We adore stories as humans. And there are many different kinds of stories. Children enjoy fairy tales; teenagers wonder aloud, “And then what happened?” when their friends tell them about gossip; history fans read biographies to learn about renowned people; science buffs love films that explain the world around us, and everyone enjoys a nice finale to a good workplace drama or romantic escapade – whether fiction or truth.
We use storytelling talents to generate great user experiences as well, albeit when a story is part of a product, it looks a little different. People will care about and interact more deeply with a digital world if you learn how to create a compelling story with it.
Furthermore, applying the same elements that help in the creation of a good story will assist in the design of a better product. A good story will impact marketing materials, build a product that fits within the user experience, and draw attention to changes that require more descriptive text or an emotional connection with the end-user.
In this article, we’ll go through the five stages an author takes to create an excellent experience. We’ll also look at a specific product to see how their selections may be evaluated via the five processes for consistency’s sake.
Let’s go through five methods that authors take to develop a tale into their user experience that you can apply as well.
Step 1: Choose your genre:
Let’s set aside UX and digital technologies for the time being. Consider one of your favorite stories. Is it a murder investigation? Is it a sitcom or a drama? Is this a romantic comedy? It’s not a murder-mystery-romantic-comedy-sitcom-movie-newspaper-article, most likely. This is due to the fact that stories are divided into genres.
It’s critical to determine the genre before starting work on a project. However, while an author refers to it as a genre, we may refer to it as a “niche” or a “use case” in UX. It’s not enough to create something “for healthcare” or “for finance,” as it is with industry. The “genre” of your product is the area in which it resides and can make a difference to the target audience.
Creating an elevator pitch is one method of determining your product’s genres. The problem, solution, and value proposition, according to the Asana team, are the basis of an elevator pitch. Filling in the blanks is another technique to figure out what your product’s “genre” is.
Step 2: Create context:
The second step is to give the experience some context. Everything that surrounds us is referred to as context. When I use an app at home, I utilize it differently than when I’m at the grocery store, giving it my whole focus. The background noise, visual stimulation, and the reason for my login in are all part of the context. A UX designer may also add visual context to a website by placing headers just at top of screens or breadcrumbs to indicate to users where they are in the overall scheme of things.
To offer a product context, it must be produced with an awareness of the audience’s background and the environment in which the product will be used. Most of this comes from personas in UX. But there’s a lot more to it. The distinction is the concept of context: a good story is more than simply a phrase; it’s also a detailed sentence, with adjectives that provide context.
The context in your product refers to what happens after someone uses it. The user’s problem, what led them to locate the product, and where they are when they use it are all part of the UX context. A new tool or product won’t help someone use it or feel connected to it if they don’t know what to do with it.
Step 3: Follow the Hero’s journey:
A story that continues indefinitely may appear exciting at first, but it will eventually bore the audience. A good book — and a good product — has a natural flow to it. The author or UX team must understand the flow of the experience and how to gracefully conclude it. Joseph Campbell describes 17 steps that make up a hero’s journey in his book “The Hero with a Thousand Faces” (a common template of storytelling). While the hero’s journey is somewhat comprehensive, the general notion may be applied to UX design.
So, what happens at the end of your story? When will the tale of your product reach a climax, allowing your end-user to become a hero? The finale for a tax accounting program like Turbotax might be when the taxes are submitted. However, the narrative does not end there; customers must search for their refunders. Despite the fact that Turbotax’s software lacks that information, they still assist set expectations by providing infographics as well as other content that helps their customers as part of an “offboarding” process. In other words, although some products abandon consumers as soon as they no longer require the product, Turbotax provides resources that will help users even after they have finished using the Turbotax product.
Create your user’s Hero Journey when your design team has identified your offboarding point. Writing a tale about the user’s hero journey is one method to achieve this. Allow yourself to be ridiculous and portray your product’s user as a hero in shining armor. Consider the emotional, mental, and physical condition of the individual who will be using your product using the Hero’s Journey template (remember your context!).
Step 4: Revise:
As the phrase goes, “excellent writing is good editing.” The same may be said about user experience. Finishing a narrative is merely the first step for an author. They next collaborate with an editor to have more input and make any modifications. User research is used in UX, and iterations are used instead of “revisions.” User input may be obtained through usability testing, A/B testing, user research, and prototype testing.
However, we have a significant advantage in UX. After a book is released, it is no longer possible to respond to the feedback. Digital items, on the other hand, maybe tweaked and enhanced even after they’ve been released. Websites are redesigned, and apps are updated.
Despite the fact that the Digital Companion is no longer accessible on the app store, we did have numerous releases following its first release. We had ideas about how to improve the product and enhance its capabilities even before the first release. We were able to start acceptability testing on having numerous “finger stretching” game options and A/B test video instructions for injections, for example. These ideas didn’t need to wait for the outcomes of our initial release – that’s how UX works!
Step 5: Write the sequel:
It’s time for the sequel when a product has been released into the market. Many great stories have fantastic follow-ups. It’s sometimes a planned sequel, such as adding a new Starbucks beverage to the range. Other times, it’s more of an afterthought depending on demand or requirement. A solid sequel either wraps up a planned series or expands on what came before. Consider the difference between the Star Wars trilogies and the movies called “a Star Wars story.” A trilogy is a series of books with a predetermined plot. A one-off film might build on the previous plot and expand the universe.
However, some sequels fail to improve on the original tale. They obliterate characteristics or facts in particular. Many Game of Thrones fans, for example, were enraged by the series’ final episodes. They watched episodes where a crucial character’s progress was ignored, as well as the remainder of the series, in order to produce a satisfying conclusion.
As a result, they altered both the product (adding filters to more cigarettes) and the advertising to suggest that filters were better and protected smokers from tar and nicotine (they do not). And it was successful!
Conclusion:
When it comes to elevating your user experience to another level, visual storytelling is a must. To do it right, you’ll need a little imagination, a lot of ingenuity, and a lot of honesty and empathy. However, the end product may be amazing. There are a few more powerful strategies to imprint an emotional memory in the mind of a person. So, what do you have to lose? Start planning your next project’s visual storytelling immediately!
We hope you are inspired by these wonderful products and put them to good use. Iamvector offers thousands of free vector icons that you can customise with animations. We have a large asset inventory! In the near future, we’ll be back with another intriguing topic. Have fun designing until then!
