Let's talk about Affinity Mapping (a clue as to why designers use so many post-it notes)

There are so many facets of design research but something you’re likely to come across in your work is Affinity Mapping. No doubt you’ve seen designers covering walls and tables with post-it notes and often it’s for this reason. The affinity diagram organises a large quantity of information by natural relationships. This method taps a team’s analytical thinking as well as creativity and intuition.

You can use an affinity diagram to:

  1. Understand what is most important from ambiguous data
  2. Tame complexity
  3. Identify connections in data
  4. Create hierarchies
  5. Identifying themes
  6. Identify what factors to focus on that will support the most successful design possible from a user’s perspective.