TOOLS FOR REFINING + EXPERIMENTING

USER EXPERIENCE MAP

TIME SIZE MATERIALS
45-60 min your team post-its, pens

CREATE AN EXPERIENCE MAP

Now that your design team has selected an idea to prototype, its very important to break your
concept into bite-sized pieces that can be easily made and tested. A great way to do this is by
creating an experience map: a visualization of the end-to-end experience a user might have with
your idea over time. (It is also sometimes referred to as a user journey.) Try out this toolkit for
storyboarding created by +Acumen, with step-by-step instructions along with a visual sample.
Review our example, then use pgs. 6-9 of this worksheet to do this activity as a team.

IN STRUCTION S :
01 As a group, visualize the experience that a user might have
with your idea over time. Any idea or service that you create
will have a beginning, a middle, and an end. How will a user
find out about your idea? What will their first experience with
the product or service be like? How does the experience
culminate at the end?

02 As a group, select a user for your product or service. Give

this person a name and write down a few characteristics
about them. Name, age, profession.

03 Place Post-it notes in each of the empty boxes in the space

provided. Now draw the key moments that your team has
just identified in the journey for a user experiencing your
product or service. Rough sketches or cartoons are great.
Stick figures are fine tooyou dont need to be an artist.
You should limit these key moments to six or less.

04 As a group, discuss your story. Do you need to rearrange

the order of the Post-it notes? Are there key steps in the
user journey that you've missed? Add them now. For each
moment you've sketched, give that moment a title in the
space above the Post-it and write a brief description of
what's happening in the space provided below the Post-it.

05 Share your insights with us! Upload your work on www. A HELPFUL TIP
openideo.com. Click Update Your Entry, then Upload File Try hanging your user journey up in a place where the entire team can see it.
and attach the User Experience Map as a document. Quickly walk through the experience together.
 EXAMPLE

Describe your idea with one concise sentence.

MY IDEA IS: #DARKBUS

#DARKBUS is a service that enables riders to

easily report buses with broken lights or drivers
who will not use them so that officials can direct
resources to fix these dangerous conditions.

Draw and describe the ideal user Name: Priscilla

Title THE USER Age: 28

Profession: Tailor

Any Other Key characteristics: She is a

mother of two children

Concisely describe what is happening

Priscilla is riding the bus home

from work. It is dark outside
and dark inside the bus. A man
touches her inappropriately, but
she is unable to identify the per-
petrator because the bus is dark
and crowded.
 EXAMPLE
Title
AWARENESS Title
TAKING NOTICE

AWARENESS

Concisely describe what is happening Concisely describe what is happening

Priscilla hears a com- The next week, Priscilla

mercial on the radio with rides a dark bus home from
information about the work. When she exits the
#darkbus campaign. The bus, she memorizes the
free telephone number license plate number.
and the hashtag are easy
to remember.
 EXAMPLE
Title
REPORTING THE PROBLEM Title
FEEDBACK

Concisely describe what is happening Concisely describe what is happening

She sends an SMS with Priscilla receives an SMS

the hashtag #darkbus message confirming that
and the license plate of she is the 8th person to
the bus to the free tele- report that bus this week.
phone number. She learns that this informa-
tion will be anonymously
forwarded to the city gov-
ernment.
 ACTION FROM OFFICIALS
Title
Concisely describe what is happening
The next week on her
way home from work,
she sees a traffic officer
inspecting the lights on a
stopped bus.
Title
PROBLEM IS FIXED
Concisely describe what is happening
One month later, Priscilla
rides home safely on the
bus. The inside lights are
on and she feels safer. She
texts #lightbus to the free
telephone number.
C R E ATE YOU R O W N EX P ER IEN C E M A P !

Describe your idea with one concise sentence.

Draw and describe the ideal user Name:

Title Age:

Profession:

Any Other Key characteristics:

Concisely describe what is happening

Title Title

Concisely describe what is happening Concisely describe what is happening

Title Title

Concisely describe what is happening Concisely describe what is happening

Title Title

Concisely describe what is happening Concisely describe what is happening