This reading assignment was based on an excerpt from Storytelling for User Experience: Crafting Stories for Better Design, by Whitney Quesenbery and Kevin Brooks. I've selected key quotes to comment on that highlight important context within the article.
“When your story is about user experience work, you are a part of the story because you were there to collect it. You have to decide how to include your own perceptions, if at all.”
This quote highlights the role you play when telling a story, as anyone who tells a story is inherently a part of it. Creating an honest story in user experience work is bound to have a number of outsider factors that must be considered. Your presence during data collection and analysis can shape the result of the research being conducted, and moreover, the role you play in depicting the findings of any research is extremely significant. It’s important to acknowledge your bias, as well as make a point to draw from research and experiences of others to comprehensively craft a good story. Ensuring that the story you make is both credible and has depth requires a lot of thought.
“Changes in perspective can also suggest different needs that a new design can meet. For example, one character might describe a nighttime scene as dark and ominous, while a different character might see that same scene as quiet and peaceful. If you were telling a story to explore a mobile phone for the first perspective, you might want features like a bright backlight that could be used as a flashlight and perhaps add a special-purpose emergency call button. The second perspective might suggest quick-and-easy control of ringtone volume to avoid disturbing the peaceful surroundings.”
This quote shows the significance of acknowledging diverse user perspectives and the importance of designs being tailored to meet a variety of needs for different users. The quote illustrates how differences in perception can reveal distinct requirements. Acknowledging multiple difference perspectives when designing is ideal, as no specific design decision will be universally taken as important or significant. Accommodating multiple different viewpoints is necessary when designing to truly meet the needs of a diverse user base. Doing so will enhance user satisfaction as well as leading to design solutions that appeal to a broader audience.
“As you decide on the right mix, consider these questions:
What do you have to say explicitly and what can you imply through one of the ingredients?
What does your audience already know about the context or characters, and what do you have to be sure to tell them?
How will the ingredients you choose fit together to make your point?”
These questions provide a good starting point for anyone looking to tell a compelling story. They serve as guidance to approach storytelling with strategy. The first question encourages a storyteller to be selective with what needs to be outright stated, and what can be subtly implied. This fosters a deeper engagement with the audience by allowing them to connect the dots themselves. The second question addresses the importance of understanding your audiences’ point of view and any relevant prior knowledge they may have. With this information, a storyteller can properly tailor their story to maximize engagement and clarity by avoiding any redundancy. The third question drives home the significance of being fully cohesive with a story. It prompts a reflection of all the elements reviewed in this chapter to ensure a story is cohesively put together to accurately and effectively deliver the point(s) a storyteller intends to it to deliver. By using these questions as a starting point, storytellers can properly format a narrative that is both well structured and efficiently resonates with the audience.