Design & UX Lesson 2 of 5
User Personas & Customer Journey Mapping
18:45 Designing Your First Digital Product
Map out the emotional and functional milestones a customer navigates from initial discovery to their ultimate 'aha!' moment.
Lesson notes
A customer journey map is a visual timeline illustrating every touchpoint an individual experiences while attempting to achieve a goal with your product. It highlights highs, lows, and cognitive drop-offs.
What you'll learn
- Create actionable, evidence-based user personas
- Map the customer journey across Discover, Evaluate, Onboard, and Master
- Spot high-friction drop-off zones along the path
1. Building Non-Fictional Personas
Avoid superficial trivia like 'Loves dogs and drinking matcha latte'. Focus on: Goals, Current Workaround, Constraints (time, budget, tech literacy), and Triggers that force them to look for a solution.
2. The 4 Phases of User Journey
Every digital product journey spans four crucial phases: Discovery (How do they find out about you?), First Run Experience (What is their first 90 seconds like?), Core Value Exchange (How fast do they reach the 'aha!' moment?), and Retention / Habit Loop (What pulls them back?).
Practice exercise
Map an Onboarding Journey
Sketch a 4-step journey map for a new user signing up for your proposed digital tool. Identify one point where they are likely to get confused and brainstorm a remedy.
Hint: Common friction points include email verification gates, empty dashboard screens without sample data, and complex permission prompts.