Storytelling: Design Thinking

Storytelling is a very old technique, dating back throughout most of human history. The practice  is embedded into our culture. Using it as a method to solve certain problem or coming to a  conclusion.

Challenge

This stage comes early in the design process. It aims to explore the problem to build an accurate  understanding of the main issue that needs to be solved. In the problem framing stage, the storytelling  can be used in this explorative initiative. It helps the design team to engage with the user to define the  problem using a qualitative data from the consumers. Multiple storytelling sessions can be held with the  consumers who meet with the persona characteristics.

Selection

Then, the data can be collected and analysed to build a generalised idea about the problem. The  advantage of using the storytelling tool is that it helps to create empathy with the problem as the  consumers tell their stories from their own perspective describing their pain points in the process. It  helps to build a persona empathy map about the consumers’ feelings and experience.

In the solution definition and prototyping stages, the design team would number of potential solutions  that need to be tested and evaluated to understand which is the best solution from the user  perspective. In this stage, the storytelling can be used again in this stage but with a different purpose. In  this case, the team tries to understand which solution is the most appropriate for the consumer. The  storytelling can be used in this part of the design process to build a two communication with the  consumer to validate the efficiency of the solution.

Application

In the prototyping stage, storytelling plays an even more critical role as the consumers can use the  solution and provide feedback to the design team. The team will be able to observe how the consumers  use the prototype solution and build a realistic understanding of the suggested solutions.

Insight

One of the practical features of the design thinking process is the ability to get consumer feedback  about the product or the service to improve the product in the future. Here, the storytelling can be used  to explore how the final product is used in real life and how consumers interact with it in their everyday  life. The information collected from the feedback sessions are usually used to improve the future  versions of the product. Figure 2 above shows when the storytelling can be applied during the design  process based on two commonly used models; the Double Diamond by the Design Council and the IDEO  Design Thinking Process.

Approach

While the storytelling can be used in different stages of the design process as above, it is a suitable tool  to collected personalised experiences from the consumers. It may be hard to build a generalised data  based on it because of the different nature of each consumer’s story, but I believe this is one of the  strengths of the tool. It helps us to understand the empathic experience that the users face when using  a product or a service. This unique strength point can be valuable for the design thinking process  especially when it targets specific problems such as medical interventions or personalised use cases.

In sum, the storytelling is a powerful communication tool that enables us as a human being to  understand more about our emotional experiences. This makes it an effective method to use during the  design process. It can be used during the design thinking process phases with a different goal in each  stage. Storytelling can help us to gather personalised emotional data about our consumer’s experience  which can be hard to collect using other research methods such as the survey and consumer journey  mapping.


Storytelling : Design Thinking Storytelling is a very old technique , dating back throughout most of human history . The practice is embedded into our culture . Using it as a method to solve certain problem or coming to a conclusion . Challenge This stage comes early in the design process . It aims to explore the problem to build an accurate understanding of the main issue that needs to be solved . In the problem framing stage , the storytelling can be used in this explorative initiative . It helps the design team to engage with the user to define the problem using a qualitative data from the consumers . Multiple storytelling sessions can be held with the consumers who meet with the persona characteristics . Selection Then , the data can be collected and analysed to build a generalised idea about the problem . The advantage of using the storytelling tool is that it helps to create empathy with the problem as the consumers tell their stories from their own perspective describing their pain points in the process . It helps to build a persona empathy map about the consumers ’ feelings and experience . In the solution definition and prototyping stages , the design team would number of potential solutions that need to be tested and evaluated to understand which is the best solution from the user perspective . In this stage , the storytelling can be used again in this stage but with a different purpose . In this case , the team tries to understand which solution is the most appropriate for the consumer . The storytelling can be used in this part of the design process to build a two communication with the consumer to validate the efficiency of the solution . Application In the prototyping stage , storytelling plays an even more critical role as the consumers can use the solution and provide feedback to the design team . The team will be able to observe how the consumers use the prototype solution and build a realistic understanding of the suggested solutions . Insight One of the practical features of the design thinking process is the ability to get consumer feedback about the product or the service to improve the product in the future . Here , the storytelling can be used to explore how the final product is used in real life and how consumers interact with it in their everyday life . The information collected from the feedback sessions are usually used to improve the future versions of the product . Figure 2 above shows when the storytelling can be applied during the design process based on two commonly used models ; the Double Diamond by the Design Council and the IDEO Design Thinking Process . Approach While the storytelling can be used in different stages of the design process as above , it is a suitable tool to collected personalised experiences from the consumers . It may be hard to build a generalised data based on it because of the different nature of each consumer ’s story , but I believe this is one of the strengths of the tool . It helps us to understand the empathic experience that the users face when using a product or a service . This unique strength point can be valuable for the design thinking process especially when it targets specific problems such as medical interventions or personalised use cases . In sum , the storytelling is a powerful communication tool that enables us as a human being to understand more about our emotional experiences . This makes it an effective method to use during the design process . It can be used during the design thinking process phases with a different goal in each stage . Storytelling can help us to gather personalised emotional data about our consumer ’s experience which can be hard to collect using other research methods such as the survey and consumer journey mapping .