You can have empathy, but nothing will replace talking to your intended audience.

Brainstorm every possible solution: Include all stakeholders in the discussion and invite everyone to share ideas and potential solutions.

The medium you choose needs to be driven by your solution and a format that your stakeholders & test subjects can use.

We’ve found that sharing simple drawings on a digital whiteboard can often yield great feedback with very little effort. If it’s not possible for you to direct users through your prototype, a more hi-fidelity approach may be required.

Consider emotions: Focus on user flow rather than just information architecture to create a more enjoyable product experience.