AI for design, and User Story Mapping

Three AI tools that help build your user journey

C. L. Beard
BrainScriblr
7 min readMar 18, 2024

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Photo by Sharon Pittaway on Unsplash

Artificial intelligence presents a great opportunity for designers to expand their skills and elevate their craft. Rather than being a source of apprehension, AI-powered UI/UX design tools are designed to inspire and empower designers, enabling them to create outstanding user experiences. However, it’s important to recognize the limitations of AI when designing for human users, as it may lack the necessary context or resources to address certain topics comprehensively.

The Benefits of AI in UI/UX Design:

  • Streamline processes and boost efficiency
  • Inspire creativity and push the boundaries of design
  • Enable designers to create outstanding user experiences

Ethical Considerations: While AI offers numerous benefits, it’s crucial for designers to recognize its limitations and consider the ethical implications of its use. By staying mindful of these aspects, designers can harness the power of AI responsibly.

Top AI-Powered Tools for UI/UX Design:

  1. Relume: A tool that offers a vast library of pre-built components for Figma and Webflow, AI-powered sitemap and wireframe creation, and a client-first Webflow style system.
  2. Claude AI: An AI assistant that helps facilitate writing user stories, defining user journeys, brainstorming ideas, and drafting web copy.
  3. QoQo: An AI-powered tool that enhances the design process by streamlining user research, discovery, and the creation of user personas, journey mapping, information architecture, and affinity mapping.
  4. TheyDo: A platform that facilitates customer-centric collaboration, focusing on journey mapping to bring insights and data together. It enables businesses to align strategy, planning, and delivery around customer journeys.

Integrating AI into your daily design workflow can yield remarkable benefits, from streamlining processes and boosting efficiency to igniting your creative spark.

As you explore the vast possibilities offered by AI, you’ll uncover new ways to enhance your design methodologies and push the boundaries of what’s possible.

Screenshot by the author

Relume

This one you may not expect here. Relume makes a visual representation and wireframe for your user story map. It puts it all together so you can see what you may want to build as your website.

Relume AI is a cutting-edge tool designed to revolutionize the web design process by offering a vast library of pre-built components for Figma and Webflow. AI-powered sitemap and wireframe creation, and a client-first Webflow style system. This tool is particularly helpful for web designers looking to expedite the web design process.

The core features of Relume AI include:

  • Extensive Component Library: Over 1,000 components built and managed by Relume, providing a wide range of components for various design needs.
  • AI-Powered Sitemap and Wireframe Creation: Utilizes AI to assist in creating sitemaps and wireframes within minutes, which can then be easily exported to Figma and Webflow.
  • Client-First Webflow Style System: Helps keep Webflow sites organized, ensuring a consistent design language across projects.
  • Community Support: Offers access to a growing Slack community of Webflow enthusiasts, providing a platform for designers to share, learn, and grow.

Relume AI is not open-source, but it does offer a range of features that make it a versatile tool for those interested in wireframe software development and wireframe coding. If you are a new designer starting out using this tool to create your portfolio would be fast and efficient use of your time.

Screenshot by the author

Claude AI

Can help facilitate writing user stories and defining a user journey by reviewing the work already accomplished. It is also helpful if you or your team are feeling stuck as it is very helpful for brainstorming ideas. It can also write the initial draft of your web copy if you so choose to go that direction with your workflow.

1. Generating and refining user stories based on provided context and requirements:
Claude can help generate initial drafts of user stories by asking relevant questions and prompting for necessary details. Through interactive dialogue, Claude can assist in refining user stories to ensure they are clear, concise, and capture the essential user needs and goals.

2. Assisting in organizing and prioritizing user stories according to their importance and dependencies:
Claude can help facilitate discussions to determine the relative importance of each user story based on user needs and business objectives. By analyzing the relationships between user stories, Claude can suggest a logical order for implementation, taking into account dependencies and prerequisites.
Claude can assist in grouping related user stories into themes or epics, making it easier to manage and prioritize the overall backlog. Through dialogue, Claude can help identify and resolve any conflicts or inconsistencies in the prioritization of user stories.

