Map the User Experience Journey
Understand the user's actions and challenges over time.
A User Experience Journey Map allows a team to gain a common understanding about the use case through the eyes of the user and over time. It helps a team recognize current user challenges and motivations as well as derive insights about the use case and articulate user needs.
GOAL
Map out the user experience in a chronological order
PARTICIPANTS
Designers, Architects
TIME NEEDED
1 - 2 hours
PHASE
Discover
Before You Start
- Create a Persona
- You should create a ‘persona’, which is an archetype of your users. The persona description includes goals, desires, and tasks of the users. The necessary information comes from end user interviews. Find out more:
Materials you will need
Templates for Download
Templates for Virtual Collaboration
Steps
Creating the User Experience Journey Map includes several steps. We recommend completing them in one session.
Write down the actions step by step in the center lane
What actions does the user take while trying to achieve their goal and/or fulfill their tasks?
Write down the corresponding mindset in the top lane
What is on the user’s mind during this journey? How do they feel at each step of their journey?
Write down the corresponding touch points on the bottom lane
What touch points does the user have? What do they engage with while on the journey (tools, devices, conversations, other people, etc.)?
Mark the pain points and moments of truth
Use different colored board markers or dot stickers to mark the pain points and moments of truth on the journey map.
See Completed Example
A “moment of truth” describes a situation when something could go wrong and/or in which critical decisions have to be made.
“Pain points” are situations that the user finds uncomfortable, frustrating or difficult.
If ideas come up during the exercise, put them to an idea parking lot.
You're done!
You can use the User Experience Journey Map to create Problem Statements and also as a reference throughout the design phase of the project.