Future-state journey map

Output

A journey map that describes a vision for the user experience you want to create.

Outcomes

• When used alongside a current state journey map, you can perform a gap analysis and then plan a program of design sprints to make the changes required to reach the vision.
• When combined with user scenarios, a future-state journey map can be used to bring a user experience vision to life.

Use when

• You want to define and communicate how people should experience your service or product over time.
• You want to build a strategy or a vision for the future.
• You’re prototyping and you want to try to test, validate and define a vision for the future that is desirable.
• You want to perform a gap analysis to help figure out the amount of work required to reach the vision.

Tips

Future-state journey maps are most practical when they reflect a single persona’s journey. If you have multiple market segments – each with a different persona who will take a different path or journey – it’s useful to create a unique future-state journey map for each persona, especially if you intend to tailor the user experience for each market segment.

Key terminology

Step: A specific action or activity a user does to achieve a goal such as contact the call centre or download a form.

Channel: Ways a user interacts with a service provider such as call centre, app, online or face-to-face.

Touchpoint: The intersection between a step and a channel (an action and a method) such as downloading the form online.

Stage: A phase or a group of steps the user goes through to achieve their goal such as search or register.

Gap analysis: An analysis of the differences between the current state and the vision for the future, to see what changes need to be made to achieve the vision.