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 Affinity Map board?

The Affinity Map board is one Figma canvas with four parts, built in 2026 with auto layout so every cell grows as you type:

• 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.

What changes when you use the Affinity Map?

The Affinity Map template is a fix for six common habits in how teams run this step. Each of the 6 pairs below shows the habit first, then what the template puts in its place. For example, the template turns quotes spread across six documents into one board, five columns, thirty notes.

• 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 is in the Affinity Map download?

The free Affinity Map download is one Figma file with four pages, English light, English dark, Arabic light and Arabic dark, on one variable collection, plus a 8 page PDF guide, made in 2026 with Figma variables. The Pro edition costs $10 and adds five Claude prompts, a facilitation guide, a second worked example and a Claude Code skill.

• 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 is the Affinity Map for, and when should you run it?

The Affinity Map is 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.

In practice, keep the Affinity Map beside the design file, where the team can reread it before each decision. Two editions. Free: the Figma file and the 8 page PDF guide. Pro, $10: adds the five Claude prompts, the facilitation guide, the second worked example and the Claude Code skill.