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In the first part of this Better User Experience With Storytelling series, we explored some of the basic structures and story patterns found in myths and religions. We saw how these patterns continued into modern stories such as The Matrix and Star Wars. We also explored some of the basics of bringing storytelling into the user experience process and some places to get started.
Concluding this two-part article, we hear from creative professionals who are leading the way in this relatively new world of combining the craft of storytelling with user experience. We’ll also see how storytelling can be applied to more than just interactive experiences: we find it in everything from packaging to architecture.
[Offtopic: by the way, did you know that Smashing Magazine has one of the most influential and popular Twitter accounts? Join our discussions and get updates about useful tools and resources — follow us on Twitter.]
A Few Modern-Day Storytellers
Although the idea of using storytelling within the user experience process is fairly new, a few professionals are using it in their projects. I spoke with some of these modern-day storytellers to get their perspective and see how they are applying storytelling to their work.
Dorelle Rabinowitz
Dorelle is a storyteller who designs, illustrates and tells stories in a variety of media and contexts. Mostly she tells stories.
Question: How do you approach storytelling in UX?
Dorelle: I see it as another tool we can use as a catalyst for communicating during our design activities. For me as a designer, it’s about putting a human face on the design process and bringing people together. You can get designers, engineers, product managers, strategists and execs jazzed about a proposed feature because of a story, and it can be extremely fulfilling. As a person, it’s all about the emotional connection.
Back in the day, I’d worked on an Oxygen media site called “Our Stories,” where we created short online digital stories with our audience. We called it co-creation, and when I moved more into designing user experiences I realized that stories helped me understand my users better. As I did more and more work, I realized that storytelling facilitates communication, that people respond emotionally to stories, bond over stories and share stories again and again, and that the more I integrated storytelling into my work the better the work was.
So much of what we do isn’t only about the design but about how we deal with people, negotiate and plan. Storytelling can be effective in all of these situations as well as in driving towards our solutions. I think the value of using stories is independent of the type of experience.
Question: In the end, business goals (i.e. profit) rules the day. How does storytelling tie into this?
Dorelle: Stories help bridge understanding, so storytelling can help teams get on the same page and speak the same language—leading to expected results. Stories can help people work more collaboratively and thus help teams get it done faster—faster time to market. Stories can help reframe business problems so that projects solve the right problems and come to a better solution.
Question: Where is the best place to learn more?
Dorelle: Cindy Chastain’s article in Boxes and Arrows on Experience Themes is a great read.
Curt Cloninger
Curt is an artist and writer. He says his art doesn’t really tell a standard narrative with a climax and resolution but rather tries to create a kind of event experience.
Question: How do you approach storytelling in UX?
Curt: Design, particularly graphic design, can be understood as a visual form of communication, and storytelling is a historically tested form of communication. Storytelling or narrative design is more like something to keep in mind when considering the user’s experience.
To me, narrative design just means having a consistent “voice” and having every design element contributing to the same goal or conclusion. It also means allowing for an arc in the user experience. And it means allowing the user to have some kind of personal say in completing her experience. This is the difference between a novel (where the user mentally fills in lots of visual blanks) and a Hollywood action film (where all the blanks are filled in for the user). A novel is arguably more engaging.
Question: In the end, business goals (i.e. profit) rules the day. How does storytelling tie into this?
Curt: Hollywood tells stories, and they seem to make a lot of money. Politicians, journalists and large corporations often tell stories (i.e. lies), and they make money. The evolution of any brand over time is a kind of narrative. Corporations spend all sorts of money trying to convince us that their main character (Ronald McDonald) is the good guy. Narrative and capitalism have always enjoyed a fruitful relationship.
Question: Where is the best place to learn more?
Curt: I like Nathan Shedroff’s Experience Design book. It’s more about “XD” than “UX,” but it addresses narrative at several points throughout. Richard Schechner’s Performance Theory is good. It has nothing to do with user experience design per se, but it is about theater, tribal ritual and the cultural interfaces that people construct to give meaning to their worlds.
Christian Saylor
Christian is a storyteller who designs user experiences. He believes that the things around us have very powerful stories to tell.
