STORY TELLING

1. Challenge:

Storytelling is in the heart of our DNA as a human being, it helps us connect events is a  holistic experience through time. This unique nature of stories makes it one of the  essential tools during the design process of both products and services. What does  happen when asking consumers about using a product? They usually start to tell about  their experience in the form of a story. They describe the events they went through and  the lessons that they faced at each stage. As a designer, I used to find this method an  interesting one to learn about the consumer experience and then reflect it into an  outcome solution of the design process. There is nothing better than hearing about the  product from the mouth of the consumers or see then use in real life.

2. Selection:

Storytelling in the design process can be implemented using various techniques and  methods such as the following:

Digital and Visual storytelling, Scenario generation; Storyboarding; Plays; Animation;  Talk and images.

3. Application:

Problem Framing  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. 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.    Solution Framing  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. 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.

4. 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.

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.

5. Approach:

to understand the storytelling and how it is implemented in the design process, we  need to explore its different parts and how they are put into a unified component  called “a story.” Generally, every story has the following elements:

Domain (What) – This is where you define the problem or the topic that is addressed  inside the story. In the design process, it can be a consumer target such as booking a  medical appointment or refund an online purchase order.

Players (Who) – The players involved in the story or the people who are included in  the story. The leading player represents the demographic information that will be  used to build the persona engaged in the design process. The principal character  here is the consumer as the one who faces the experiences. Other players may  involve into the story such as the customer support or the employees who  communicate with consumers

Story flow (How) – Each story consists of three main phases; beginning, middle, and  end. In each story, there is the central crisis or a problem that usually comes near  the middle stage. This is typically the problem targeted inside the design process.  However, there may be other obstacles or issues that come before the main event in  the story as highlighted in the below figure.


STORY TELLING 1 . Challenge : Storytelling is in the heart of our DNA as a human being , it helps us connect events is a holistic experience through time . This unique nature of stories makes it one of the essential tools during the design process of both products and services . What does happen when asking consumers about using a product ? They usually start to tell about their experience in the form of a story . They describe the events they went through and the lessons that they faced at each stage . As a designer , I used to find this method an interesting one to learn about the consumer experience and then reflect it into an outcome solution of the design process . There is nothing better than hearing about the product from the mouth of the consumers or see then use in real life . 2 . Selection : Storytelling in the design process can be implemented using various techniques and methods such as the following : Digital and Visual storytelling , Scenario generation ; Storyboarding ; Plays ; Animation ; Talk and images . 3 . Application : Problem Framing 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 . 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 . Solution Framing 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 . 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 . 4 . 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 . 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 . 5 . Approach : to understand the storytelling and how it is implemented in the design process , we need to explore its different parts and how they are put into a unified component called “ a story . ” Generally , every story has the following elements : Domain ( What ) – This is where you define the problem or the topic that is addressed inside the story . In the design process , it can be a consumer target such as booking a medical appointment or refund an online purchase order . Players ( Who ) – The players involved in the story or the people who are included in the story . The leading player represents the demographic information that will be used to build the persona engaged in the design process . The principal character here is the consumer as the one who faces the experiences . Other players may involve into the story such as the customer support or the employees who communicate with consumers Story flow ( How ) – Each story consists of three main phases ; beginning , middle , and end . In each story , there is the central crisis or a problem that usually comes near the middle stage . This is typically the problem targeted inside the design process . However , there may be other obstacles or issues that come before the main event in the story as highlighted in the below figure .