Introduction to Storytelling
Introduction to Storytelling for Experience DesignLiam Keogh UX
Australia 2016
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There Will Be SpoilersPhoto Credit: Paramount Pictures
What isstorytelling?Communication
Performance
A transaction that relies on familiarityPhoto Credit: Jaap
Buitendijk - 2011 GK FILMS, LLC
Story FormulaA story is the recounting of events that happen to
one or more characters, in overcoming one or more obstacles, in a
way that engages us emotionally, towards a resolution.
Introduction to Storytelling | Liam Keogh March 2016
FEASIBILITYVIABILITYDESIRABILITY
PLOTTONECHARACTER
CHARACTER 2014 - Fox Searchlight Pictures
PLOT 1968 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
TONE 2016 Netflix
A key factor of narrative fiction, inner voice of the author.
Emotional or Aesthetic world. Alter the essence of a piece
-Cinderellas, Or Snow White three little pigs.
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PLOTTONECHARACTER
PLOTCHARACTERSCALE
PLOTCHARACTERSCALE
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Introduction to Storytelling | Liam Keogh March 2016
WHAT IS STORYTELLING?
Scale
Form follows functionAdjust style to suit contextAccessible
languageIs it a novel or a short story? No.
Photo Credit: Trafalgar Square Publishing
Screenplay
Screenplay. Now, yes, I am biased, BUT, let me try to convince
you why a successful design communication is KIND OF like a
screenplayThere are some interesting truths about screenplays that
are quite unlike any other form of storytelling.
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Screenplay
Show, dont tell.
Screenplays are blueprints, only realised through
collaboration.
Scenes - small, finite and manageable.
Synopsised easily for any level of stakeholder.
There is no inner life of the screen play. In that way,
Screenplays are blueprints: they are only realised through
collaboration. In and of itself, the screenplay is not the work.
The film is the realization of the work. The screenplay only
signals intent.A screenplay is comprised of scenes - small, finite
and manageable.This helps greatly when determining scale. In this
way, a screenplay can be readily synopsised for any level of
stakeholder.
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Like screenplays, your storytelling should be very visual. Use
imagery in presentations, dont talk to a slide. Its not very
engaging looking at a slide deck with a ton of text on it. Use
visual metaphors get your point across in a way that makes your
audience receptive and empathetic.
You need to be able to tell a complex story with an image. You
need to provoke a response with a single word.
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Desirability
Photo Credit: John Taggart 2015 Bloomberg Finance
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Screenplay
Film makers and screenwriters are the experience designers of
the art world.*
Their creative decisions have the audience in mind.
* Source: Liam Keogh, 2016. Literally, like just a second
ago.
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AudienceThe key metric of success.
A measure of your success in telling a good story is the
audiences ability to repeat it.
Understand them to tailor your story to them.
AudienceThe key metric of success in telling a good story is the
audiences ability to repeat it.
Understand them to tailor your story.Photo Credit: Purestock /
Alamy
The fourth? Fifth wheel of my now utterly redundant HCD VEN is
the audience. A measure of your success in telling a good story is
the audiences ability to repeat it.for the audience to fully
appreciate and understand your story, you have to be conscious of
the forum in which your tale is told. The scale and language is all
important. Like a lot of projects and products we work on,
Screenplays cost a ton of money and effort to produce, and the
outcome can never be certain until a finished product is put in
front of an audience. So, how do you get that audience to pay
attention?What is your role in engaging them?
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PerformanceThe bridge between blueprint and audience.
Interprets and adaptsContent in context
2009 Vertigo Films
Your role is to perform. Through performance you can engage your
audience whether they are external stakeholders or peers on your
team. You adapt and translate the appropriate content so it is
meaningful in context.
The clip i'm about to show you displays the importance of scale
and context21
The screenplay read:They fight.
early in production, James Schamus, who wrote the film with Wang
Hui-Ling and Tsai Kuo Jung, simply wrote, They fight. They will be
the greatest fight scenes ever written in cinema history. Period in
his first draft for the fight scenes.Why is this important? Because
you need to trust that you are working with people who can get the
job done. You dont have to go into the minutia to get traction or
move a project forward. Hire good people and they will do the job
they were hired to do. Micromanagement is the death of
productivity. And I know this from experience, having caught myself
doing it on occasion.
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Big fight scene
Energetic, exciting, complex
Action sequence to be shot over three days
The script of this next clip called for a massive elaborate
acrobatic fight scene. The movement was choreographed, camera
positions rehearsed and the scene blocked out to perfection.But
then this happened 23
Introduction to Storytelling | Liam Keogh March 2016Scaling
yourstory 2000 - Sony Pictures Classics
Referring back to that example from Crouching Tiger Hidden
Dragon
In order to sell this idea, the screen writer didnt have to go
into great detail when taking to studio execs. In fact, it is far
better that he didnt.WHY?
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Well its like this. In any complex corporate structure You have
the many (play many anim) talking to the few - the key decision
makers, who in turn, have to answer to the one.If each of the many
went into detail about their project it turns into an information
bottleneck.Its up to YOU to find out what the Minimum amount of
information your stakeholder or project sponsors needs to know
about your project in order to confidently sign off on it. YOU need
to craft the story you tell.25
Its up to YOU to find out what the Minimum amount of information
your stakeholder or project sponsors needs to know about your
project in order to confidently sign off on it. YOU need to craft
the story you tell.
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They fight
Increase the detail
Help the experts in your team to deliver the best possible
outcome, without straying off on a tangent.
Photo Credit: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc.
You will need to pepper your story with relevant information to
allow the experts in your team to deliver the best possible
outcome.BUT the story remains the same.You need to be as clear and
precise as you can to enable them to do their job with the clients
best interest in mind. I would suggest, that for a lot of us, your
client is the end user, and you should advocate for them. Its their
story you are telling.Its just the scale and detail that change
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Experience design storyelements
Personas are charactersJourney mapping is a plot arc.
Stakeholder engagement is performance.
We are all each others audience.
Illustration Credit: George Suyeoka
How do you tell that story USING DESIGN ARTEFACTS?29
Pixars 22 rules of storyPhoto Credit: DisneyPixar
Pixars 22 rules of story
Emma Coats, Pixar Storyboard artist
Rule #4: Once upon a time there was ___. Every day, ___. One day
___. Because of that, ___. Because of that, ___. Until finally
___.Photo Credit: DisneyPixar
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Story Summary
Character PlotScale
A persona.A product. A service solution. Illustration Credit:
George Suyeoka
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Story Summary
Character PlotScale
BeginningOvercoming obstaclesResolutionThe new
normalIllustration Credit: George Suyeoka
product.- Next you have your obstacles . they could be user or
customer pain points, or competitor advantage. The resolution if
your innovation or product. - the new normal what you hope to
achieve with a successful completion of a project.
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Story Summary
Character PlotScale
Tweak the detail Know your audienceAdapt your
languageIllustration Credit: George Suyeoka
Take Aways
ScaleAnticipation/resolutionShow, dont tell
Show dont tell: sometimes you have to prototype your idea to
explain it fully. not everyone can grasp the abstract and visualise
it, so help them. communicate with them.35
Take Aways
Make your messageMemorable,Understandable,&
Translatable.
Illustration Credit: Ed Emberley