3. Facilitating collaboration and discussion among team members involved in the story mapping process:
Claude can summarize key points and decisions made during the discussion, helping to maintain a clear record of the story mapping session. Through its ability to provide instant responses and generate ideas, Claude can help keep the conversation flowing and prevent discussions from stalling.

Screenshot by the author

QoQo

QoQo is an AI-powered tool designed to enhance the design process by offering a range of features that streamline user research, discovery, and the creation of user personas, journey mapping, information architecture, affinity mapping, and more. It is particularly beneficial for design agencies, organizations, startups, and individual designers looking to maximize design productivity and quality.

This is a robust tool. It is complete and all in one solution for user journey mapping.

Key features of QoQo for user journeys include:

  • Journey Mapping: QoQo aids in identifying challenges, risks, and key elements for your design brief, helping to create a comprehensive view of the user journey. This feature is crucial for understanding the user’s experience and identifying areas for improvement.
  • Information Architecture: It helps in structuring and organizing information in a user-friendly manner, ensuring that the design is intuitive and easy to navigate. This is essential for creating a seamless user experience.
  • Affinity Mapping: QoQo assists in grouping and categorizing data, ideas, and opinions, making it easier to identify patterns and insights. This feature is valuable for organizing thoughts and ideas during the design process.
  • UX Copywriting: The tool provides assistance in writing user-focused content that improves the user experience. This is important for creating clear, engaging, and persuasive content that resonates with the target audience.
Screenshot by the author

TheyDo

TheyDo is a platform designed to facilitate customer-centric collaboration, focusing on journey mapping to bring insights and data together. It enables businesses to align strategy, planning, and delivery around customer journeys, providing a holistic view of how user stories fit into the overall customer experience. TheyDo is trusted by world-leading brands and offers a range of features to support journey mapping and management.

Key features of TheyDo for user stories include:

  • Journey Management: TheyDo provides a platform for mapping customer journeys, helping businesses align strategy, planning, and delivery around these journeys. This approach ensures that customer knowledge and initiatives to improve the experience are not scattered across the organization but are instead brought together in a cohesive manner.
  • Interactive and Collaborative Story Mapping: TheyDo offers real-time collaboration and interactivity, allowing teams to make decisions as one. This feature simplifies the complexity of story mapping, enabling a shared understanding among team members.
  • Templates for Story Maps: TheyDo provides templates to start with, making it easier for teams to begin mapping their customer journeys. This standardization helps in creating a consistent approach to story mapping.
  • Tracking Solutions Across Story Maps: TheyDo allows for the tracking of solutions across different story maps, providing a comprehensive view of the customer journey. This feature eliminates the need for manual tracking with sticky notes, offering a more efficient way to manage and monitor progress.
  • 2-Way Sync for Journeys and Roadmaps: TheyDo enables the discovery of how activities, steps, and details exist on different levels and see where they intersect across journeys. This feature allows for a more detailed analysis and understanding of the customer journey.

TheyDo is designed to help teams organize around the customer journey, making it easier to achieve alignment and make a greater impact. It supports a workflow that involves turning insights into opportunities, opportunities into solutions, and solutions into implemented features, all while using journeys as the common ground. This approach ensures that resources are allocated to projects with the biggest impact.

Embracing AI technology in UI/UX design positions designers at the forefront of innovation in the field. By harnessing the power of AI-powered tools like Relume, Claude AI, QoQo, and TheyDo, designers can create exceptional user experiences while streamlining their workflows. As AI continues to evolve, it’s essential for designers to stay informed about the latest tools and trends to maximize their potential in the ever-changing landscape of design.

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C. L. Beard
BrainScriblr

I am a writer living on the Salish Sea. I also publish my own AI newsletter https://brainscriblr.beehiiv.com/, come check it out.