When Storytelling is used in the Design Process?  The design thinking process ensures the user evolvement in every stage to build a user- centred solution. Therefore, the storytelling is used throughout the design process, yet there  is a different usage goal in each phase. Generally, the storytelling can be used as three pair  phases; problem framing, solution framing, and solution implementation.

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 the best solution from  the user perspective is. 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.

Solution Implementation  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.

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.


When Storytelling is used in the Design Process ? The design thinking process ensures the user evolvement in every stage to build a user- centred solution . Therefore , the storytelling is used throughout the design process , yet there is a different usage goal in each phase . Generally , the storytelling can be used as three pair phases ; problem framing , solution framing , and solution implementation . 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 the best solution from the user perspective is . 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 . Solution Implementation 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 . 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 .