Question: How do you approach storytelling in UX?
Christian: Storytelling gives us purpose and a sense of place. So, it hasn’t been so much a “discovery” of storytelling as a natural progression towards uncovering an experience buried deep within a narrative that wants to be told. So this idea of adopting “storytelling” as a means to uncover a rich experience for the “end” user, whoever they may be, just makes sense.
At the end of the day, the job of the (UX) designer is to help tell a story that is relevant and meaningful, regardless of time, device or even location. We use “personas” (characters in our story) and “scenarios” (narratives that tell a story about the persona) in order to fully understand not only the target audience but also their goals and desires, which will ultimately help to create a meaningful experience for them.
I strongly believe that everything has a story associated with it. Every business, social group, concept, methodology and relationship is desperately seeking out better ways to engage with its audience. Some just happen to do it on a large scale (Apple), while others quietly create a pattern of life that goes unnoticed until it disappears (the remote control). From packaging that sits on the store shelf to the applications that follow us throughout our days, story influences just about every aspect of our lives. Story is all around us. It gives us a sense of understanding and knowledge of the people and things that are important to us.
I think the most important aspect of storytelling for me is that it has the ability to change the way we view and interact with our world.
Question: In the end, business goals (i.e. profit) rules the day. How does storytelling tie into this?
Christian: If you’re telling the right story to the wrong audience, or even telling the right story the wrong way, then your business or product will ultimately fade away. Design and technology are the catalysts of change in the “experience economy.” And if we don’t seek out better ways to tell our story, then our business, product or service will be in jeopardy of losing its vitality. And as we all know, the business world is constantly looking at the bottom line. We live in a world saturated by products and services that vie for our attention, and the experience—the way in which a story is unfolded—will be the difference between a company’s success and failure.
Question: Where is the best place to learn more?
Christian: Lovemarks (the future beyond brands) by Saatchi & Saatchi. It has unbelievable insight into the way we fall in love with the companies and products that surround us.
(Disclosure: Both Christian and the author are employees of Universal Mind.)
Cindy Chastain
Cindy is a trained filmmaker and screenwriter. She continues to make films and write scripts and considers herself a visual and dramatic storyteller.
Question: How do you approach storytelling in UX?
Cindy: Storytelling is another discipline that can be used in the context of design as 1) a device, 2) a framework and/or 3) a craft to draw upon. In other words, we can use story as a way to capture and sell an idea; we can use it as a way to frame an approach to the design of a product or service; or we can use narrative techniques to craft an interaction and, hence, a variety of behavioral and emotional responses to a story.
We tell stories that seek to order chaos, provide meaning and engage the emotions of our listeners. We design experiences that hopefully do something similar. But in the context of design, meaning is also about what this experience, product or service will do for a person. It’s about how something fits into or enhances his life. It’s about understanding how something is supposed to function.
As designers we do well at facilitating the dialogue between people and the interactive products they use. But we often neglect to consider the more intangible layer of experience, the stories that evolve dynamically through interactions that people have with the things we make. We also lack an approach to holistic design. If we can learn to approach design more like writers approach stories, we will not only build richer experiences but start to develop a craft in our work that knows how and when certain narrative techniques can be used to engage the minds, emotions and imaginations of users.
Knowing the craft of narrative will help us build better stories, which will help us turn a set of lifeless features and functions into a whole experience that engages the minds and emotions of customers.
Question: In the end, business goals (i.e. profit) rules the day. How does storytelling tie into this?
Cindy: Brand message is no longer the thing that sells. Experience sells. If the intangible pleasure, emotion or meaning we seek can be made tangible through the use of story and narrative techniques, we will build more compelling product experiences. And if the experience is more compelling, businesses will profit from droves of loyal, experience-discerning customers.
Without this understanding, choices about what features should be included and how they should behave seem both uninspired and disconnected. Sure, we have business goals, user needs, design principles and best practices to draw on, but these things won’t get us to a place where a team is collaborating in the same conceptual space, let alone designing for emotion and meaning.
Question: Where is the best place to learn more?
Cindy: Start with the discipline itself, such as Story, Robert McKee’s book about screenwriting. I also recommend The Elements of Cinema by Stefan Sharff. It’s a book that examines how cinematic structures can be used to forward narrative, some of which can be applied directly to interaction design.
The Storytelling Experiences Around Us
There are many experiences in which storytelling is used to create a compelling message that draws users in. The stories are not always visible or apparent right away, but underneath many good experiences we can find great stories. They may appear in a series of interactions that tie into a larger story or simply in an emotional connection that we form with a product or brand.
In Packaging: Apple
Image source: Re.Mo and Typical Story Arc.
One company the excels at delivering a powerful story is Apple. Laid over the image of the iPhone box above is the story arc (introduced in part 1) that most screenplays and novels follow. Purchasing an Apple product and opening the many beautiful layers of the packaging follow a similar story arc in building anticipation. As you move through the process, you find compelling photography and clever writing. These build a sort of satisfying tension until you finally arrive at the climax of the experience and uncover the iPhone. A more common anti-climactic approach would be to wrap the iPhone in bubble plastic, reducing the story to a mere “Buy me.”
In Technology: Microsoft Courier
The Microsoft Courier device is in the “late prototype” stage of development. This is more of a booklet than Apple’s iPad, with dual multi-touch screens. This video uses storytelling to take you through the user experience of the booklet. Instead of simply running through some of its cool features, it tells us the compelling story of a project in which the potential of the Courier is exploited.
In Marketing: Six Scents Perfume
The Six Scents range of fragrances is created annually by pairing six prominent artists with six celebrated perfumers. The goal is to help raise awareness for a specific charitable cause. For the second series, each bottle comes with a DVD that contains a film and photography. The film and imagery create a story around each scent to evoke a certain feeling and theme.
In Architecture: HBO Store
The HBO Store (in mid-town Manhattan) is designed with storytelling built seamlessly into an immersive experience. The architecture and technology allow the space to become a new way to experience the props and merchandise for the HBO-based shows. The goal of the store (designed in part by design and branding studio Imaginary Forces) was to create an intelligent and memorable experience for visitors.
In Data: Taxi07:Roads Forward
In her comments on storytelling, Dorelle Rabinowitz shows how storytelling can be used to communicate otherwise boring data and turn it into a more accessible experience. One example of this was Taxi07:Roads Forward. It was a report for the New York City Taxi & Limousine Commission on the current state of the taxi cab industry in New York. The information was presented through stories in comic book form and beautiful infographics.
In Websites: Showtime Sports
In a project for Showtime Sports, Cindy Chastain and the team at Interactive Partners created an engaging experience for fans using experience themes. Fans would be able to follow and learn about the full fight story online interactively through video. The experience themes guided not just the content but the functional requirements and website architecture.
The End Is The Beginning Of This Story
Many aspects of storytelling and user experience could not be covered in a few articles. This series is meant to give you a starting point to explore and learn more. The end of this story hasn’t been written. This is just the beginning of using storytelling in new ways.
Here are a few good tools to start with:
- Personas Template;
- Experience Themes Matrix;
- Storytelling for User Experience Design (book to be released this year).
Resources
- Experience Themes by Cindy Chastain
- Storytelling: A Compelling Design Tool by Dorelle Rabinowitz
- The Art of Storytelling by Christian Saylor
- A Case for Web Storytelling by Curt Cloninger
Authors note: A special thanks to the storytellers interviewed for this article for taking time to share their thoughts and experiences with me.
(al)
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- Related Blogs on Better User Experience With Storytelling, Part 2
Autodesk will be showcasing their design software
First presented back in April 2008, the Automotive Designers Show will take place in Milan this April 7th, 8th and 9th.
The event includes both an exhibition and a conference and is dedicated to all aspects of interior and exterior vehicle design and styling and design studio technologies.
The Advance Programme for this event is now available. The speakers are a good mix of senior OEM designers (including Nissan, Alfa Romeo, Mindset, Lotus, Jaguar, and Mercedes Benz), independent design and styling houses (including I.D.E.A, Form3, EDAG, Bonetto, and Capoco) and studio technology suppliers such as Autodesk, Optis, Kolb, Geomagic and RTT.
The conference programme runs over the first two days of the event:
- Tuesday April 7th
Dedicated to Design Studio Technologies, with some interesting papers relating to physical and digital modelling.
- Wednesday April 8th
Focused on Concepts, Design and Prototypes. with presentations including some case studies of new concept vehicles, some of which are actually displayed in the exhibition area.
The ERA Concept by I.D.E.A, the will be on display in the exhibition
The programme has been designed to be of interest to designers and studio managers working on a variety of vehicles and includes a presentation on an award winning re-design of the iconic Routemaster London bus.
With visitors expected from across Europe and beyond, the conference presentations will all be in English.
Costs for the attending the conference as a delegate range from €150 - €200 per day depending on how soon you book however entry to the exhibition area is free of charge.
Delegate numbers for each day will be limited to approximately 150 and the full conference programme can be viewed here or at the bottom of this page.
Design Studios and University Design Schools
Special display-only stands for design houses and design schools
Whilst several stands in the exhibition area will be quite large and have technology or vehicles on display there are also opportunities for design houses and universities with vehicle design departments to participate as well.
Special display only stands have been created for design or prototyping companies that wish to showcase their work but do not need to s display large items.
Theses stands are very much designed for companies as an all-inclusive option and for universities or design schools they could be used for perhaps displaying the recent course work of their students.
For design schools these stands start are available from just €750, for design and prototyping companies wishing to showcase their design capabilities prices start at €1500. More information on these can be found on the website.
A redesign of the iconic Routemaster from Capoco
Car Body Design, who will be at the event, will also be displaying design students work on its own stand in the exhibition area as will Assomotoracing.
About the Show
The main purpose of the Automotive Designers Show is to bring together the range of technologies and services required by vehicle manufacturers during the initial design stages.
It is scheduled to be an annual event although the location of the 2010 show is yet to be announced.
For more information on exhibiting, visiting or attending the conference as a delegate visit the website on www.automotivedesign-expo.com.
The organisers are currently running a competition offering a limited number of free conference passes if you get your visitor registration in before February 23rd 2009.
The Conference Program
Day 1 - Design Studio Technologies (Tuesday 7 April 2009)
- 10.00 - Deploying the next generation of immersive display technology into the virtual vehicle design process
by NIGEL LOCKWOOD | JAGUAR LAND ROVER / STUART HETHERINGTON, HOLOVIS INTERNATIONAL
An overview of the Jaguar Land Rover virtual reality suite recently commissioned for their Gaydon design and development facility in the UK. - 10.25 - Intuitive Interaction in Mixed Reality Design Workflows
by MIRKO BARONE RTT AG
Virtual Reality is a well known means to save time and effort during prototyping and design processes. The aim of new generation 3D visualization tools is to offer more advanced features to support designers and engineers in developing and judging new products in virtual environments. During a comparison between new product versions and materials, designers are still bound to the regular and long winded road of navigating the 3D tool. While engineers and CAD designers are used to this workflow and appreciate full control over all small details, designers at a later stage have to focus on other issues. Easier and faster interfaces for their tasks had to be found. The next generation advanced VR tools now close this interface gap with new approaches such as augmented reality modules, integrating the virtual models into the real environment. Users can easily and naturally interact with their virtual prototypes without using mice or keyboards. Real physical materials and textures can be assigned to the virtual objects easily and swiftly. - 10.50 Coffee Break
- 11.10 Total Creativity – The Concept for a Perfect Vehicle Design Studio
by ANDREAS KOECK, MANAGING DIRECTOR | KOLB TECHNOLOGY GMBH
Plenty of space, good light, an inspiring environment and a great creative team: These should be the major requirements for a state of the art design studio. Supportive to this should be digital and physical modelling, milling and scanning, layouting and reverse engineering. All this as an integrated solution that reconciles traditional methods with high-end technologies and without the limitation of a traditional measuring environment clears the way for total creativity. - 11.35 Brand Differentiation through Expressive Surfaces:
by MICHAEL MILLER, CHIEF OF DESIGN | FLOTEK DESIGN, GRAVUTEX ESCHMANN INTERNATIONAL
A brief synopsis of Flotek design technology and advanced laser effects in an evolutionary 3D design environment; how this can be used to aid brand differentiation on vehicle interiors where confidence of new innovations can be gained through prototyping with advanced production tuned RP techniques. Show car and production vehicle case studies will be used to highlight how this technology can inspire and instigate trends for the future.
