Integrating cognitive user data in journey maps

Abstract

User-centric design practice rely on journey maps and personas as a way to communicate user needs to the design team (Lanius et al., 2021). However, journey maps in practice have been found to lack a dimension that could inform designers about intrinsic cognitive needs of the user. This research project aims to address this gap by exploring ways to make human cognitive data designer-friendly. Through multi-study approach, including the Research through Design (RtD) (Godin & Zahedi, 2014) method, the study investigates dimensions of the relationship between designers and cognitive user data to make it easy-to-approach in future.

Following the context exploration studies, designers' perspectives and practices regarding cognitive user data are delved into. Findings from exploratory interviews reveal varied interpretations of cognitive data, challenges in accessing and visualizing data, and a keen interest in its potential benefits for design processes. Designers identify time constraints as a major hurdle but express enthusiasm for the posterity and revisiting advantages of effective cognitive data visualization.

The RtD method helps in investigating a way of presenting holistic data to designer that merges intrinsic and extrinsic factors of the user. Designers favor clarity, interactive exploration, and reliability in data presentation. The study provides a comprehensive list of neurophysiological measures that can aid designers in decision-making. Additionally, insights into designers' thinking styles, distinguishing between big-picture and detail-oriented thinkers, add a nuanced layer to understanding their affinity with cognitive data.
The report acknowledges limitations, including biases in the Research-through-Design method, reliance on self-reported data, and the controlled environment of prototype evaluations. Future research is encouraged to address these limitations and enhance the ecological validity of findings.
In conclusion, this research offers valuable insights into integrating cognitive user data within designer practices and establishes a way of integrating observational data with user journey maps. The findings provide a foundation for developing tools and approaches that align with designers' preferences, ultimately enriching the design process through meaningful integration of cognitive insights.