines pile up, and the burnout creeps in, genuine connection can feel out of reach. That’s why this december we are holding a masterclass called „Mastering Empathy: Immersive Methods for Human-Centered Design” which invites designers to rediscover empathy. Not as a soft skill or a buzzword, but as a powerful, trainable mindset that can transform how we create, collaborate, and lead.
Guided by Froukje Sleeswijk Visser and Brian Pagán, both internationally recognized experts who have studied and practiced empathy for decades, this two-day program goes far beyond theory. Participants will explore what empathy truly means in design, why it matters, and how to cultivate it through body, mind, and heart. Through immersive exercises, discussions, and embodied methods, you’ll move past abstract frameworks and into real, human experiences. You’ll practice techniques that help you connect more deeply with users, clients, and colleagues – methods that reach beyond personas, surveys, or traditional interviews to uncover authentic insight.
In this course, you will:
• Explore the theoretical foundations of empathy and how they relate to design research.
• Experience deep connection practices that help surface bias and strengthen your empathic capacity.
• Learn practical, embodied methods to integrate empathy into interviewing, remote research, and service prototyping.
• Understand positionality—how your background, beliefs, and emotions influence the way you perceive others.
• Develop empathic interviewing skills that transform routine conversations into powerful human exchanges.
• Discover remote co-creation and rolling research techniques to stay in touch with real users wherever they are.
This masterclass is designed for service designers, UX designers, product designers, and researchers who already have experience in user research and are ready to push beyond their comfort zone. It’s for professionals who want to strengthen their intuition, reconnect with their curiosity, and rediscover what human-centered design truly means. By the end of the program, you’ll not only understand empathy but you’ll have lived it. You’ll have the tools, mindset, and confidence to make empathy a daily design practice, enriching every conversation, project, and collaboration. Because great design starts with people and not data.
Our lecturers will also give a one hour presentation about the subject on the previous day (december 5th), which you can join free. In this open lecture, the experts in participatory design, contextmapping, and UX practice explore how collaboration and co-creation spark deeper understanding and more resonant design outcomes. Through real-world reflections and insights, we’ll look at how Human-Centred Design helps us move beyond assumptions and connect with people’s lived experiences.
Masterclass duration: 1 day
Date: Saturday December 6th 2025 – 10AM to 5PM
The Masterclass consists of three blocks:
Get to know the lecturers:
Froukje is a pioneer and thought leader in human-centred design research. She invented the contextmapping methodology and has traveled across oceans to bring it to people around the world. She’s associate professor of service design at Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands, and an independent design researcher.
→ Links:
http://linkedin.com/in/fsleeswijkvisser
https://contextqueen.nl/
Brian is a UX practitioner, self-care coach, sailboat skipper, & author of the Creative Empathy Field Guide. He has helped over 75 companies turn innovation strategy into digital products, coached over 20 creative professionals, sailed over 100 nautical miles, and given workshops in 14 different countries.
→ Links:
https://d3e.co/brianpagan
https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianpagan
