Mapping User Experiences
We know as designers that there is a business value to thinking about the user experience. Experience maps, ecosystem maps, and customer journey maps are but a few of the tools that we use to visualize that user data and information. Within teams and especially when we include stakeholders, the act of mapping experiences helps us find a common understanding, says Jim Kalbach. We begin by researching and collecting accurate information grounded in reality before we enter a sense-making phase, when we look for patterns and common themes.
The diagrams that we make are compelling artifacts. But the answers that we seek cannot be found in the diagrams themselves but rather in the process of mapping information and engaging with others in discourse around it.
People support what they help to create and when we map user experiences as teams, including stakeholders, we draw individuals out of their heads, out of organizational silos, and into the room to work collaboratively and develop this shared understanding.