Storytelling Inside User Experience
Last year, my wife reached one of those moments in time that no parent ever wants to encounter with his or her child. And that is fielding the inevitable question – is Santa real? This came just days after we had a family sit down on the importance of telling the truth. It still stings my heart. A year earlier, I remember pulling my son and daughter on a sled through the snow out to the tree farm in search of that perfect tree. The sheer excitement on their faces when we found it anticipating that magical Christmas day is burnt forever in my memory as one of my favorites.
Even today, I still recall having the same conversation with my own father. It feels like it was yesterday. He was getting ready for work as I wondered into his room. The leather box on top of his dresser that I have seen a million times before had caught my eye. It was black with two doors that opened in opposite directions. Inside were rings of his father and silver dollars. I asked if Santa was real.
The point of bringing it up is not so much about delivering the answer. It’s about the minds ability to ignite an emotional, human response from a story. And what that is. Research indicates that we all organize knowledge by storytelling. And, as a tool in the classroom, storytelling is vital to promoting student growth. It is how we learned as children. Yet in the world of communications and user experience, this foundational method of engaging is often forgotten or lost in the wake of business goals and feature demands. And products end up in the sea of sameness.
So, why does storytelling make sense in developing user experiences for products? Cindy Chastain, Creative Director, Experience at RAPP summarizes it as a means to give the product purpose and to focus and define what you are building. She refers to this as “the core value of the experience” or “experience theme”.
(Learn more about Experience Themes in Cindy’s article on Boxes and Arrows.)
I would go on further to say that through storytelling; we are creating a reason to believe. And having worked with diverse, multi-disciplined teams, that is not always easy to do. But, vital to providing consistency at every point of contact. Sounds a little like branding doesn’t it? The reality is that there is inter-connectivity.
So how do we approach projects with storytelling in mind? Begin with an experience goal. Ask questions. Explore. Discover. For you process junkies, try to better understand the narrative structure. There are a ton of great resources out there. Some of which I have listed below.
Look to filmmaking. To describe a story in film, one needs to answer:
- Where is the story set?
- What event starts the story?
- Who are the main characters?
- What conflicts do they face? What is at stake?
- What happens to the characters as they face this conflict?
- What is the outcome of this conflict
- What is the ultimate impact on the characters?
(Source: [InPoint] Home: Welcome to InPoint, the Online Production Resource Centre at Pacific Cinémathèque. Web. 02 Nov. 2010. <http://www.inpoint.org>.
One can draw parallels between the questions asked in the filmmaking world and those created in the UX world. There is a reason for that. Both are created to charge a human response. Sounds a lot like a discovery process yes? Kind of. The difference is that asking questions in this context arrives at answers that are more meaningful, emotional and interpersonal. That is the sweet spot. Your user goals shape into experience goals. And you can begin to approach experiences more holistically. This is definitely not a one-size fits all approach however, you can begin to see how it can fit nicely into existing user-centered approaches and underpin a brand story.
There is an even more powerful application of storytelling in UX. And that exists in how we present our work to our partners (clients). Instead of going into meetings and touting how we are going to solve problems with our ideas, challenge yourself to deliver a story of how their customers will be compelled to use their product over and over again as they BELIEVE it was the best experience. Because it was.
So does storytelling work? I began this post with a little piece about my daughter and myself. What amazed me is that my wife answered virtually the same way as my father did more then 30+ years earlier. And it was all about believing.
Best described in the closing line in one of my favorite holiday movies/stories – The Polar Express.
Here are some great storytelling resources:
Smashing Magazine
“Better User Experience With Storytelling – Part One”
“Better User Experience With Storytelling, Part 2″
Screenwriting, filmmaking, etc books:
The Disciplines of User Experience
Story
The Hero with a Thousand Faces
Emotional Design
Lovemarks
Presentations:
Dorelle Rabinowitz
Storytelling – A Compelling Design Tool
Cindy Chastain
Experience Themes: An Element of Story Applied to Design
Thinking Like a Storyteller
“Experience Themes”
Storyteller Evangelists:
Cindy Chastain – @cchastain
Christian Saylor – @christiansaylor
Dorelle Rabinowitz – @dorelvis
References:
“Experience Themes.” Boxes and Arrows: The Design behind the Design. Web. 02 Nov. 2010. <http://www.boxesandarrows.com/view/experience-themes>.
“Better User Experience With Storytelling – Part One.” Smashing Magazine. Web. 02 Nov. 2010. <http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/01/29/better-user-experience-using-storytelling-part-one/>.
“Better User Experience With Storytelling, Part 2.” Smashing Magazine. Web. 02 Nov. 2010. <http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/02/11/better-user-experience-through-storytelling-part-2/>.
