User Journey Maps are defined by Yale University Journey Maps are a UX visualisation document that showcases the steps that a user takes in a process to accomplish a goal. Personas are created with information gathered from user and stakeholder interviews. As a result of these activities, you can identify the most important functionality an audience needs.

I have a little bit of experience creating User Journey Maps, however I needed to refresh my memory. Neilson Norman Group uses this as a template for the visualisation.

What is the goal of a Journey Map?

Journey maps are a combination of storytelling, visual design, and empathy. When completed, I will have a complete idea of how my users interact with my app and have clear definitions of your pain points. The process of creating a journey map will allow me to have an internal conversation and avoid any possibility of assumption misalignments.

This is a great UX skill to understand because a visual design deliverable like a journey map is an effective way of creating something memorable. It is easily digestible so that everyone from managers, stakeholders and staff members can easily relate to it. I had never completed any myself when working at Rapid7, however a lot of people presented them.

What Makes up a Journey Map?

1. The Person – This is usually represented as a Persona or an Archetype. This provides a point of view for your users/people.
2. Environment or scenario – This describes the journey that the user will be going on. An example of this could be “John Smith is looking to buy a new car”. This lays the expectations of the user and based on which persona/archetype they are, we can make assumptions on user behaviour.
3. Journey Phases – This describes the high-level stages of the user’s journey. In the previous example, we can use stages like Research -> Test Driving -> Purchasing -> Initial Experience.
4. Actions, Mindset, Emotions – These are behaviours that the user will encounter throughout their journey and can be mapped while they go through the different stages. John could have felt overwhelmed during the research stage and had a student-like mindset, but when he got to the test-driving stage, he could experience doubt and a second-guessing mindset.
5. Opportunities – These are insights that come as a result of the mapping. The opportunities allow the team to identify and answer questions like “How can we improve the test-driving experience?” and “Where are the biggest opportunities to improve the car-buying experience?”.

Creating my own Journey Maps…

I created my user journey map using Lucid. It can be viewed in higher detail, here.

This process has helped me to consider pain points that I would have otherwise overlooked. Going forward, I feel more confident that I will be able to create a better user journey. It has also inspired me to think of new features. I think I will have to complete another user journey map from the dog shelter workers’ perspective, as there will also be a lot of potential frustrations on their part, particularly when it comes to messaging potential adopters and organising visits etc.