What do user journeys build upon in UX design?

User journeys are a crucial tool in UX design that help visualize and understand the steps a user takes to accomplish goals within a product or service. They build upon personas and stories created for users, which provide a foundation for understanding user needs, behaviors, and motivations. Personas represent hypothetical users based on research and serve to humanize data, providing context for their experiences and expectations.

By mapping out user journeys, designers are able to illustrate the interactions users have with a product over time, taking into account the specific personas that represent their target audience. This involves detailing various touchpoints, emotions, and challenges users may encounter along the way, which ultimately informs design decisions and enhancements to improve the user experience.

The other elements mentioned do not serve as foundational aspects for user journeys in the same way. User pricing models relate to the business side and may influence product strategy but do not inform user behavior directly. Market demand analyses provide insights into overall trends and needs in the market, which is useful for product development but does not focus on individual user experiences. Technical specifications detail the product’s capabilities and features rather than user interactions and emotions, making them less relevant in the context of mapping user journeys.