Different kinds of visual representations are used in user experience (UX) design. These tools are designed to help a team develop empathy with users and to keep the design focus on them. One of those tools is an experience map, which tells the story of how users move through a human experience. One of those is an experience map, which tells the story of how users move through a human experience. Experience maps help the design team maintain focus and they can also be used to identify problem areas in the company.
What is an Experience Map?
Experience maps are useful because they focus solely on the experience, not the user interface with a product. Experience maps are not associated with a particular product; they describe the human experience on a more general level. This tool shows you the big picture and follows the user through an experience from beginning to end, identifying points of concern so they can be addressed. Creating an experience map is another way for the design team to form a bond and a design mindset before product development starts.
Empathy Mapping
An experience map can come before or after an empathy map. Empathy maps are based on qualitative user research to help the team recognize the user’s pain points. Based on data collected during a user interview, an empathy map describes how a user thinks, feels, speaks, and acts. This information is organized into a grid system called an empathy map. Empathy maps are one of the tools that help the team make design decisions and stay user-centered throughout the process.
Creating the Experience Map
The empathy map can be used to create an experience map. The experience will be broken into stages describing the different goals of the customer as they interact with the company during their journey. The stages are also called phases and should be labeled with -ing verbs. An example might be the process of buying a car. The experience would focus on the process itself, not how a user would buy a car from a particular dealer or manufacturer. An experience map describes a big-picture experience, not the user interacting with a particular product.
Based on Research
The next step in experience mapping is to use the empathy map and persona to describe an experience. Use the research findings to identify the stages of the experience. In the case of someone buying a car, the stages might be something like looking at car ads online, examining finances, looking for a loan, deciding whether to buy new or used, test driving, negotiating price, completing paperwork, driving the car home. On a whiteboard or in a digital collaboration tool, delineate and label a section for each stage of the process.
Identify Touchpoints and Friction Points
At this point, you will use the information from the empathy map to create touchpoints, the places where the user interacts with the company, and friction points, problems they encounter along the journey. Put each touchpoint on a separate Post-It note and place them on the whiteboard in the appropriate stage. A touchpoint might be visiting a company website, which could fit into stage one, looking for cars online, or scheduling a test drive. Each stage will have a number of touchpoints lined up underneath it.
Some of the touchpoints will involve positive feelings and some negative. Line the touchpoints up under the stage with behaviors first followed by positive and then feelings at the bottom. These negative feelings are called friction points. A friction point for the car buying example might be multiple confusing dropdown menus to go through to see a car description. Be sure to use different colors of Post-It notes for the touchpoints and positive and negative feelings because it is much easier to keep track of them that way.
Using an Experience Map to Solve Problems
Once you have identified friction points, the design team can invite representatives from other departments in the company to come in and address the negative user feelings. Draw a line under the list of behaviors and feelings and have the group generate good and bad attributes of the business and place them in the appropriate positions. You can take the process one step further and use an experience map to look at how users see the competition. Under the company attributes, draw another line and add Post-its with beliefs about your competitors.
When the experience map is finished, present it to stakeholders in a workshop. Be sure to include users’ stories about their experience to reinforce that the users are the main focus of the process. The map helps the group identify areas where the users would like to see improvements, and these can be built into the upcoming design.
Where to Learn UX Design
If you would like to switch to a career in UX/UI design, one of the best ways to do that is to sign up for classes. You can choose classes that meet in-person or online to learn design software and other applications. Some people prefer to attend brick-and-mortar sessions when learning new information, but that isn’t always available. Live online classes have a similar set-up with a real-time, remote instructor who can answer questions and take control of your monitor—with permission—to show you how to do things. Training is part or full-time and available weekdays, weeknights, or weekends.
The best way to prepare for a career shift to a field like UX design is to enroll in a bootcamp or certificate program. These are intensive training courses that run from a few weeks to a few months and another plus of training is that you will leave class with a professional-quality portfolio that you can show to prospective employers.
Conclusion
It’s easy to learn UX design and start a new career. Check out Noble Desktop’s UX design classes. Choose between in-person sessions in NYC at Noble’s location or sign up for live online UX design courses and attend from anywhere. Use Noble Desktop’s Classes Near Me to find other UX design bootcamps in your area.