Stories Told by UX Design

Why is Storytelling important in UX Design?

I have always been a fan of great storytelling; whether it’s in the form of animated movies, books, or even photojournalism.

But one area, that not everyone commonly associates with storytelling, is with UX Design.

In design, storytelling is the technique of producing an engaging story that puts people at the center of the design.

I believe that the whole process of UX Design in itself, is a whole form of storytelling. I will be using the basic story structure, to compare it with the UX Design process, as well as talk about why each phase is important (to both storytelling, and UX Design).

Act One: Set-up

Set-up, a.k.a exposition mainly talks about the main character(s), the setting, their motivation, and most importantly, their goal(s). At this phase, the main character is in a neutral state, just before a disrupting event (inciting incident), that will lead to Act Two.

• Characters
• Setting
• Goals, Motivation

Translated to UX Design: Research, Discovery

Similarly in UX Design, it is important to know our main character (users), their goals, problems, and environment. We do this through the appropriate techniques in research, for a given situation.

What happens if we don’t have a proper Act One: Set-up?

In the story: If we didn’t have even a tiny bit of information about the background of the main character, it would be impossible to appreciate whatever they do in the story. Everyone will be bored, with the lack of feeling curious, and just move on to the next story(or change the show on Netflix).

In UX Design: Similarly, it would be hard to make decisions, and designers won’t be able to communicate effectively to different stakeholders if they don’t have any idea who the user is. Everyone will just basically be guessing, trying to solve a problem for someone no one has heard about.

Act Two: Confrontation

Confrontation starts with a change in the usual life of the main character, shows their actions and decisions, and how they behave when faced with challenge(s). Some stories will have multiple challenges along the way, applying their learnings every time they encounter one. But all of this build up will eventually reach a climax.

• Challenges
• Action
• Learning

Translated to UX Design: Strategy, Ideation, Interaction Design, Prototyping

In UX Design, after having a proper sense of the identity of our users, we proceed with thinking of (tons of) different solutions, in order to come up with the best possible one. This is possible through trial and error, having a lot of discussions (with other designers, and stakeholders), and collaboration.

What happens if we don’t have a proper Act Two: Confrontation?

In the story: The comments section in whatever social media site on the Internet will probably be flooded with “they didn’t have a proper character development”. If Act Two wasn’t structured properly, and went straight to the climax… “Act One: Set-up” would be a waste, and will probably cause a lot of confusion to the audience.

In UX Design: Similarly, any product of research will be a total waste if proper strategy, ideation, collaboration, etc. are not in place. We would also probably end up with a bad final product.

Act Three: Resolution

The climax is where the main character has to face the biggest conflict in the story. This will be the biggest test of the culmination of their learnings and experiences throughout Act Two. This will either end in having all questions, and struggles resolved, or in a cliffhanger; eventually leading to a falling action.

Resolution (or Denouement), brings about a new sense of self for the main character, and their environment (whether it’s good, or bad). This phase reflects on what had just happened, and gives the audience a sense of direction of the main character’s life, whether they live happily ever after, or plan to get revenge, in the next movie, because of their daddy issues.

• Climax
• Reflection
• Results

Translated to UX Design: Testing, Iteration, Gathering new data

The Climax in UX Design is probably seeing our users interact with our designs. This could be in a form of testing, or having users use the released product without testing (which is probably not a good idea, if there are too many risks not accounted for). Resolution also means iteration — trying to improve on the previous designs, and also gathering the data to start the cycle over with research, using new data.

What happens if we don’t have a proper Act Three: Resolution?

In the story: If the ending wasn’t a problem, Game of Thrones fans probably couldn’t have caused that much drama.

In UX Design: This phase in UX design is necessary for the design/product/service to further improve. Not iterating on designs or products or services basically means giving up on it.

Conclusion

The whole process of UX Design, is basically storytelling. Each phase works with each other, and is necessary for improving the overall quality of the story (design).

It is also something that is meant to be shared with people, to help everyone working on a specific design have a clear view of the whole process, and to achieve the same goal.

UX Design can’t survive with only one person working on it, just as how a story wouldn’t live if it wasn’t passed down, or heard by other people.