Experience Mapping (aka Journey Mapping) is an essential tool used for studying and optimizing the customer experience. If you missed my Experience Mapping webinar back in February, you’re in luck! An encore presentation has been scheduled on Tuesday, April 12th at 1:00pm EDT.

My fellow Ethologist, Geoffrey Wilcoxson, will be joining me this time.

Here’s a link to sign up:

http://event.on24.com/r.htm?e=1157163&s=1&k=C2740F4375B7951EDCBFDEBF3419B111&partnerref=ethology

For a sneak peak, you can check out the slides here on Slideshare:

Is rooted in CX. You have to learn the business, the customer, the competitors, and the journey to really do it right. This is the core of my job right now: Combining business strategy with customer experience analysis and using what I learn to craft great experiences that deliver (measurable) results.

Business blueprints, empathy mapping, personas, user testing, customer interviews, journey mapping, site maps, wireframes, design standards, terminology guides, analytics … You name it, I’ve done it, and loved it, and can tell you stories!

Sample Journey Map design, 2015.

I didn’t realize it at first, but building teams, finding talent, organizing around a mission, building to scale, and delivering great work is huge for me. As a Principal Design Analyst at Sage Software, I had a hand in building their UX team from the ground up. I did it again as VP, UX at Lumension / Heat Software. That was 8-years with an International team. (Agile development) I’ve gone back to being an individual contributor now, but leadership truly is a passion.  I’d like to get back to that.

Lumension / Scottsdale, AZ UX team, circa 2014.

But I play one on TV.

Seriously, though, I see visual design as a talent unto itself. Just like UX. Sure, I’ve designed websites … banners … ads … and more. You’ll get great clarity and content, a good UX. But I design as a UXer. A visual designer designs as an artist. I prefer to team up with an artist to get the very best result. But I’m not too shabby on my own. Sketch is my design tool of choice.

Archives >>>>>

The blog is idle, but there’s some good stuff back there for UXers and design team leaders. Feel free to dig into the archives.

Graphic design credit: Allan Bashah, 2015