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| Criterion | ![]() UX Research User Interviews | ![]() Innovation Lotus Blossom | ![]() UX Research Empathy Mapping | ![]() Innovation Brainstorming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | When teams derive needs only from assumptions and real motives are missing, user interviews give direct access to behavior and meaning. Conversations from the target group's everyday life make patterns, tensions, and open questions solidly visible. | When a central question feels too large, the method breaks it into neighboring topic fields with their own depth of ideation. It holds structure and openness at the same time, so adjacent perspectives don't get lost. This grows an idea space out of a core problem. | When a lot is assumed about a target group but little is seen jointly, empathy mapping makes knowledge and gaps directly comparable. The picture also shows which assumptions hold up and where evidence is missing. | When a team faces an open question with many obvious directions, the method first creates breadth instead of premature commitment. It separates idea flow from evaluation and makes lines of thought visible, creating a pool for selection and further development. |
Complexitysame | Low | Low | Low | Low |
Timedifferent | 30–60 min per interview | 45-90 min | 30–60 min | 30-60 min |
Participantsdifferent | 1 participant per interview | 3-10 | 4-8 | 4-12 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Interview Notes, Themes, Insight Summary | Lotus Diagram, Idea Themes, Shortlist | Empathy Map, Assumptions List, Research Gaps | Idea pool, Theme clusters, Shortlist |
Tagsno overlap | QualitativeResearchCustomerDiscovery | BrainstormingIdeationCreativityDivergenceWorkshop | SynthesisQualitativeWorkshop | BrainstormingIdeationCreativityWorkshopDivergence |



