synthesis / analysis techniqUe

85 Territory Maps
Territory maps are visual artifacts that represent the shared focus
of the design team for anticipated design activities, including the
identification of suggested stakeholders.1
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The process of creating a territory map draws on the existing preconceptions and knowledge of 1. Pew, Richard, and Anne Mavor (Eds.).
design team members, with the contributions of each person recognized in a shared vision, visually Human-System Integration in the System
expressed in a diagram. The simplicity of the visual diagram is deceptively powerful, representing Development Process: A New Look.

an acknowledgement of individual perspectives in a consensus artifact around which the focus Committee on Human-System Design
Support for Changing Technology.
of design activities can be fostered and maintained. In this sense, the territory map is a boundary
Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press,
object, serving a critical role in building team dynamic and cohesiveness for collaborative work in
2007.
design. The territory map need not force individual members to convert to the perspectives of oth-
ers, but rather serves as an artifact of shared language for effective (and necessary) communica- 2. Burke, Paul, Sue Nguyen, Pen-Fan Sun,
tion, thereby mediating the design conversation. Shelley Evenson, Jeong Kim, Laura Wright,
Nabeel Ahmed, and Arjun Patel. “Writing

The territory map combines a speculative vision of the future as agreed upon by the team, including the BoK: Designing for the Networked
Learning Environment of College Students.”
the key people who may be involved in the design landscape about to be explored. The territory
Proceedings of the 2005 conference on
map is therefore constructed early in the design process, during planning, scoping, and definition.
Designing for User Experience, DUX ’05,
This early creation is important in setting the stage for both team consensus and dialogue, and
2005.
design focus. The model can also help drive ideas for project research.

While territory maps may be drafted in a single collaborative gathering of team members, a more
common recommendation is for each member to consider their contributions first on their own,
and then bring them together as a group. For example, each member takes time to consider the
trends, themes, and ideas, and a list of people or stakeholders they deem important to the topic,
along with anecdotal stories to provide context for their choices. These choices and stories are
brought to the team as the building blocks of the territory map. From here the various perspectives
can begin to be expressed in words and visuals, gradually crafting a diagram representing both
individual and shared aspects of the design territory and future vision.
Copyright 2012. Rockport Publishers.

Behavioral Quantitative Innovative Exploratory Participatory

Attitudinal Qualitative Adapted Generative Observational
Traditional Evaluative Self reporting
Expert review
176 Universal Methods of Design Design process
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 Design Phase:
dialects

culture
gestures
tradition & history
formality/
conventional rules of use

advanced
language sound
intermediate

basic
grammar
taste

sight senses

smell
touch

self-paced language learning

Above: Territory map of the

networked learning environments of
payers
college students.2
insurance SOCIETy
medicare Courtesy of Paul Burke, Laura Wright, Nabeel Ahmad,
on medicaid Carnegie Mellon School of Design Masters Program 2005
ati
uc
ed RISK healthy
people
MANAGEMENT
Left: Territory map of the landscape
jobs
TECHNOLOGy
COMMUNITy
of healthcare to determine how
patients & PROCESS economic
RISING
family
COSTS
IMPROVEMENT benefits design solutions can streamline
payers taxes
efficiencies.
Courtesy of Christina Payne Earle and Dave Passavant
CARE/ payers advancing
VALUE secondary science
physicians benefits
leadership
staff
university
system stimulus
impact

pharma

See also 80. Stakeholder Maps 177

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