Designing Better User Journey Maps (+ Figma/Miro templates)

Designing Better User Journey Maps (+ Figma/Miro templates). Helpful guides and starter kits to design effective journey maps that generate insights ↓

✅ We create user journey maps to visualize user’s experience.
✅ Their purpose, however, is to generate meaningful insights.
✅ We start by choosing a lens: current state vs. future state.
✅ Then, we choose a user who experiences the journey.
✅ We capture the situation/goals that we are focusing on.

✅ Next, we list high-level actions users are going through.
✅ We start by defining first and last stage, and fill in-between.
✅ You might start from the end to explore alternative routes.
🚫 Don’t get too granular: list key actions needed for next stage.
✅ Add user’s thoughts, feelings, sentiment, emotional curves.

✅ Add user’s key touchpoints with people, services, tools.
✅ Map user journey across mobile and desktop screens.
✅ Transfer insights from other research (e.g. customer support).
✅ Fill in stage after stage until the entire map is complete.

✅ Then, identify pain points and highlight them with red dots.
✅ Add relevant jobs-to-be-done, metrics, channels if needed.
✅ Attach links to quotes, photos, videos, prototypes, Figma files.
✅ Finally, explore ideas and opportunities to address pain points.

As Stéphanie Walter noted, often user journeys start way before users actually start interacting with our product — so always consider non-digital touchpoints as well. Users might even need to consult other tools and services as they interact with yours, so keep track on them, too.

Personally, I found it remarkably useful to map user journeys against specific mobile and desktop screens that designers have been working on (Spotify model). Not only does it visualize user’s experience *in* the product — it also maps key actions to key screens that the teams must relentlessly focus on.

✤ Useful resources:

Guide To Customer Journey Mapping (+ Free Template), by Taras Bakusevych
https://lnkd.in/e-emkh5A

Complete Guide To User Journey Maps + Free Templates (Miro, PDF), by Stéphanie Walter
https://lnkd.in/erheegtf

End-To-End User Experience Map (Figma), by Justin Tan
https://lnkd.in/eAV_h-hY

Designing Interactive UX Maps, by Megan Brown
Article: https://lnkd.in/ehrSi67B
Template: https://lnkd.in/eZ6weHhp

Ultimate Guide to Experience Mapping, by Joshua Zak, Mackenzie Mitschke
https://lnkd.in/epN4zmAu

User Journey Maps vs. Service Blueprints (+ Templates), by yours truly
https://lnkd.in/e-JSYtwW

Useful Miro Templates For Designers, by yours truly
https://lnkd.in/eQVxM_Nq

Ah, the attached example is from Spotify's wonderful redesign case study: https://spotify.design/article/from-web-page-to-web-player-how-spotify-designed-a-new-homepage-experience, kindly put together by Alexandria Goree, Faith McAllister: