Exposition. Climax. Resolution.

The power of narrative in modern product design

Robert McKee, author of the screenwriter’s bible ‘Story: Substance, Structure, Style’, is most well known for his ‘Story Seminar’; a 4 day workshop whose previous attendees include Peter Jackson, Ed Saxon, John Lasseter and George Mastras. In it, McKee teaches intensively the art and craft of storytelling, from structure and composition to dimension and design, and as his website explains teaches that:

“…writers do not sprint: they run a marathon requiring diligence, dedication, effort, passion, and time.”

I hadn’t heard of Robert McKee until I read Mike Skinner’s book ‘The Story of The Streets’. In the book Skinner talks about how, after attending the ‘screenwriting gurus’ 10 hour workshop, he applied the teachings to songwriting and more significantly to developing the continuing narrative that provided the concept for The Street’s further 4 albums.

The idea of narrative in product design isn’t a new one, in fact the first time I read an article on the subject was way back in 2010 when Smashing Magazine published an article by Francisco Inchauste, entitled ‘Better User Experience With Storytelling’. I’ve read many more articles since, but find most undervalue the power of narrative suggesting it’s use as one for explaining/selling rather than forming the foundation of a user experience.

In one session, Mckee states that the reason well written narrative is so powerful is that it runs in natural parallel with a readers own psychology — this is to say the basic idea of classic story construction is well understood by the reader and understood to the point that when done correctly engagement is natural and expected function.

This makes linear narrative (exposition, climax and resolution) the perfect framework for constructing product experiences — for simple or well understood experience such as user on-boarding or e-commerce purchase flow, where the process is end-to-end at its most ideal, it’s easy to see where the concept of a linear narrative can be applied.

For more complex experiences the broken (or fractured) narrative can be used to structure the flow, connecting linear narratives together with common elements — but the same structure remains with all elements the subject of equal focus ending as all good stories should, in resolution.

Joe MacLeod recently gave a talk at Glug London on his idea for better ‘closure experiences’, in it he defines a ‘closure experience’ as:

“The satisfactory conclusion to a product or service relationship. Each party feeling satisfied with the complete transaction, it being a fair, just conclusion without consequence”

Not only does this make perfect sense when applied to product or service design but also feels certain when applied to a story or narrative. Nobody likes a cliff-hanger!

In his article ‘Hearing The Notes That Aren’t Played’ David Mamet studies the idea of narrative in classical music, more specifically the Western compositional form. He suggests that “It is in our nature to elaborate, estimate, predict — to run before the event” when considering the journey we are taken on by a piece of music and as a result we are “delighted and instructed” to the “varieties of perception, possibility, completion”, we are “made better”.

At the other end of the scale Mamet proposes that in absence of a familiar plot we will fill the gaps ourselves and create our own narrative that more often than not leads inevitably to unfulfillment at the resolution — we “ape the divine” convincing ourselves that this was the resolution as intended and that we are happy with it.

It is these thoughts and ideas about narrative — in music, literature or film — that make a perfect foundation for the design of services and experiences. Users will, through their natural tendencies, expect (or predict) the unfolding experience as we take them through the journey, if for whatever reason they don’t find their “just conclusion” we’ve undoubtedly provided a substandard experience and the deviation from the narrative structure at any point could potentially lead to this.

The basis of constructed narrative and an awareness of these user behaviours can allow us to create better experiences by tapping into a users consciousness building on years of learning and exposure to the application of storytelling — it’s not enough to tell the stories of a predefined concept or simplify an existing experience. The key is employing the power narratives hold to construct the experience from the ground up, embedding it in the synopsis of your initial idea and carrying it through to the exposition of your on-boarding process.

Thanks to the ustwo Interaction Design team for their input.

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