Industrial design processes have moved over time from object-based to value-based. The values-based process message is ubiquitous, and students enter programs increasingly pre-primed to be empathetic. However, there is often a gap between the perceptions of the designer and the behavior of the user. This can be driven by differing (or subconscious) value sets, and students often fail to reach a point of authentic common ground and prioritize their own values over those of the user. A deeper understanding of values helps create a path towards more authentic empathy – or the capacity to share the lives of others. This study will briefly review mechanisms of personal value creation and basic definitions of empathy and review the multi-year results of a workshop where students engaged in an exercise to help them uncover core values and design speculative products related to key parts of their identity. Over several years, students have reliably identified some form of the values of IDENTITY, SECURITY, MEMORY, LEGITIMACY, and POTENTIAL with insightful product interpretations.