What do journey maps help identify in UX design?

Journey maps are a vital tool in user experience (UX) design as they visually represent the user’s experience and interactions with a product or service over time. The primary purpose of journey mapping is to gain a deeper understanding of the user’s emotions, thoughts, and actions throughout their journey, which is essential for identifying pain points—moments in the experience that cause frustration, confusion, or dissatisfaction.

By highlighting these pain points, journey maps also illuminate opportunities for improvement, as designers can pinpoint specific areas where the user experience can be enhanced. This understanding enables UX professionals to design solutions that address these challenges, ultimately leading to a more intuitive and satisfying user experience.

In contrast, the other options focus on areas that are not the primary concern of journey maps. Marketing channels, selling strategies, and financial projections are typically related to business development and marketing processes rather than the user experience itself. Using journey maps to identify pain points and improvement opportunities ensures that the design process centers around the user's needs and goals, thus fostering a more user-centered approach in UX design.