Storytelling Your Way to a Better User Experience Whitney Quesenbery Kevin Brooks UPA Boston June 2010

Introductions  Researcher in new UI technologies  Performance storyteller  Storytelling as a pivotal part of the creation, performance, and design process.  User researcher  Theatre designer  Storytelling as a way to understand user, culture, and context in UX design

3 Storytelling is already part of UX Specify Understand Design Evaluate Success?

4 Storytelling is already part of UX Specify Understand Design Evaluate

5 Storytelling is already part of UX… We just don’t call them stories User research Field studies Site visits Card sorting Analysis Cluster sorting Content analysis Design Scenarios Wireframes Prototype walk- through Usability Testing Evaluation Log Analysis

6 Storytelling is already part of UX… We just don’t call them stories  You can use stories to enhance the usability work you are already doing. and  You can use stories to help you start bringing people into the center of the process.

We all tell stories

8 Listening Exercise  Work in pairs - with someone you don’t know  1 minutes to speak - then switch  Speaker’s job - speak about something relatively comfortable  Listener’s job - just listen. Don’t have to talk, interrupt or fill silences. Talk about the time on your way here that you were the most bored.

9 “Story” is not just a fancy word for broadcasting information Stories start with listening.

10 A story is shared by everyone who hears it First the storyteller shapes the story As they listen, the audience members form an image of the story in their own minds.

11 A story is shared by everyone who hears it The storyteller and the audience each affects the other and shapes the story they create. The most important relationship is between the audience and the story. The audience is a part of the story each time it is told.

12 A story is shared by everyone who hears it… but heard by each person in their own way

13 The relationships around a story are called the Story Triangle

14 Relationships shift as you move from story listener to story teller

15 We’re going to talk about Collecting stories Personas and their stories Stories for testing

Collecting stories

17 While you are listening, turn on your juicy story filter You are looking for stories that….  You hear from more than one source.  Have a lot of action detail.  Have details that illuminate user data  Surprise or contradict common beliefs  And are clear, simple, and compelling.

18 Structure the discussion to encourage stories “Have you ever [done something]?” “How often do you [do that thing]?” “What makes you decide to [do that thing]?” “Where do you [do that thing]?” “When was the last time you [did that thing]?” “Tell me about that.”

19 Look for patterns in the stories, just like any other user research data

20 These story fragments might grow into a story “When I’m waiting for a bus, I wish I had a way to know when it will arrive.” “If I’m running late, I can drive if I’m going to miss the train.” “I love seeing lots of people on the metro platform. It usually means a train will arrive soon.” “When the bus stop isn’t well marked, I always worry whether I’m in the right place.”

Personas stories

22 Data  Persona Elizabeth, 32 years old Married to Joe, has a 5-year old son, Justin Attended State College, and manages her class alumni site Uses Google as her home page, and reads CNN online Used the web to find the name of a local official Aged Well educated 45% married with children Over half use the web 3-5 times a week 65% use search engines

23 Stories for your personas let you explore situations and ideas  The persona as a character provides perspective  The relationships create the context  The imagery suggests emotional connections  The language can suggest the voice of the persona

24 There is nothing more frustrating than waiting for the bus in the snow when you’re already running late for work. Sandra didn’t like snow much anyway, but she liked standing at her bus stop even less. Had she missed it? Was it even running with all this snow? She ran over her options in her mind. None of them were going to get her to work on time.

25 What design ideas does the story suggest? And stories help you explore ideas in context! Put bus schedules on the web with real-time updates Signs at the bus stop saying how long until the next one Service alerts with s about problems Send a text message and get a message back with the ETA for the next bus

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Evaluating with stories

28 Stories can be used to create scenarios for usability testing  They create a realistic context because they are based on real stories.  They give you a range of stories and perspectives to draw on.

29 You commute to work on a suburban bus line. You have a meeting in the morning, and don’t want to be late. But, as you eat breakfast you see that snow is piling up on the road. Find out if your bus is running on time this morning. Transforming a story to a test task  Turn the story to set up the situtation, then let the participant “finish the story” as the test task.

Stories can make your usability work more effective

31 Storytelling for User Experience: Crafting stories for better design Whitney Quesenbery & Kevin Brooks Blog and book site Ilustrations available under Creative Commons