Finding the Narrative: On Storytelling in Design
“It’s a little bit complicated,” says Jeshua Nanthakumar, co-founder and experience director at Milkinside, when asked about what his definition of story is.
“Everyone hears stories and tells stories all of the time. When I say ‘I went to the supermarket today’ or ‘Hey, this is what I’m working on,’ those are stories, right?”
For Jesh and his team, the challenge lies in diving far below the surface of ‘traditional’ narrative; to look at the story as a resonative experience so that it informs an immersive design.
Finding the resonative thread
“The thing that always gives someone a bond to the storyteller is being able to share in the story. We want to be able to connect. How somebody can resonate with the story is the ultimate goal of a design narrative.”
Like any early-stage design project, Jesh and his team start with user research. They dig into the stories that people are telling themselves. In other words — who are they? What are they doing? And, most importantly, what can’t they do?
After all, every good story starts with conflict.
Understanding this conflict helps the team find the resonative thread that they need to weave into the design they’re creating. “Let’s create a product that helps this person resonate with or solve their problem, or feel like they can have some control over their story by using this technology, this app, etc.,” Jesh explains.
A twist on tradition
Many people hear the word ‘story’ and immediately think about the movies. Television. Books. For Milkinside, this quasi-traditional idea of story is still valid, so long as it revolves around the heart of narrative design — the experience.
In 2019, Milkinside partnered with Airbus to help develop a new app. “Airbus wanted to create an app that would make it easy for people to go from Point A to Point B without having to think too much about all the steps in between,” Jesh explains.
“For us to design a good experience around that [idea], we need to know what the story is of what the user is going through so that we can adapt that experience into the app.”
Airbus wanted its app to be all-inclusive; meaning, it would guide users in all facets of their journey. While working on the Airbus project, Jesh found himself travelling back and forth between Canada and India. The trip frequently required stops at multiple airports.
“Living through the actual experience helped me bring those feelings to the app. I knew what that experience was like,” he says.
And here’s where design-based storytelling becomes a lot more traditional. Storytellers live experiences and then share them. This is exactly what Jesh did. He had an opportunity to live the experience that he and his team were simultaneously working to improve for others.
The result: Tripset.
Method UX designing
“You know how there are certain actors that call themselves method actors?” asks Jesh. “I would consider myself a method UX designer.”
He has a point. It’s not always easy to design this way, but if you can live the user experience, won’t that ultimately contribute to a better final product?
“Story first, then design around that,” Jesh explains. “It just doesn’t make sense to design anything unless you understand — from an empathetic perspective — the actual emotions and story that the user is going through.”
Best practices mean nothing if they jeopardize the integrity of the story and experience. Jesh and his team live by the tenets of good design but aren’t afraid to try new things if they contribute to the central narrative and have the potential to make a user’s experience better.
Narrative over functionality
“A lot of time designers will think about the design systems and how to adapt the story to the design systems,” says Jesh. “And that’s great, but that’s like saying I’m going to take Star Wars cutscenes and effects and tell a romantic Pride and Prejudice story. That’s not how it works!”
When an author writes a book or a screenwriter writes a screenplay, one of the most challenging tasks is to keep the story moving. Every character, every plot point, every line of dialogue must drive the story forward — the same goes for design.
“If I’m in a rush to open a car door, I don’t want to go through seven steps just to do so,” Jesh jokes.
But there’s truth to the statement.
“Whatever the system is, the user is trying to reach into the system to get what they need. But, the usual way of doing things (until now), has been that the user has had to reach all the way in and sort through what they want, then pull it out.
“What if the system understood to some degree [what a user wants], then it ‘reached out’ to the user as the user reached toward it?”
Interestingly enough, this sort of thinking underscores the emphasis on story in a design. Pinpoint the conflict, understand the characters (and how they relate to the conflict), and solve the problem.
Isn’t that what any good story does?
Milkinside is a San Francisco-based design firm intent on making the future of technology beautiful. Its small but versatile team believes that design is what transforms technology into a product and that storytelling should be at the center of any user experience. See what the team is working on at milkinside.com.
