In addition to design, you have to learn how to tell a story

Sometime ago, I gave feedback on the product design of a number of start-ups at the headquarters of Mountain View 500 Startups. And I quickly listened to each company's core values ​​and product designs in 15 minutes and gave them suggestions for improvement. At the end of the day there was a glitz of glitz that finally came to mind in my head - it looks like many entrepreneurs are less likely to tell the story. While these companies are in their infancy, it seems that missing a story does not cause much trouble for them, but "you have to learn to tell a story before you design a product." (Chuck Longanecker)

Entrepreneurs will generally describe the product as: function enumeration, technical parameters, or abstract, even convoluted concepts. But in fact, they may only need one story - whether it is for investors, employees, or friends and family members to understand and empathize with them. And this story should be unforgettable, and easy to spread, even if it is a small white technology can take the hint. The viral spread of the product is often to express some kind of consensus simple. Let me give you an example. Instagram founder Kevin Systrom originally developed a feature-rich mobile social product, which he called Brbn, and later he refined an important feature - "to capture the moment, and Share with others. " This means that to design a story, you must first understand the problem you are trying to solve, and then come up with a solution that allows for both.

Clear the real problem

Entrepreneurs create products, you can solve three types of problems: their own problems, everyone's problems and non-existent problems. Their own problems are often easier to solve than those of others, and the hardest part is to solve problems that do not exist at all. I found some common problems of entrepreneurs: First, list a number of issues to be resolved at one time; Second, explain the user needs, even if they did not talk to the user; Third, to elaborate on the door to solve the problem difficult. This tangle of expression is usually reflected in the home page and product model. Initially, every successful entrepreneur always focuses on solving a problem that they can thoroughly understand. Only when the product has a certain response, entrepreneurs will expand their business. Go back to the Instagram example. We talked about Brbn, which had many features in its predecessor, but one of the features caught an important issue - everyone started owning a smartphone, but the pictures they took were less than satisfactory. Here's how Instagram is based on the FAQ page:

"The picture taken by a cell phone is always flat and tasteless."

This problem is even more apparent when people take pictures with their cell phones more and more. As a result, Kevin Systrom found this to be a noteworthy area. Although Brbn itself has a filter function, it has never been better, because the product is always trying to solve the bigger problem (which is often difficult to achieve at once). After you have a deep insight into the problem, try to get as much of your target customer's idea as possible before designing the solution. This helps to eliminate the biases you think about, to see if the problem really exists, and to further clarify where you want to focus.

Propose solutions

Engineers or designers can easily whimper when showering, and then try to achieve. It is a natural idea, but often, when more and more are being taken into account, you design a product that only you can understand and wasting weeks of effort on it. Therefore, before designing a product, think calmly about whether or not you really know what to do. If you are lucky enough, you have identified a specific problem that will be helpful in proposing solutions to this particular problem. The founder of a startup told me that their product has multiple types of users, so the user home page needs to be tailored to their needs. But the fact is that they have a hard time counting a single product, so the best way is to start with a single problem. Instagram describes my solution this way:

Our superior filter function makes your phone photos appear to be professional-level.

Although Instagram now adds a variety of additional features, but this filter function has always been the most unique and core Instagram features.

Polish your story

This will be the story you want to talk about when it comes to clearly defining the problem to be solved and the solution to the design. This story does not require technical background, industry hot words and features listed, it is simply about what your product is about to express. Such stories are constructed with ideas and laywords, so you can easily explain to your uncles and aunts in family gatherings. Please point out at the beginning of the story your product to solve the ultimate goal. Instagram's homepage says something like this:

Here, share photos with family and friends: fast, beautiful, fun.

Then by explaining how your product is specifically implemented, give your solution:

Take a photo on your cellphone, choose a filter, adjust the look of the photo, upload it to Instagram, share it on Facebook, Twitter or Tumblr. Simply effortless. This is the re-creation of our sharing of photos.

Tiling the story to describe the product is the first step in the product life cycle and the story will run through the entire product design process. Next is to display the design on the whiteboard, carding product use process, writing home page information, promotion of products and so on. And such a story will also help all members of the related product project "think one piece, one piece."

VIA: medium.com