Storytelling Flashcards
Why Storytelling?
- Stories serve to ground your work real context
- Stories are a way of connecting what you know about your users to the design process
Storytelling - How?
- Help in the gathering and sharing of information about users, tasks and goals
- Put a human face on analytic data
- Spark new design concept and encourage collaboration and innovation
- Are a way to share ideas and create sense of history and purpose
- Help us understand the world by giving us insight into people who are not just like us
- Persuade other of the value of our contribution
Aristotle’s 7 Elements of Good Storytelling
Plot
Character
Theme
Diction
Melody
Décor
Spectacle
Aristotle’s 7 Elements of Good Storytelling - Plot
For Aristotle plot was the most important element.
Plot is what happens in a drama, i.e., tragic plot tells the story of a hero’s problems. Bad plot can spoil a good drama.
What are the character(s) doing?
What are they trying to accomplish?
The story plot tells us about a person’s change in fortune (either
from good to bad, or from bad to good), and is usually about overcoming an obstacle or challenge.
In a Design Thinking project, the story plot tells us about struggles and how people try to improve aspects of their lives.
Aristotle’s 7 Elements of Good Storytelling - Character
In Drama, the main character may drive the plot with the rest of cast.
Who are the people? What are their traits, their personalities? What are their backgrounds, needs, aspirations, and emotions?
Storytelling in Design Thinking, most obviously, relates to gaining an empathic understanding of the people for whom we are designing.
When we tell stories about our users, it is not sufficient to know facts about them, like their appearances or income; for a fully fleshed out character, we need insights into their needs, motivations, and emotions.
Aristotle’s 7 Elements of Good Storytelling - Theme
Theme refers to the environment in a Greek drama.
Just like in a drama, you have to set the context in a UX project.
The theme of a story tells us the overarching obstacle that needs to be crossed, or the end goal of the project.
Use a theme to help keep yourself focused and provide your team with a strong narrative to keep you going
Aristotle’s 7 Elements of Good Storytelling - Dialogue
To Aristotle, diction (or dialogue) was the way the characters speak to each other.
Audiences can tell a lot about a character from that person’s tone of voice.
What are the people saying? Do they say different things when you observe them as compared to when you interview them? Are they angry, disappointed, sad, or happy? While observing their dialogue, are you losing focus on the things they did not say?
It is also crucial to keep track of how we, the observers, speak to the people we are observing. Having a superior or condescending tone when conversing with our users is a sure way to get their guards up and put a limit on how much we can learn from them.
Aristotle’s 7 Elements of Good Storytelling - Melody/Chorus
Actors often perform musical choruses in a Greek play.
These choruses—or the melody—reflect the average person’s emotional response to the characters’ actions.
To be effective, your stories should have a chorus that echoes your emotions and convictions.
The power of storytelling often lies in its ability to stir emotion and motivate us to find a solution.
Aristotle’s 7 Elements of Good Storytelling - Décor
In plays, décor refers to stage design.
In your UX case studies, it refers to the visual design.
Décor is about the setting. It’s about the physical environment in which your characters perform their acts.
What’s the décor, setting, and physical environment in which your users perform their acts like? Effective storytelling does not ignore the setting, because often the interactions between characters and the set will tell us a lot about their motivations and behaviours.
As a design thinker, you should pay attention to the opportunities or obstacles present in your users’ environments.
Aristotle’s 7 Elements of Good Storytelling - Spectacle
To Aristotle, the spectacle of a drama was least important.
A story’s talking point, wow factor or plot twist will let audiences remember it, but it alone will not make a good play.
Are there any plot twists in your stories? Any unexpected insights about your users?
The spectacle is something that the audiences who listen to your story will remember and will generate discussions and ideas.
If your design thinking story includes a spectacle, it will be a powerful tool to drive the project forward.
How to Reach Users through Stories
Storytelling can be used in your design process to present your user research results in an engaging way and create empathy with your target users.
- How?
1. Define your target users with personas
2. Create a plot with a conflict
3. Give your design the supporting role
4. Work with the setting
5. Tailor the look/feel
How to Reach Users through Stories - Define your target users with personas
- To envision users’ likely experiences and gain empathic insights. Personas are based on user research but tell a story about your insights.
- Example: “Rick”, a 47-year-old manager struggling with his
work–family-life balance. He even works on his train commutes. Feeling drained, he wants better control of his life.
How to Reach Users through Stories - Create Plot with Conflict
To make the personas heroes and envision how they can overcome specific problems using your design.
1. Rick discovers your (yet-to-be-designed) time-management app online. He downloads it and completes your questionnaire about work commitments, family, outgoings, etc.
2. He starts using your app, letting it collect data from his phone and fitness tracker about time on various tasks/activities, stress levels, alertness, etc.
3. After a week, your app charts his tasks and activities, including sleep, heart-rate data, etc.
4. Tapping a phone tab, Rick sees time-management suggestions on how to become more productive, well-rested, etc.
5. He has the option to continue or suspend monitoring (e.g., if on holiday/vacation).
How to Reach Users through Stories - Give your design the supporting role
- Show it improving your persona’s/user’s life and how easy it is to use.
- For example, consider how many steps Rick needs to use your app and if voice-controlled devices at home might influence its suggestions.
How to Reach Users through Stories - Work with the setting
- When and where users use your design is vital for building empathy.
- For Rick, it’s the home, train and workplace. But what about (e.g.) busy professionals working from home?
