Future Journey Map Part 1

Generate a holistic view of your user’s future experience with your solution over time.

Part 1 of the Future Journey Map provides insight into the user’s future experience with your proposed solution. It can be used to show new improvements or new ways a user is accomplishing a goal. It is a way to understand a holistic view of how your solution can impact a user’s life over time.

The source of input for Future Journey Map would be your solution and how you envision the future to be. Journey maps are iterative and change with new findings as you test your solutions.

1-6 people

45-90 minutes

What you’ll need

Pens or markers
Sticky notes
A solution

Prerequisite Activities

Downloadable Materials

Instructions

step 1

Write a persona and goal

From your set of personas, choose one to focus on. Next, add the persona’s goal. What goal are they trying to accomplish? The persona and persona goal should not change from the Current Journey Map activity.

step 2

Identify what the user is doing

Show how the user’s actions have changed with your solution. Begin writing out the different phases of the user journey. Then, write each major action or decision the user takes. Optionally, add a timestamp to the action. When you’re done, you’ll start to imagine how the user is moving over time.

step 3

Add the touchpoints

Show when the user will be interacting with your solution. Follow the same journey to determine the multiple touchpoints the user interacts with.

A touchpoint is a point of contact or interaction between a user and a business, product, brand, or service. Examples of a touchpoint are a physical object, a device, a person, or a form of communication such as email.

step 4

Illustrate the user’s feelings

Show how your solution impacts the user’s perception of their experience over time. Follow the same journey, again, and show your user’s feelings. Add a feeling for each action and touchpoint. A user’s feeling may be positive or negative. They may feel satisfied or frustrated. Place the positive feelings above the dotted line and negative feelings below the dotted line. After you’ve added the user’s feelings, draw a line to connect each feeling.

step 5

Elaborate on the context

Show how your solution changes the aspects surrounding the user. Add additional information to illustrate the context of the situation. This can be user thoughts, quotes, other people in the scene, or environmental conditions.

step 6

Reflect on your Journey Map

Take a step back and look at your user journey as a whole. You should now have a clear understanding of the user’s future experience and how they are completing their goal with your solution.

step 7

Identify the value exchange

Value exchange is the trade of something between the user and a business for some benefits. Both parties gain some form of value from either a single interaction or across multiple touchpoints. The value exchange can represent the relationship between the user and a business. Strive for a healthy relationship where the user is gaining as much as the business.

Add the value exchange for each touchpoint.

Value for business: what value will the business gain from the user’s interaction with the touchpoints? This could include loyalty, data, revenue, or re

Value for user: what value will the user gain from the user’s interaction with the organization? This could include safety, convenience, emotional impact, financial gain, or social connections.

Tip

Feel free to add swimlanes to help your team have more clarity on other aspects of the user’s journey.

step 8

Share your idea

The Future Journey Map can help you tell the story of how your solution will shape the future user experience and provide value to both the organization and the user. Share it with others and use it as a tool to facilitate conversations, spark collaboration, and gain alignment.

step 9

This activity has a Part 2

Continue with Future Journey Map Part 2 after you prototype and experiment with your solution.