Presentation at edUI Understanding our users starts from user research. But the complexities of the user patterns, behaviors, perceptions, and motivations can be hard to communicate in ways that help the team really understand the mindset of their audience. Stories let us shape research data into compelling narratives that build empathy and engage teams in the user journey and see both research insights and problems user experience through the eyes of your users.

1. Storytelling
Finding the insights
in research data
Whitney Quesenbery
Center for Civic Design
@civicdesign | @whitneyq

2. Lighting design
to civic design

3. When you hear
driver’s license office
what’s the first thing
that comes to mind?

4. Perhaps the least-loved government office
Photo: The Oregonian Live

5. What’s the story in the data about voter
registration?

6. The clerk’s view
Part of my job but
not part of my mission

7. The customer’s
view
Unexpected
Unnecessary
Extra time

8. “The information you provided
today will be used to register
you to vote or update your
voter registration, unless you
decline at this time.”

9. The story is never just one piece of data

10. Stories create change
From a collaborative process
Changed perspectives
Honoring constraints
Easy to explain
Easy to do
Photo MSTIL.ORG

11. Stories…
Create a community

12. Too much data looks something like this

13. Or this.

14. Even a visualization needs a storyteller
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbkSRLYSojo

15. Our brains are
wired for stories
9,020,000 results on Google
+

16. UX stories fill the gaps
with real information…
…instead of letting our
brain make it up.

17. Stories create
relationships

18. We all interpret
a story in our
own way

19. Sharing stories
creates
shared
understanding

20. Stories are not a broadcast

21. A good story…
is a springboard that changes the way a people
think.

22. Stories start from juicy fragments
Things 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.

23. We can use mini-stories to humanize data

24. Our experience of the world is shaped by our
interpretations of it, the stories we tell ourselves....
so the key to personal transformation is story
transformation.
- Timothy Wilson, Redirect

25. You control the story by how you shape and tell it

26. Stories build empathy…
and help you feel – not just understand – the way
people experience something.

27. Why do people
get so lost on
our site?

28. What is the path of
a cancer journey?

29. Stories put a face on data…
and fill it out with rich details into a narrative that’s
easy to understand

30. What story is this site telling?

31. What’s the trigger to commit?
Rachel, Enthusiastic dreamer
28, finished one year at uni, works in an office
Lives in North London with a partner
Hasn’t settled down to a plan for her life
First contact: OU ON TV
Insomnia led Rachel to the OU, watching programs on the telly. She
starts to enjoy the programmes and thinks about doing something to
improve her career. It takes her a long time to act on this idea, but
finally, she visits an Open Day. She spends ages thinking about it,
sometimes browsing the web site, but also reading the brochures
she has taken from the Open Day. On her third trip to an Open Day,
she finally registers for an Openings course that’s about to begin.

32. eggs
onions
cabbage
vinegar
potato
salmon
Why are people searching
for groceries
on a university website?

33. Why are people searching
for groceries
on a university website?

34. Stories help us see patterns
and use them to set priorities

35. ”Nurses don’t
use technology”

36. It’s a story-rich world
Learn to listen!

37. UX work is full of stories
User research
Ethnography
Generative
Site visits Personas
Affinity analysis
Card sorting
Scenarios
Storyboards
Wireframes
Prototypes
Analytics
Reviews
Evaluative
Usability Testing

38. Make the most of the stories you find

39. A story is successful when it gets used
Based on real data
The stories you want told
Generate insights and empathy
and lead to action!

40. Thank you.
whitneyq@civicdesign.org
@whitneyq
civicdesign.org
@civicdesign
Storytelling for User Experience
Rosenfeld Media