Materialise uses Additive Layer Manufacturing for creating concept vehicles
12.00 Additive Layer Manufacturing – A Revolution for the Making of Concept Vehicles
by JURGEN LANDUS | MATERIALISE B.V.
Additive layer manufacturing is the use of layered based manufacturing technologies like stereolithography, Laser Sintering and Fused Deposition Modelling to produce final production components. More and more vehicle manufacturers start to see the benefits of using additive layer manufacturing in the making of concept vehicles. First of all it opens a whole new world of design freedom. Secondly the use of these technologies allows building concept vehicles faster than the traditional methods. Furthermore it becomes possible to personalise designs. Examples of recent concept vehicles that used additive layer manufacturing are given.- 12.25 Lunch Break
- 13.25 The Inside Story – From Sketch to Reality
by ED MARTIN, INDUSTRY MANAGER | MANUFACTURING SOLUTIONS DIVISION, AUTODESK Manager
Vehicle manufacturers and suppliers are increasingly recognizing the value of well designed and well crafted interiors that appeal to consumers. Developing interiors that create purchasing preference and customer satisfaction requires a combination of designer skill supported by the right tools and processes. Autodesk will show how Digital Prototyping supports the creative process from initial sketching through surfacing, visualization and decision making, and continues with solutions for engineering and manufacturing of a finished interior. - 13.50 Dassault System
by SPEAKER AND TOPIC TO FOLLOW
Presentation overview to follow - 14.15 The Future for Vehicle Surface Design
by SIMON ALFORD, PROJECT MANAGER | NX PRODUCT DEFINITION, SIEMENS PLM SOFTWARE
Feature-Based Modelling. Historically, vehicle interior and exterior surface data have been created using specialist stand- alone software. Any changes to the vehicle form result in lengthy CAD re-work. Often deleting and recreating the data is the most viable route forward. For many years now, mechanical design has used parametric software (storing commands as features in the part's history) to enable rapid creation and modification of data via rules (or parameters). Due to the nature of automotive surface design – freeform organic shapes – it was widely perceived that a feature-based parametric approach was not feasible ...until now. - 14.40 Coffee Break
- 15.00 Optical Measurement in Vehicle Design
by GERD SCHWARDERER, GENERAL MANAGER, GEOMAGIC GMBH Using optical measurement hardware in the Design Studios is a mainstream application these days. Properly taking advantage of the data and post processing technology can still dramatically leverage this investment. This presentation will showcase case studies and independent information. - 15.25 Advanced Simulation Solutions for Optimizing The Drivers Vision
by PATRICE DORÉ | OPTIS WORLD
This presentation will introduce the latest CATIA V5-integrated SPEOS simulation software developed by OPTIS, enabling interior designers to physically simulate materials, light sources, and colours exactly as they will be seen by the driver in order to detect potential nuisance reflections, areas of low visibility and environmental glare. - 15.50 Windshield Simulation for Vehicle Prototypes
by MICHAEL MEYERS, PROCESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER | AGC AUTOMOTIVE EUROPE
In a context of growing complexity and size of vehicle glazing, especially windshields, AGC Automotive Europe has developed a complete and powerful expertise based on experimental prototypes and numerical simulation model. The numerical simulation model offers a quick and complete investigation going from the design suggested by the vehicle manufacturer, to the process ability of the final product including quality aspect evaluation (optics, wiping, ). With this complete expertise based on simulations and internal know-how it is possible to offer a co-design expertise to vehicle manufacturers for more complex products.
