book

Storytelling in Design

by Anna Dahlström

December 2019

Beginner

412 pages

10h 14m

English

O'Reilly Media, Inc.

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How This All StartedThe Role of Stories Throughout HistoryThe Medium of StoriesThe Role of Personal Storytelling in Day-to-Day LivesStorytelling TodayStories as a Persuasion ToolThe Role of Storytelling in Product DesignSummary
The Architect Analogy of Explaining UXAristotle’s Seven Golden Rules of StorytellingThe Three Parts to a StoryThe Art of DramaturgyWhat Dramaturgy Teaches Us About Product DesignThe Circular Nature of Digital Product ExperiencesFive Key Storytelling Lessons
When Any Device, Used Anywhere and at Any Time, Is Your Starting PointHow Traditional Storytelling Is ChangingHow the Landscape of Product Design Is ChangingChanges in Consumer ExpectationsSummary
Shouting at the Voice AssistantThe Role of Emotion in StorytellingThe Role of Emotion in Product DesignEmotions and Our Different Levels of NeedsUnderstanding EmotionsSituations Where Emotion in Design Can Play a Key RoleWhat Storytelling Can Teach Us About Evoking Emotions in Product DesignSummary
Understanding and Defining Your Product Life CycleThe Role of Dramaturgy in StorytellingThe Role of Dramaturgy in Product DesignVariations on the Three-Act StructureApplying Sequencing and Mini-Stories to Product DesignThe Difference Between Acts, Sequences, Scenes, and ShotsUnderstanding Plot PointsPlot Points in Product DesignTypical Experience Structures of Common Product Life CyclesHow to Use Dramaturgy and Plot Points to Define the Narrative Structure of Product ExperiencesSummary
Reluctance to Use PersonasThe Role of Characters and Character Development in StorytellingThe Role of Characters and Character Development in Product DesignThe Different Actors and Characters to Consider in Product DesignThe Importance of Character DevelopmentWhat Traditional Storytelling Teaches Us About Characters and Character DevelopmentCharacter Definition Versus Character Development Versus Character GrowthTools for Character Definition and Development in Product DesignSummary
Once Doesn’t Mean AlwaysThe Role of Setting and Context in StorytellingThe Role of Setting and Context in Product DesignA Look at Context in Product DesignA Definition of Contextual Products and Context-Aware ComputingWorking Through the ContextEmbracing the Complexity of ContextThe Factors and Elements That Make Up Context in Product DesignWhat Storytelling Teaches Us About Setting and ContextSummary
One Document to Capture It AllThe Role of Storyboarding for Film and TVThe Role of Storyboarding in Product DesignUsing Storyboards to Help Identify the Invisible Problem and/or SolutionCreating StoryboardsWays to Incorporate Storyboards into the Product Design ProcessSummary
“The Website Knows Me and What I Want”The Shape of StoriesThe Shapes of ExperiencesTwo Ways to Define the Shape of an ExperienceWhen and How to Visualize an ExperienceSummary

The Ideal JourneyThe Role of the Main Plot and Subplots in Traditional StorytellingThe Role of the Main Plot and Subplots in Product DesignTypes of SubplotsWhat Storytelling Teaches Us About Working with Main Plots and SubplotsSummary
Using Real ContentThe Role of Theme and the Red Thread in StorytellingThe Role of Theme and the Red Thread in Product DesignApproaches to Developing Your Story in Traditional StorytellingWhat Storytelling Teaches Us About Theme and Developing Your Product StorySummary
One Page for Every AthleteCYOA Books and Modular StoriesCYOA and Product DesignThe Case for Modularity in Product DesignThe Need to Focus on the Building Blocks Rather Than the Page or ViewCommon Patterns in Choice-Based StoriesKey Principles from CYOA Structures Applied to Product DesignWhat Product Design Can Learn from CYOASummary
The Things That Didn’t Fit Above the FoldThe Role of Scenes and Scene Structure in Product DesignElements of a SceneElements That Help Tell the Story of a Page or ViewWhat Scenes Teach Us About How to Define the Story of the Page or ViewSummary
How Storytelling Helped Save the DayThe Role of Storytelling for Presenting Your StoryWhat Traditional Storytelling Can Teach Us About Presenting Your StorySummary

Content preview from Storytelling in Design

Chapter 7. Defining the Setting and Context of Your Product

[ 7 ]

Defining the Setting and Context of Your Product

Once Doesn’t Mean Always

In 2014 I went to the Swedish Embassy in London to vote in the election back home. It was one of those moments where I wanted to share my check-in with the world—or in this case, the Twittersphere. I opened up Foursquare, as it was still called back then, added a comment, and tapped the Twitter icon on the check-in screen and checked in.

A few days later, I was on my way to Berlin to speak at a conference and, as usual, I checked in to Heathrow T5 on Foursquare. We boarded the plane, and as I scrolled through my Twitter feed, I saw that Foursquare had shared my check-in on Twitter. I quickly deleted the tweet and opened up Foursquare to see what had happened. It turned out that since that time at the Swedish Embassy, where I’d chosen to share my check-in, sharing check-ins was now turned on by default.

It may seem like a small and silly thing, but these little things really make a difference. As the world we live in, and design for, becomes ever more filled with noise, it’s our responsibility as designers to make sure that we don’t add to it unnecessarily but instead help users do what they want and not make assumptions or decide for them. The right and nice way for the Foursquare app to have behaved in this instance would have been to look at my past behavior in the app and use a simple algorithm to decide how to handle the check-in scenario. ...