OBJECTIVE
This module equips facilitators with the knowledge and tools to guide learners through the USER JOURNEY tool, activating a spatially grounded and user-centered design mindset.
By the end of the module, facilitators will be able to:
- Present the USER JOURNEY tool and its purpose in a clear and engaging way;
- Support learners in mapping flows, routines, and real-life actions within a floor plan;
- Help learners identify pain points, spatial needs, and design opportunities based on everyday experiences;
- Use the USER JOURNEY tool as a foundation for inclusive, responsive, and wellbeing-oriented spatial planning.
CONTEXT
This tool represents the beginning of the design phase of the WellHome training journey and is used after the exploratory and sensory modules. It has been created to translate real-space usage into a concrete map – using actions, symbols, post-its, and flows.
It can be applied in individual or group settings and is essential both for gathering information and for helping future designers and residents understand how the space is actually used.
In this first part of the training program, learners engage directly with the OBSERVE tool to develop empathy and self-awareness, guided and supported by their educators. By reflecting on their own experiences, preferences, and emotional responses, they gain insight into the lived realities of others and begin to understand the responsibilities inherent in their future role. This process lays the foundation for designing spaces that are sensitive to the needs, vulnerabilities, and identities of those who will inhabit them. Through active participation, trainees cultivate the awareness, intuition, and relational skills necessary to approach spatial interventions thoughtfully and creatively, fostering a sense of agency and confidence while enhancing their employability in social and design-oriented contexts..
PURPOSE
The USER JOURNEY is designed to encourage practical, participatory reflection, helping learners explore how people actually interact with a space. By focusing on real habits and experiences, this part of the training programme drives design toward solutions that are not only more inclusive and functional but also coherent with the ways people live and move in their everyday environments.
PREPARATION
- Download the presentation to introduce the USER JOURNEY tool
- Print the LEARNER HANDOUT
- Print the USER JOURNEY tool (A3) or reproduce it in a large grid paper
- Print the USER JOURNEY example to use as reference
- Prepare the following material:
- Post-it in different colours to categorize:
- Pain points (red)
- Opportunities (yellow)
- Expressed needs (purple)
- Ideas, emotions or free suggestions (green)
- Red, green, and black markers
- Stickers or icons to illustrate actions if possible
- Set up a welcoming, quiet, and comfortable environment for focused individual or group work.
DURATION
1,5 – 2 hours
CONCLUSION
Facilitators support learners in completing the USER JOURNEY tool, either individually or in groups, encouraging moments of verbal reflection and shared discussion throughout the process.
By mapping floor plans, movements, routines, and user actions, learners develop a deeper understanding of how to identify spatial needs, pain points, and opportunities grounded in everyday experience. This hands-on activity fosters spatial empathy and helps transform observations into concrete insights, laying the groundwork for meaningful, inclusive, and user-centered design solutions.
RELEVANCE TO SPACE RENOVATION
This module supports learners in developing the skills needed to analyze how people actually live within a space. Through the USER JOURNEY tool, learners map flows, routines, and emotional responses directly into a floor plan, revealing latent needs, pain points, and often-overlooked opportunities.
This process helps learners understand how spatial design can respond more accurately to real habits and behaviors. With the support of facilitators, they learn to translate movement patterns and user experiences into practical design decisions, laying the groundwork for renovation choices that are inclusive, intentional, and rooted in everyday life.
Made with love by Wellhome team
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.
