Impact Journey
An Impact Journey is a journey map with a matrix added underneath, in which a team notes for every step of a service experience its likely positive and negative effects on areas such as the environment, society and the economy. The tool is published by Service Design Tools, curated by the studio oblo, and builds on the user journey map. It brings the wider and longer-term consequences of a service into design decisions while the design can still be changed.
Facilitation script
- 1
Introduce the purpose and walk through the journey so that everyone knows the steps, including backstage activity.
10 min - 2
Agree the impact areas and add them as rows beneath the journey.
10 min - 3
Work through the journey step by step and note positive and negative effects per area on two colours of sticky notes.
30 min - 4
Mark notes as known or assumed and list what needs checking.
5 min - 5
Identify hotspots and the positive effects worth strengthening.
10 min - 6
Agree changes to the service, owners and open research questions.
15 min
Tips
Bring someone with subject knowledge for each impact area, since a design team alone will list what it can imagine and miss what an environmental or social specialist sees at once.
Go step by step and not area by area, which keeps the discussion tied to concrete moments in the service.
Record positive effects with the same care as negative ones so the map does not turn into a list of faults.
Empty cells are fine; a cell filled for the sake of completeness adds noise.
Common pitfalls
Mapping only the customer-facing steps, so the largest effects, which usually sit in production, logistics and disposal, never appear
Listing only negative effects, which makes the session feel like an audit and leaves out strengths the service could build on
Filling the matrix from assumptions without marking them, so a workshop guess later appears in a report as a finding
Stopping at the completed matrix without deciding what to change, which leaves the team informed and the service unchanged
Using so many impact areas that each cell gets a token note and the hotspots are no longer visible
Variations
Add the impact rows directly to an existing User Journey Map or Service Blueprint to save the first step. Replace the three standard areas with ones that fit the organisation, such as its own sustainability goals. For a deeper session, extend the journey beyond use to include production, delivery and end of life. Remotely, build the matrix as a table on a digital whiteboard and fill it in subgroups, one part of the journey each. A second pass after concept changes shows whether the hotspots have moved or only shifted elsewhere.
Where it fits
When to use it
A service concept or journey exists and the team wants to check its environmental and social consequences before building
An organisation has sustainability commitments and needs to connect them to specific moments in a service
A journey map has been made from the user's point of view only and the effects on people and places outside the journey are missing
Two versions of a service are being compared and their wider effects should count in the choice
Specialists for sustainability and the design team have not yet worked on the same artefact
When not to use it
There is no journey yet; map the experience first with a User Journey Map
You need quantified figures such as a carbon footprint; the Impact Journey gives a qualitative overview, so commission a life-cycle or impact assessment and use the map to scope it
The question is how one change ripples outward over time; a Futures Wheel traces second- and third-order effects better than a step-by-step matrix
You want to surface how a product could be misused or harm people in society; a Black Mirror Brainstorm or an Unintended Consequences session is more direct
Nobody with knowledge of the impact areas can attend; the result will be guesses presented in a tidy grid
Related methods
Frequently asked questions
What is Impact Journey?▾
An Impact Journey is an extended journey map. Under the steps of a service experience the team adds rows for impact areas such as environment, society and economy, and notes the positive and negative effects of each step in each area. The resulting matrix shows where a service causes harm or creates benefit beyond the individual user. The tool is published by Service Design Tools.
How is an Impact Journey different from a user journey map?▾
A user journey map shows what one person does, thinks and feels as they use a service. An Impact Journey keeps the steps and adds what each step does to the world around it. It widens the view from the user's experience to the consequences of delivering that experience.
Which impact areas should be used?▾
Environment, society and economy are the common starting point. Adjust them to the service and the organisation, for example by using the organisation's own sustainability goals as rows. Three to five areas keep the matrix readable.
Do you need an existing journey map?▾
It saves time. With a journey map or service blueprint already in place, the session can go straight to the impact rows. Without one, plan an extra session to map the journey first, including the backstage steps.
Does an Impact Journey replace an impact assessment?▾
No. It is a qualitative workshop tool that shows where effects are likely and where the team's knowledge is thin. Use it to direct design changes and to decide which steps deserve measurement or a formal assessment.
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Try it freeMethod descriptions on Workshop Weaver are original content written by our team, based on established facilitation practices. This method was inspired by work from Service Design Tools (oblo).