This article is a compilation of our articles and videos on topics related to UX mapping methods. Resources cover specific types of UX maps — such as journey maps, service blueprints, and roadmaps — as well as lesser-effort mapping techniques for common UX-related work, such as exploring design ideas and communicating research insights.

Within each category, the resources are shown in recommended reading order. 

If you’re totally new to UX mapping methods, start with this short video and cheat sheet comparing various mapping methods, and then make your way to our resources providing deeper guidance for more specific types of UX mapping activities.

Journey Maps

Definition: A journey map is a visualization of the process that a person goes through in order to accomplish a goal.

In its most basic form, journey mapping starts by compiling a series of user actions into a timeline. Next, the timeline is fleshed out with user thoughts and emotions to create a narrative. This narrative is condensed and polished, ultimately leading to a visualization used to align stakeholders on the holistic experience and identify opportunities for optimizing and improving the journey.

 

Number

 Link

Format

Description

1

Customer-Journey Mapping 101

Article

Definition of journey maps and differences between journey maps and other types of UX visualizations

2

Customer-Journey Mapping 101

Video

3

When and How to Create Customer-Journey Maps

Article

Guidance on the overall structure and key components of journey maps

4

Journey Mapping: 9 Frequently Asked Questions

Article

9 common journey-mapping questions and answers

5

The 5 Steps of Successful Customer-Journey Mapping

Article

A 5-step process for creating journey maps that can be scaled to any scope or timeline

6

The 5 Steps of Successful Customer -ourney Mapping

Video

7

Getting Started with Journey Mapping: 27 Tips from Practitioners

Article

Practitioners’ tips for defining scope, conducting research, and creating visualizations for journey maps

8

Journey-Mapping Approaches: 2 Critical Decisions to Make Before You Begin

Article

How to choose between mapping the current-state or the future-state experience and between using a research-first or assumption-first approach

9

Journey Mapping: 2 Decisions to Make Before You Begin

Video

10

How to Conduct Research for Customer-Journey Mapping

Article

5 qualitative research methods appropriate for journey mapping and a sample research plan

11

How to Conduct Research for Customer-Journey Mapping

Video

12

How to Run a Journey-Mapping Workshop: A Step-by-Step Case Study

Article

A detailed outline of a journey-mapping workshop facilitated by NN/g

13

7 Ways to Analyze a Customer-Journey Map

Article

7 ways to identify the opportunities revealed in journey maps

14

Journey Mapping in Real Life: A Survey of UX Practitioners

Article

How and why practitioners create journey maps and the benefits and challenges of the process

15

Asset Mapping for Experience Consistency

Article

How to use asset maps (a method for evaluating crosschannel consistency) in combination with journey maps

16

Journey Mapping for Remote Teams: A Digital Template

Article

A simple spreadsheet template for virtual customer-journey mapping

 

Full-day Course: Journey Mapping to Understand Customer Needs

Service Blueprints

Definition: A service blueprint is a diagram that visualizes the relationships between different service components — people, props (physical or digital evidence), and processes — that are directly tied to touchpoints in a specific customer journey.

Think of service blueprints as a part two to creating customer-journey maps. Blueprinting is an ideal approach for experiences that are omnichannel, involve multiple touchpoints, or require a crossfunctional effort (that is, coordination of multiple departments).

 

Number

 Link

Format

Description

1

Service Blueprints: Definition

Article

Definition of a service blueprint and its key components

2

4 Key Components of Service Blueprints

Video

3

The 5 Steps to Service Blueprinting

Article

A 5-step process for creating service blueprints that can be scaled to any scope or timeline

4

The 5 Steps to Service Blueprinting

Video

5

Service Blueprinting: Top Questions Answered

Article

8 common service-blueprinting questions and answers

6

Service Blueprinting FAQ

Video

7

Service Blueprinting: Fails and Fixes

Article

The most common pain points of service blueprinting and tips for mitigating these challenges

8

Service Blueprinting in Practice: Who, When, What

Article

How practitioners define service blueprints, their benefits, and when they create them across the design timeline

9

When and Why UX Practitioners Use Service Blueprints

Video

10

Service Blueprints: How to Choose What Experience to Visualize

Article

3 levels of scope for service blueprints and how to decide on the best approach

11

A Guide to Service-Blueprinting Workshops

Article

A step-by-step guide for planning, conducting, and synthesizing outputs from a service-blueprinting workshop

 

12

Service Blueprinting: A Digital Template for Remote Teams

Article

A simple spreadsheet template for virtual service blueprinting

 

Full-day Course: Service Blueprinting

 

UX Roadmaps

Definition: A UX roadmap is a strategic, living artifact that aligns, prioritizes, and communicates a UX team’s future work and problems to solve.

A UX roadmap should act as a single source of truth representing your UX team’s North Star. It helps your designers, researchers, developers, and stakeholders align around a single vision and set of priorities.

 

Number

 Link

Format

Description

1

UX Roadmaps: Definitions and Components

Article

Definition of a UX roadmap and its key components

2

UX Roadmaps 101

Video

3

3 Types of Roadmaps in UX and Product Design

Article

A comparison of product, field, and specialty UX roadmaps and their benefits and challenges

4

The 6 Steps to Roadmapping

Article

A 6-step process for creating UX roadmaps that can be applied to any industry

5

Creating a UX Roadmap

Video

6

UX-Roadmapping Workshops: Agenda + Activities

Article

A step-by-step guide for planning, conducting, and synthesizing outputs from a UX-roadmapping workshop

 

Full-day Course: UX Roadmaps

Mapping Methods for Design Exploration

Some UX maps are useful for surfacing user pain points and mental models that can be used as prompts for ideation. This section provides resources for 2 UX mapping techniques that can used for design exploration: scenario mapping and cognitive mapping.

Scenario mapping is a group exercise that helps your design team think about how your persona segments might approach an activity using your product or service and ideate around the type of experience you want to provide for them, producing candidate solutions for the future design.

Cognitive mapping is a mapping method used to create a visual representation of a person’s (or a group’s) mental model for a process or concept. It can be a useful tool throughout user research, from gathering data to analyzing findings and articulating similarities and patterns.

 

Number

 Link

Format

Description

1

Scenario Mapping: Design Ideation Using Personas

Article

Definition of a scenario map and a step-by-step guide for facilitating a collaborative scenario-mapping workshop

2

Scenario Mapping for Design Exploration

Video

3

Cognitive Maps, Mind Maps, and Concept Maps: Definitions

Article

Overview of cognitive maps, mind maps and concept maps and when to use each in the UX design process

4

3 Powerful Visual Mapping Strategies in UX Design

Video

5

Cognitive Mapping in User Research

Article

Definition of a cognitive map and a step-by-step guide for facilitating cognitive-mapping research

 

Mapping Techniques for Synthesizing Research and Ideas

Some UX mapping techniques help team members make sense out of lots of existing ideas or insights by organizing them into more manageable categories. Affinity diagrams and empathy maps are 2 such techniques.

An affinity diagram is a technique used to organize related items into distinct clusters. This method helps teams collaboratively discuss and analyze research findings, as well as ideas from ideation sessions.

An empathy map is a collaborative visualization used to articulate what we know about a particular type of user. It externalizes knowledge about users in order to 1) create a shared understanding of user needs, and 2) aid in decision making.

 

Number

 Link

Format

Description

1

Affinity Diagramming for Collaboratively Sorting UX Findings and Design Ideas

Article

Steps for facilitating affinity diagramming activities

2

Empathy Mapping: The First Step in Design Thinking

Article

Definition of an empathy map and guidance for facilitating an empathy-mapping activity

3

How to Empathy Map

Video