Storytelling in UX

Quotes & Analysis

Make the Story Personal

By making the story personal, I didn’t have to claim that everyone should follow the same path. By making the story personal, I could include topics that they might not think of as part of accessibility, and show why they were. (p.338)

This makes sense to me because I think that people could feel offended when they are told certain stories. Making the story personal would be a disarming way to share insights because it is a personal story from our own perspectives. By doing this, we can avoid to make people feel that they should do the same but just simply show them our personal experiences / stories. I often do the same whenever I teach people something or give them advise. For example, me saying that “You should start pursuing UX career” may not be the best idea because it is just a claim that I’m making, and it depends on people if they want to be a UX designer. However, if I explain them that why I think it’s important as a company or as a whole society to have a UX designer, how I decided to be one, and how much progress I’ve made so far, now it is my personal story which might attract people’s attention.

Change the Perspective

Changes in perspective can also suggest different needs that a new design can meet. (p.342)

I loved this part so much. We always have a perspective, intentionally or unintentionally, and if we are not open enough to accept the fact that the perspective we have isn’t always the same as other people’s perspective, it is going to be very challenging to make a user-friendly product. We say “we are UX designers who prioritize users first,” we are also users. Again, our perspective is not everyone’s perspective, thus changes in perspective is very important. As the quote says, changes in perspective can suggest different needs that a new design can meet, and we always have to keep this in mind when we are in brainstorming / designing process.

The Importance of Balance

Like character details, if you fill the story with too many images, it can overwhelm the audience. Or you can have the wrong imagery distracting the audience into focusing on something that doesn’t support the point you are trying to make. Worse, you can be so specific that it leaves them no room to imagine the story themselves. But if you have too little imagery, the story is nothing more than a recitation of facts. (p.371)

I totally agree with this statement. Everything is about balance. If there were too many images, it would be distracting and could overwhelm the audience. Is there were too little, it would be lame. It can also apply to texts (copies), diagrams, and emphasis. I’m not a minimalist, but by understanding the reason why minimalism is supported by many people these days, we can be good at finding a good balance between “I want to put everything I’ve got through research and brainstorming process" and “Let’s make the simplest design so that no one would be distracted.” It is always about the balance, which I’ve been struggling to fully get it, but this is something every UX designers should put a lot of effort in.

Main Takeaway

The main takeaway for me was that every ingredients I learned in Chapter 13 - perspective, character, context, imagery, and language - is necessary for good storytelling. If one of them was not present, the whole story could be a waste. As a UX designer, we have to have a good storytelling skills. and also have to have a skill to find good stories. With examples provided in this chapter, I learned what good story sounds like and what “okay” story sounds like, and although the difference would be too subtle for people to notice, we have to keep in mind that it is that “subtle” difference which makes the whole user experience great or nah. I tend to focus on designing part compared to storytelling part (I can’t say I’m the best storyteller - at least yet!), so this chapter gave me good insights of how to be a good storyteller, and why it mattes.