Affinity Map

Six interviews are done. The quotes now sit in six separate documents, and the theme that wins is the one the loudest person in the room remembers.

What is on the board

• The research question. A full width card at the top holding the one question the map answers, beside a card for the participant count and how the sessions were run.
• Five theme columns. Each column is a dark header card: a theme number, the theme name, and one line saying what the theme actually means. Replace all five, they are not fixed.
• Thirty notes. Sticky notes under the columns in three tints, one observation per note. Every note carries a participant tag, P1 to P6, so you can always trace a note back to a person.
• The legend. A row naming the three tints: Observation, Pain point, Idea, and the participant tag. Every colour is bound to a variable, so one switch takes the board to dark.

Before and after

• Before: Quotes spread across six documents.
  After: One board, five columns, thirty notes.
• Before: A theme is whatever the loudest voice says it is.
  After: A theme with a written definition above the notes.
• Before: No way to tell who said what.
  After: A participant tag on every single note.
• Before: Pains, ideas and observations in one pile.
  After: Three tints, sorted by what the note is.
• Before: A screenshot in a deck nobody can read.
  After: Dark mode from one variable switch.
• Before: Arabic notes typed into a left to right grid.
  After: A board built right to left from the start.

What lands in the download

• FIG The template. One Figma file, four pages: English light, English dark, Arabic light, Arabic dark, all on one variable collection. Auto layout throughout, so every cell grows as you type.
• PDF The guide. 8 pages: the four boards, a five step how to use, and a glossary of every field with its Arabic label beside it.
• PDF, MD Pro. Five Claude prompts: fill it from my notes, critique it, Arabic edition, turn it into insights, push it to Figma.
• PDF Pro. The facilitation guide. A thirty minute session: what to ask, in what order, and how to close it.
• FIG Pro. A second worked example in a second market, as its own Figma file, so you can read the method instead of guessing at it.
• FOLDER Pro. The Claude Code skill. Point it at your notes folder and it fills the board, then writes it into your own Figma file by layer name.

Who it is for, and when to run it

For anyone who has just finished a round of interviews and has to turn quotes into themes. Run it the same week the sessions end, with the whole team in the room, before the memory of the sessions fades.

Two editions. Free: the Figma file and the PDF. Pro, 10 dollars: adds the five prompts, the facilitation guide, the second worked example and the Claude Code skill.