Design for Usability - Alignment Diagrams

Alignment Diagrams: Customer Journey Maps, Mental Model Diagrams & More

This course is part of our UxFest conference. Click here to view the schedule or start a new booking form. Use the browser back button if you have already started to book places.

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(Click here to view the schedule or start a new booking form. Use the browser back button if you have already started to book places.)

Overview

Identifying the touchpoints between customer and businesses is the first step in creating products and services that provide true value. The use of systematic, visual representations expose previously unseen opportunities for improvement and for growth. Called ‘alignment diagrams’, this new class of deliverable gives businesses focus and clarity in creating solutions that have impact.

Alignment diagrams have two parts: one capturing customer behavior and the other reflecting business processes. The overlap of these two parts reveals the interaction between them. By visually aligning the user’s experiences with the business offering, providers are better able to highlight the points where value is created.

This workshop will show you had to turn customer observations into actionable insight for the design of products and services through the use of alignment diagrams.

Car Repair Alignment Diagram

Duration

Full day (9:30 pm to 5:00 pm), including breakfast and lunch (breakfast from 8:30)

Benefits

First, you will learn the principles of the alignment technique. Then, we’ll take an up-close look at two specific types of alignment diagrams: customer journey maps and mental model diagrams. You’ll learn how to conduct the research necessary to generate them, how to map all of the elements in each, and how to use them in practice. At the end of the day you should have the skills to create alignment diagrams and to evangalise them.

Features

Overview and background to alignment diagrams
Examples and elements of alignment diagrams
Process for the alignment technique
Detailed focus on two types of alignment diagrams:

Customer Journey Maps
Mental Model Diagrams

Using alignment diagrams on the job
Evangelising alignment diagrams

Audience

This course is intended for anyone involved in design and marketing activities that seek to map the customer or user experience for the purpose of improving products, services and communication. This includes designers, user experience specialists, and product managers, as well as marketers and others dealing with product and service provision.

Participants' comments from a related course
(this is a new course)

“James delivers a range of highly valuable and relevant strategies in his workshops in a clear, friendly and engaging manner. You’ll walk away feeling motivated and inspired to put them into use.” - Steven Briffa, Macquarie University, Australia (Apr 2011)
“James very effectively surfaced the key design challenges in a lively, engaging, coherent style.” – Tony Russell-Rose, Manager of UX at Endeca (Feb 2011)
“If you are interested to know more about designing web navigation and information architecture, James’ workshops are definitely the right answer. They are practical and clear.” –Serenella Bardeggia, Information Architect (Feb 2011)
“James demonstrates excitement for his profession and, with this, opens new perspectives for work in web design. The methods presented are practical and immediately usable. My participation in the workshops was really worth it.“ – Jürgen Mirbach, Partner, ICOM GmbH (2009)
“The content was well prepared and very practical through the numerous examples. I liked the inclusion of references to read later. A valuable seminar overall.“ – Professor Dr. Uwe Klug, Technical College of Westphalia, Germany (2009)

Instructor

James Kalbach is a user experience designer with LexisNexis, a leading provider of legal and news information, where he develops interfaces for web-based search applications. He previously served as head of information architecture with Razorfish, Germany. James holds a degree in library and information science from Rutgers University, as well as a Master’s degree in music theory and composition.

James is an active speaker and instructor on user experience, usability, and information architecture. He helped found local UX groups in Hamburg, Germany, where he lives, as well as organising conferences in Germany and Europe. James is the author of the book Designing Web Navigation (O’Reilly, August 2007). He blogs at www.experiencinginformation.com.