# Journeymap

Summary of method
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User journeymaps tell a story of a user's experience, from initial contact, through prolonged engagement and long-term relationship with a product. They help to understand the different *contexts* in which the user interacts with a product or service and the pain points they might face. Journeymaps are useful for identifying new opportunities and design features to overcome the pain points and challenges of users at specific moments in time and within specified contexts. A journeymap may be based on a [persona](/H1wfnh9up) or [scenario](/ByHgJMnup). User and cusomter journeymaps may be used synonymously, however there might be differences in a map depending on whether you are focusing on user needs or a customer needs, such as a user map might focus on interactions with a specific product whereas customer journey may focus on the entire customer experience with a brand or service, of which using a product is only a small part.

Criticisms of method
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Criticisms of the method include the potential to introduce bias or to over simplify a problem. Deciding at what level of detail to capture user actions can also influence the kinds of insights that can be generated through the journeymap. One potential way to overcome bias is to co-create journeymaps with end-users.

Example of method
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An example journeymap for creating and sharing digital videos in previous decades

There are many different journeymap templates which may be more or less complex depending on the goals and needs of the project. Common aspects include the steps through time, often presented on a horizontal axis, and vertical themes for analysis, such as questions a user might have, emotional moments associated with differnet activities, such as happy moments or specific painpoints, and opportunities for improvement or new innovation. Journeymaps are updated as design progresses, especially to show how pain points have been overcome.

Common steps for journeymap creation
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There are many different journeymap templates which may be more or less complex depending on the goals and needs of the project. Common aspects include the steps through time, often presented on a horizontal axis, and vertical themes for analysis, such as questions a user might have, emotional moments associated with differnet activities, such as happy moments or specific painpoints, and opportunities for improvement or new innovation. Journeymaps are updated as design progresses, especially to show how pain points have been overcome.

When to use this method
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This method is a common tool for empathising with user needs.

# **Practicing method**

Overview
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* *Time:* 30-40 minutes
* *Purpose*: to produce a journeymap
* *Materials or tools*: digital or analogue notepad, miro, journeymap template

Steps
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1. Divide into groups of 4-6 people
2. Case: A person is making an online appointment to visit an optician for an eye test and picking up new glasses later. Create a journey map which includes:
a) Actions
b) Questions
c) Happy moments
d) Pain points
e) Opportunities
3. Share your journeymap with another group.
4. Gather insights from the other group's journeymap that you now have access to. Discuss in your group whether the level of detail seems correct, what insights you can gain through the journeymap and how it is similar or different to the one your group produced.

**Further Reading**
Course textbook- chapter 5 - Emotional Interaction
[Interaction Design Foundation provides more information about journeymaps](https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/topics/customer-journey-map#buyer_journey_vs_user_journey_vs_customer_journey:_what's_the_difference?-3)

###### tags: `method`