What is the difference between User journey and User flow?
User journey and user flow are two similar yet very different processes of UX design. Similar because they both are indicating part of the user experience. Different because each is showing different types of user experience.
In other words, a user journey map is an overall view of a user experience, whereas a user flow focuses on one task within a product, service, or software.
In order to help you understand it better, we should first have a look at their definition.
Definition of the user journey and user journey map
The user journey is a step-by-step journey of a user experience in a scenario that indicates the completion of a high-level goal related to a product, service, or software.
The underlying goal of a user journey is high-level and this can result in the complexity of the process. Therefore, contextualizing users’ actions, thoughts, and emotions will give you the ability to analyze the data. A common way is by creating a user journey map.
A journey map is a visualized, narrative and descriptive journey of a user accomplishing a high-level goal over time. A good journey map relays the steps taken to achieve a goal, by telling a user-centered story about the process.
The best user journey mapping is context-based done during the user interview. The reason is that during a user interview, you are able to watch, record and capture the user behaviors more precisely.
UX Research Template is a user journey map template for you to create your own.
Definition of user flow
A user flow is a set of actions that indicate the typical or ideal set of steps that need to be taken in order to complete a common task within a product, service, or software.
User flow in comparison to user journey is more comminuted and detailed. It focuses on one specific task within a product. In other words, a user flow is a focused look into specific areas of the high-level user journey.
Low-fidelity wireframes are a good way to present a user flow. Unlike user journey maps, wireframes do not contextualize the emotions and thoughts of users. Instead, they indicate the user’s steps and system responses.
The best user flows are usually done through usability testing research methods since it allows us to watch the user while interacting directly with the product in the scenarios given to them by us.
Wireflow Kit is a Template to use for making your user flow.
