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| Criterion | ![]() UX Research Customer Journey Mapping | ![]() UX Design Customer Journey Canvas | ![]() UX Research Affinity Diagramming | ![]() UX Research Empathy Mapping |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | When a user journey falls apart across many touchpoints, customer journey mapping makes the experience visible as a coherent arc. Phases, emotions, and breaks become legible enough to prioritize critical moments deliberately. | When a journey needs to be understood across several phases, it arranges experience, touchpoints, and opportunities into one picture. It makes gaps and friction along the user path clear. | When research notes, feedback, or observations sit unconnected side by side, affinity diagramming sorts the raw material into solid themes. Many individual points turn into patterns that make decisions and opportunities clearer. | When a lot is assumed about a target group but little is seen jointly, empathy mapping makes knowledge and gaps directly comparable. The picture also shows which assumptions hold up and where evidence is missing. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | Medium | Low | Low |
Timedifferent | 2-4 h | 1-3 h | 45–90 min | 30–60 min |
Participantsdifferent | 4-10 | 3-10 | 3-10 | 4-8 |
Formatsame | Workshop | Workshop | Workshop | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Journey Map, Pain-point List, Opportunity Backlog | Customer Journey Canvas, Pain Points, Experience Opportunities | Theme clusters, Insight statements, Opportunity areas | Empathy Map, Assumptions List, Research Gaps |
Tagsno overlap | JourneyServiceService design | JourneyCustomerService designCanvas | SynthesisQualitativeRoot cause | SynthesisQualitativeWorkshop |



