Reality & Design Mapping
I developed Reality Mapping and Design Mapping to help you understand and communicate information about the ways people achieve their goals and the ways they could achieve their goals with new tools. Mapping is a process that results in a large flowchart created out of sticky notes, and depicts an individual’s end-to-end experience of using a tool or accomplishing a goal. If personas are characters, then Maps tell their stories. Reality Maps tell the story that’s being experienced today by real people; Design Maps tell stories about the experiences of personas in the future.
Maps help teams focus on end-to-end user experiences—whether that experience is one lots of people are having today or an experience people could be having in the future. Mapping is the process of creating these flowcharts in collaboration with the users and/or members of your product design and development team. Because Maps focus on the experience, and not how the experience is created, they help teams understand how experience extends beyond a product or a web site. After all, our experiences with companies and brands are the results of all our experiences… from advertising campaigns through customer support.
Testimonials
- Hey, I wanted to mention that we used Tamara's Customer Design Maps (from the chapter in her upcoming book) on a couple of projects (including our new portal) and they really work!"
- Martin Hardee - Director Web Experience Design, Sun
- I was asked to review an early version of [a chapter in the Persona Lifecycle book] and as a result was carrying [the] chapter around with me for a short period. In a meeting with a new partner, we were struggling to find a way to bring together some very incoherent design ideas from our client. After almost 15 minutes of hand waving, I threw caution to the winds and showed them a complete Map as illustrated in this chapter. They immediately got excited… and saw instantly what it would do for us, and how it would help us collaborate. Saved me hours."
- Whitney Quesenberry, Whitney Interactive Design (wqusability.com)
By the way…
Thinking about buying new tools to help you understand your customers and inform business decisions? Create a list of questions you want to answer first. If you need a new metrics package, don't look for fancy screens. Look for screens that actually answer the most important questions and help you understand what to do next to improve your site.