This presentation was presented at IA Summit 09 in Memphis, TN. It explores a new way of thinking about holistic design, by envisioning experience themes at the start of project. An Experience Theme is basically an over-arching statement or phrase that encapsulates the value and focus of the experience we intend to deliver to users. It may sound like a strategy or "vision", but at its core, an Experience Theme identifies what the product/service/system is all about from the point of view of users engaging with the product. Once agreed upon, the theme can not only be used as a conceptual frame for design solutions, but can serve as the foundation for the Product Concept and Experience Strategy, a clear set of goals for the product/service/system design. The slides explore how this idea was developed in the context of an interactive agency and how it was applied to several projects. It also shows how teams can generate experience themes. And it's only one small part of a larger conversation about what user experience design can learn from storytelling. Enjoy... Thanks for your comments!

1. Experience Themes: An Element of Story Applied to Design [email_address] @cchastain Cindy Chastain

2. content : What’s This About, Anyway? Characterization of a Theme A Story of How This Bloody Idea Came About How Experience Themes are Applied to Design How to Find a Theme Final Thoughts

3. Storytelling and UX Design Frame Communication Tool Vehicle for Engagement/ Response methods purpose value Team Building Persuasion Marketing Selling Validating Comics Storyboards Scenarios “ Concept Narrative” Shared Vision Understanding Unifying Sharing Validating Theme Comics Storyboards Scenarios User Flows Emotion Meaning Identification Immersion Coherence Fun ? Theme Scenes Structure Pacing/Flow

4. What’s This About, Anyway?

6. Parti & The Design Sandwich Luke Wroblewski at interaction09

7. Experience Strategy

8. Holistic Design

11. Characterization of a Theme

13. the subject-matter, topic or idea on which a work of art or literature is based

15. A true theme is not a word but a sentence---one clear, coherent sentence that expresses a story’s irreducible meaning. Robert McKee, STORY

16. The [theme] shapes the writer’s strategic choices. It’s yet another Creative Discipline to guide your aesthetic choices toward what is expressive of your [theme] and may be kept versus what is irrelevant to it and must be cut. Robert McKee, STORY

17. Impact of theme on… response decisions reader writer

18. So what can themes do for user experience design?

21. What’s not to like?

22. A Story of How T his Bloody Experience Theme Idea Came About

23. Case 1: AgnesNixon.com

24. The Nixon family would like to leverage their tremendous library of content in a new, engaging, interactive video-centric web property.

25. So where does one start?

26. Question: What’s this site ABOUT?

27. If flickr had a theme… Story Premise: A playful, fun to use site helps people to easily manage their vast store of digital photos and share them with one another. Theme: Define yourself with photos

29. “ As experiences now span multiple media, channels & formats, we need to look to narrative, interaction, emotional elements to sustain transitions across channels and formats.” Joe Lamantia, in the Beyond Findability Workshop at IA Summit 09

30. Gasp! I am the beast that is part website, part software, part product, part service, part interactive multimedia experience. What will you do with me? user technology product

31. To create a truly memorable and satisfying experience, a UX designer needs to understand how to create a logical and viable structure for the experience and needs to understand the elements that are important to creating an emotional connection with the product users .

32. tangible intangible emotion meaning pleasure characters setting scenes visual design content pages flows images

33. The meaning of meaning… what this is about what this will do for me how it works where this fits into my life

34. Pleasure, Meaning, Emotion

35. Three Levels of Processing Experience reflective behavioral visceral

37. optimal user experience function performance ease of use beauty emotion meaning

38. New Elements User Experience? beauty emotion meaning function performance ease of use intangible tangible

39. Writers and filmmakers design, if you will, for emotion and meaning all the time.

40. The tangible elements of experience in a… visual design image/cinematography Website Film actors locations/sets music/sound editing copy/text information/content navigation interactions/system response processes animations music/sound error messages help lighting words/lines layout/content presentation coordinated in service of story not coordinated desktop widget mobile app

41. An example of the uncoordinated elements of a web experience visual design copy/text information/content navigation layout/content presentation processes animations creative marketing business information architecture/ interaction design error messages outside resource music/sound help engineering product VP’s assistant Note: This is for illustration purposes only and not mean to be an exhaustive list of elements of a web experience encountered by users. interactions/system response

42. If emotion and meaning can emerge from the harmonizing of elements that make up a story, then to design for optimal experiences we need a story by which to harmonize the elements of a product, service or system.

43. From the point of view of design, the STORY can be used as frame that defines the product, service or system. visual design copy/text information/content navigation interactions/system response processes animations music/sound error messages help layout/content presentation Story frame

44. theme

46. Given his choice [of theme], the writer sharpens and clarifies his ideas, or finds out exactly what it is that he must say, testing his beliefs against reality as the story represents it, by examining every element in the story for its possible implications with regard to his theme.

47. theme focus design process define product and/or strategy

48. The Legacy of Agnes Nixon The Story of a Soap Reliving All My Children

49. Possible themes…

50. How Experience Themes Can Be Applied to Design

51. Case 2: Showtime Sports Redesign

53. Where the Fight Never Ends

55. Structure and User Paths

56. Content Presentation and Flash Interactions Sketching with theme in mind…

57. Chronological fight storyline…told in a sequence of videos.

58. How to Find a Theme

59. analysis creativity insights empathy theme

60. Case 3: MSG Insider Program

61. Experience Attributes Brainstorm

62. Everything must be from the point of view of our users… We’re not thinking about goals, tasks and process scenarios just yet, but the kinds of feelings that might arise out of a user’s experience as well as the attributes that contribute to those feelings. The rules:

68. analytical creative insights empathy Time to brainstorm themes… theme

70. Discuss, evaluate, combine, refine…

71. Keep in touch. Discover something new. Get it first. The best fit…

72. Package into an Experience Brief that also defines strategy…

73. Experience Brief: Part 1

74. Experience Brief: Part 2

76. So what’s the difference between a Story Theme and an Experience Theme?

77. Found through insight into raw material of design planning: business goals and requirements, content analysis, user research Found through insight into raw material of story planning Induces a longer-lasting effect on the user Induces a longer-lasting effect on the reader Produces pleasure in unity, emotion, meaning Produces pleasure in unity, emotion, meaning Manifest in product concept, strategy, content choices, layout, interactions, visual design Manifest in concept, conflict, character, setting, scene, sub-plots, story structure, climax Applied to overall design of product Applied to overall design of story elements Reflects users needs and desires Reflects author’s view of the world Decided upon by a team of stakeholders Decided upon by the vision and passions of single author Experience Themes Story Themes

79. Final Thoughts

81. thank you. [email_address] @cchastain Cindy Chastain