Day 2 - Concepts, Design and Prototypes (Wednesday 8 April 2009)
- 10.00 Nissan Design Story
by ALFONSO ALBAISA / MARTIN UHLARIK, SENIOR DESIGNER | NISSAN DESIGN EUROPE
Presentation overview to follow. - 10.25 Alfa Romeo - The Design Renewal
by CHRISTOPHER REITZ, DIRECTOR OF DESIGN | ALFA ROMEO
Presentation overview to follow. - 10.50 Coffee Break
- 11.10 Concept Car Review – ERA
by PIETRO LARDINI, PRESIDENT | IDEA INSTITUTE SPA
Era is a two-seater roadster show car designed and built by I.DE.A Institute featuring classic Italian styling in a sports car. It s the first of new models representing the renewal of I.DE.A: it s the working result of a new young designers team, modellers and show cars builders. The car has an elegant yet powerful appearance and a simple interior typical to sports cars. ERA has been designed to carry a 4/6 cylinder front engine and has the following dimensions: length 4300 mm, width 1840 mm, height 920mm, wheelbase 2560 mm. - 11.35 Concept Car Review; Light Car
by JOHANNES BARCKMANN, STYLING DIRECTOR | EDAG
The EDAG "Light Car" is a vision of an environmentally friendly and attractive car for everyday and leisure use. The purely electric vehicle shows for the first time how light can be used as an individually modifiable design feature and communication device. For the bodywork concept EDAG employs basalt fibres, a light, 100% recyclable material with high stiffness. - 12.00 Concept Car Review – Sportscar 'X'
by JOACHIM BOFFINGER | FORM3 DESIGN
This presentation is a case study of Sportscar 'X'. A new concept of a powerful two seat offroadster, lightweight, economic and with a sophisticated design. Amongst the many surprising features of this vehicle is a unique multi functional roof concept. The presentation outlines the design process of Sportscar 'X' covering ideation, sketching, packaging, styling and physical and digital modelling of the vehicle. - 12.25 Lunch Break
- 13.25 Road To The Future
by FRANCESCA SANGALLI | MERCEDES BENZ ADVANCED DESIGN
Present a look at how the Mercedes-Benz brand envision the future of its cars (and brand Values) and in particular how to combine the classic core competence of Mercedes-Benz of Luxury Mobility with a vision of a sustainable future. A particular attention will be given to the future customer and his idea of Luxury in a context where status and taste will become more important than horsepower and engine size. - 13.50 OEM Design Review; Lotus Evora
by RUSSELL CARR, HEAD OF DESIGN | LOTUS
A presentation looking at the design of the latest sports car from Lotus. - 14.15 Time for a Change
by DAVID WILKIE, DESIGNER | MINDSET
Missing Mindset! Car design today is stuck in a rut. It's true that cars are more sophisticated and reliable than ever before. It's also true that nearly all cars on the market have the capability to go at speeds way beyond the legal limits. Why do companies use money developing this.. Mindset wants to build an alternative. Just putting an electric motor on any existing car would miss so many wonderful design opportunities given by a new healthier drive train. With Mindset, we want you to feel you are in something special. An experience other than speed. a Design experience! We want to develop materials other than the traditional plastics. With the exterior, we want to create a car you'd love to own and care for. We want people to relate to Mindset with the passion that one gives to a special or historic car. A car you'd love to wash! Mindset is one of the few Electric vehicles that has been designed from the ground up, for real life... - 14.40 Coffee Break
- 15.00 A New Bus for London
by OWEN EVANS, SENIOR DESIGNER | CAPOCO DESIGN LIMITED
A New Bus for London is the current project to develop an innovative bus design for the city. It follows on from the design competition that was held in 2008. Capoco not only won the competition, but also triggered the great interest in the project. Capoco presented a speculative re-design of the classic Routemaster bus in late 2007. Our presentation takes the story thru this exciting blend of old and new. The work covers both the visual concept and also the engineering packaging so defines the complete new vehicle design. - 15.25 Commercial Vehicle Design
by MARCO BONETTO, PRESIDENT | BONETTO DESIGN
A look at the latest design trends relating to commercial vehicles with an insight into recent projects undertaken by the Bonetto design studio. - 15.50 No Time for Preconceptions
by PETER STEVENS, PETERSTEVENS DESIGN
Presentation overview to follow Day 2 | Wednesday April 8th 2009
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