This graphic is part of the Prototyping class I am taking offered for FREE at iversity.com. I find this simple chart, that a person would fill out, is a good exercise in really getting your thoughts out on paper. I am finding that it is helpful to actually get the idea out of your head, and force yourself to get the ideas out on paper. And it is great to really push yourself to come up with more than one idea. Go for it! And use the chart below to explore the reasons and products you will need for your next prototype.
First, I learned that it is very difficult to write one entry on exactly every single day. So yes I did cheat a bit and write more than one entry a day to play catch-up on days that I missed. Don’t kill me.
Second, though many of the principles I was already familiar with, it was good for me to write them down and work harder at committing them to memory and learning.
Third, its rather nice to have all of these little lessons, from lists, the definitions to UX quotes all in one small UX journal.
Finally, now that my experimental deadline has been successfully met, I plan on continuing to full out my UX journal of learning. My notebook is less than half full, so there are plenty of other pages I can fill with valuable UX lessons and content.
Understanding how the user will go through a process makes for a better design.
When a UI designer is assigned a new feature to build, it is crucial that you understand this process from the user’s point of view. You might think, “Oh I know all the steps the user will go through. I have it all in my head.”
Well I am here to tell you probably don’t have all of the steps the user might go through in your head. This is the advantage of creating a Journey Map. Call it what you will:
Journey map
User flow
Flow chart
Task flow
Customer journey map
Experience map
To me all of these terms are very similar. Yes I know I am bastardizing these terms by clumping them all together as one item. I understand there are difference in these terms and when they should be used. However, the point I want to make is just think about how the user will go through the process and make some sort of illustration to show these steps. You don’t have to use some fancy software like InDesign or Omnigraffle. Go completely low fidelity and just sketch it out on pencil and paper.
There are benefits of sketching the user flow on to paper and get it out of your head:
You think you have thought of all of the options. Well you have not.
You will discover unknown unknowns.
You might leave out a step when it’s left in your head. Drawing each step really fleshes out the process.
There will be additional avenues you have not considered that only sketching will bring to the surface.
It forces you to visually consider the options and how many additional steps those option might provide.
It illustrates how complicated a user flow can get. It’s often more detailed than we thought.
As with all sketches, it provides a great communication tool that you can then show to your team to continue the discussion.
So before you start designing any software, or mocking up any of your fancy ideas in Photoshop of Sketch, take a few moments do perform this crucial step of creating a Journey map / User flow / Flow chart / Task flow / Customer journey map / Experience map. It’s a great idea to get any thought floating around in your head on to paper.
Jennifer Blatz explores the world of UX through words and imagery
