1. DESIGNER STORYTELLING
Exploring relationships between
design and storytelling

2. Introduction The aspects covered: A framework for story
Introduction to the ways that storytelling is related to design
Key concepts within them
Evidence and examples of each

3. Introduction Outline of the key points:
The ways that storytelling is related to design are diverse and varied
Storytelling can play a part in a number of stages of a design process
There are no hard and fast rules

4. A Framework for Story Bruner’s Model Action directed towards a goal
Order established between events and states
Sensitivity towards what is canonical in human behaviour
The revealing of a narrators perspective

5. Task
10 minutes
Talk to the person next to you about your own design projects and try to think of an occasion where you told a story that met Bruner’s criteria (a goal, order of events/states, human user, your own perspective). Think about why you told this story.

6. A Framework for Story David Philmlee
“design is the simple conveyance of a story”
Bruner’s Criteria
Design
Action directed towards a goal
Resolution of the Design Brief
Order established between events and states
Stages of development and/or the design concept in use
Sensitivity towards what is canonical in human behaviour
A design concept usually has a human user
The revealing of a narrators perspective
The design concept is a prospective proposition derived from the designer’s perspective of the problem space

7. Relating Storytelling to Design
Written
Madsen & Nielsen: The Persona Scenario
Persona:
Fabricated user, constructed using data from user research
Scenario:
No mutual definition for what it is, but in no doubt that it is a story

8. Relating Storytelling to Design
Written
Madsen & Nielsen: The Persona Scenario
“the persona is the protagonist
[…and that a] problem should be solved
and the goal should always be reached”

9. Relating Storytelling to Design
Written
Madsen & Nielsen: The Persona Scenario
“generate many, new and shared understandings
and design ideas”

10. Relating Storytelling to Design
Verbal
Peter Lloyd & Bryan Lawson: Design Conversations
Research:
Analysing recordings of conversations between engineering designers, extrapolating the stories exchanged

11. Relating Storytelling to Design
Verbal
Peter Lloyd: Design Conversations
“a central mechanism in the development of a common language”
e.g. providing identities for particular concepts

12. Relating Storytelling to Design
Verbal
Bryan Lawson: Design Conversations
“words are selected carefully to evoke and communicate subtleties of design concepts which would take many words and drawings to explain to an outsider”

13. Relating Storytelling to Design
Verbal
Craig DeLarge: Presentation Techniques
Design Management
acting towards the strategic development of an organisation,
dealing with change management,
dealing with strategy presentation,
dealing with team building
and dealing with innovation seeking.

14. Relating Storytelling to Design
Verbal
Craig DeLarge: Presentation Techniques
“Be sure your stories are relevant to the context and situation in which they are used”, to “distinguish yourself as a good storyteller”.
“Offer stories, both verbally and non-verbally and in various creative media, to improve consulting relationships”.
“Use ‘experiential’ stories as evidence of the ‘intangible’ commodity we trade in - design. Doing so can compellingly demonstrate the results produced by good design”.

15. Relating Storytelling to Design
Visually Embedded
Nigel Cross: Sketches and Product
The embedded stories in artefacts resulting from the design process have been defined on many planes. Firstly and most obviously, how visualisation is used to tell the story of how a design proposition is constructed and how it works, vitally important to the client and even the end user.

16. Relating Storytelling to Design
Visually Embedded
Nigel Cross: Sketches and Product
Secondly, the more subtle implications in the design of products.

17. Task
10 minutes
Look at the picture on your table and consider the story that is embedded within it. Different people will have different opinions as the picture will conjure connotations for each individual. On your table you must negotiate with each other to decide on a single story.

18. Relating Storytelling to Design
Visually Explicit
Nigel Cross: Designer’s Mediums
More specifically, with regard to the visualisation that occurs during a design process, it is important to acknowledge that as well as the more traditional artefacts such as sketches, renderings and models, there has also been a growing frequency of using media presentations including photography, film and animation. This phenomenon has been explicated as a societal shift responsive to a more visually rich world.

19. Conclusion Revisiting the Main Points
The ways that storytelling is related to design are diverse and varied

20. Conclusion Revisiting the Main Points
Storytelling can play a part in a number of stages of a design process

21. Conclusion
Revisiting the Main Points
There are no hard and fast rules

22. Bibliography
BRUNER, J. (ed.) Making Stories: Law, Literature, Life (1st ed.), New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux.
CROSS, N Designerly Ways of Knowing. London: Springer.
DELARGE, C Storytelling as a Critical Success Factor in Design Processes and Outcomes. Design Management Review, 15,
LAWSON, B. (1994). Design in Mind. Butterworth-Heinemann Ltd: Oxford.
LLOYD, P.A. (2000). Storytelling and the Development of Discourse in the Engineering Design Process. Design Studies, 21, p

23. Bibliography
MADSEN, S. & NIELSEN, L Exploring Persona-Scenarios - Using Storytelling to Create Design Ideas. International Federation for Information Processing, 316,
PHILMLEE, D Telling Stories: Design as a Business Strategy [Online]. [Accessed 08 February 2012].