An icon representing affinity diagrams

Affinity Diagrams

Use affinity diagramming to cluster and organise research findings or to sort design ideas in ideation workshops

Project Stage:
Define

Who:
Customer
Experts
Decision makers
Service Providers

Design Principles:
03. We will design services together  05. We will design so knowledge can be reused & shared  06. We will challenge assumptions & design with evidence 



Affinity Diagramming is a technique used to organise large amounts of data, ideas, or insights into meaningful groups. It helps teams visually cluster related information, revealing patterns and shared themes, making it easier to identify key issues or opportunities.

Use it to

  • Organise large amounts of information into categories or themes.
  • Make sense of complex, qualitative data like user feedback or brainstorming sessions.
  • Identify patterns, relationships, or key areas of focus in your data.

Top Tips

  • Ensure all participants are familiar with the problem or dataset before clustering.
  • Use colour coding to differentiate between themes.
  • Be open to restructuring as you go; affinity diagrams can evolve as new patterns emerge.

An image showing the 4 steps of affinity diagram using sticky notes and clustering them together and dots to represent votes for most important/relevan themes

How – to

  • Write down all relevant data points or ideas on sticky notes or cards.
  • Without much discussion, start grouping related items together.
  • Once initial clusters form, label each group with a theme or key insight and prioritise.
  • Review and refine as necessary, discussing the groups and their connections.

Related Methods

An icon representing Storyboarding

Storyboarding

An icon representing dot voting

Dot Voting

An icon representing co-creation workshops

Co-Creation Workshops

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