Let the story create a compelling user experience

The products of the Internet have always been proud of the rapid updating of iterations, and behind the scenes of the designers are often in the second phase of the product has already started the fourth issue of the design manuscript, a generation of functional improvement, one experience upgrade, because the user in the pursuit of fresh, so immediately put on a new version, also, The old version has also been forgotten faster and faster, and the product development team has become more and more worried, do not know what the next to the latest experience, so we began to think, in the end this kind of wheel forward-style iterative way really can create the best user-centric experience?

When we walk into Starbucks, it's not just a cup of coffee, it may be a taste, fragrance, or even a "tribal" sense, and it's like the third place, where the brand idea says, is a space beyond work and home. Then I would share my good experiences with my friends, and my friends would start enjoying the fun time ...

The car industry is so eager to BMW, there are BMW1, bmw3,bmw5,bmw6 ... To BMW M several series, under the series each model has its own name, also has the corresponding brand story propaganda, each model is not replaced by the relationship, but for different consumer groups to meet different needs.

The pen's classic luxury brand Montblanc, when it holds the 4810-digit nib engraved on it, will fantasize about the sanctity and glory of Mont Blanc.

We are in touch with these products at the same time, not only to use their functions to complete a number of tasks, but also the story behind their incitement, which is actually a good user experience.

Stories & user-centric user experience

Storytelling and user experience have some things in common, such as planning, research, and product content innovation. In addition, the storytelling approach can be viewed as a strategy from a product perspective. From the birth of the product to the marketing to the end user, unity can be seen as a process of interactive communication, so it is based on the concept of user-centric. Apple is using a similar approach to explain how they build a product. In addition, storytelling from experience itself can be thought of as giving an experiential theme to a particular subject, with all the elements of character and uncoordinated experience having a clear aim and purpose that can be combed into meaningful ramifications to build a more viable product.

Each completion of user research, we in order to better understand the user will generally go to create personas, the virtual user has a name, have a career, have a variety of preferences, is a friend around us, we are also more able to empathize with his perspective to look at the project. The storytelling approach allows us to translate the survey into a biography, a way that makes it easier to recall a lot of information. The use of videos and videos and comics can portray the story as richer and more touching.

Story & Design Team

The professionals who design the user experience usually come from people from different backgrounds, to deal with the problem in the light of previous experiences, which may require everyone to switch from an engineer's role to a user interface designer, and, in many cases, to create new Web pages and applications by first considering the implementation and limitations of the technology, Then the problem is complicated, the team is distracted and then thinking about their own area of concern, for example, the operators focus on the driving force, so they are motivated, not necessarily the end user's best interests and affect their best experience, The designer is strict with the logical frame and visual effect of the design plan, so the relatively dispersed design goal will affect the best experience that needs to be presented. And if you use storytelling to convince the story itself, you can help the team focus their energies from the content of the site to the solution of the problem in understanding the business model, rather than starting with the creation of a requirement document. The story is a bridge of understanding that can be imagined under the same language tone.

Tell a Story

Storytelling is like writing a script that has characters, situations, causes, developments, and results, and here's a little bit of experience with a few previous experiences to share with you:

We made a new proposal for browser design, I and another colleague are just getting involved in the design of Internet products, she is the background of brand design, and I come from the field of industrial product design, relative to the design of Internet products is very fresh, this fresh and unprofessional just let us look at the design of the browser from another angle;

1. Identification of a theme

We look at the browser as a window, different people can see different landscapes, if it is understood as a vehicle with the window, he can be a permanent bicycle C, carry it, can leisurely watch the scenery and enjoy nature, can also pursue the speed of Lamborghini, experience is smooth and unimpeded.

We selected cars as an angle, and people's most important demands for cars are: safety control, comfortable handling and intimate communication. The best combination of such appeals is a convertible (an open car), so it naturally leads to the theme of our story: the browser's hood series (an open browser)

So, first to determine what type of story to tell, from what angle, it is the whole product key, the tone of the product depends on it, and then condensed into a corresponding keyword, the key words need to be clear, concise, easy to remember. Because the angle can be varied, so the tone can also have a very rich choice, so don't worry about the donkey;

2. Find the protagonist

From a large number of user research, according to the tone of the product can choose extreme users and potential users to do our protagonist, extreme users are very familiar with a certain tone or unfamiliar users, can be said to be a senior professional actor and the difference between the crowd actors. Potential users are the majority of people with common attributes. The protagonist of the story needs to be invited according to the time and existing conditions.

This time we chose the browser's middle and high-end users according to the proposal, because time is limited, we choose to start from the high-end users of the car, their appeal is more essential, that is, the above mentioned: safety control, comfortable handling and intimate communication.

3. The protagonist's troubles

How can they win the experience of safe driving, comfortable handling and intimate communication for middle and high-end users in the browser? So what are their confused situations?

Open a lot of web pages, looking for trouble ...

All kinds of flanking, the contents of visual range is getting smaller

Privacy peeping, less security

Cumbersome operation, sharing is very troublesome

Understand the protagonist's trouble is to let the protagonist into the story, it is necessary to imagine what he encountered, why would encounter, how can affect his mood, but the most important thing is to arrange the motives of his encounter this matter, the main character of the trouble one by one list summed up, until the next step to find all the team members together to give him a way.

4. Enlighten the protagonist

Here is the key, every team member must have a lot of ways to help him, some can make him happy immediately, some help him gradually improve, this needs to assess the cost of solving the problem, in order to let the protagonist "pull through" for the most basic needs, other we based on the previous key to make a choice of judgment.

When we enlighten our browser users, we solve the problem of safety control with a "resolute" attitude-group browsing,

5. Interacting with the real protagonists

The story is ready, this is just the beginning, the whole story to our real users is the most critical, we need to explain, need to ask, need to be patient, the whole story of the most critical communication, the purpose is to tell users through the story of why we want to do so.

In fact, the storytelling method is used to communicate from rocks in caves, to share experiences, to communicate with people, and not simply to disseminate information.

In the emotional design of Pro.donald Normand, it is mentioned that there are three levels of experience products that are designed to affect people, and the following three types are converted into designs: Visceral design (instinctual), behavioral (behavioral design), reflective (reflective design). Visceral Design (instinctively designed) is related to physiology and subconsciousness, behavioral design is concerned with the function and experience of the product, while the reflective design (reflective) focuses on the impact of the product. Allows users to promote the dissemination of products, thus giving different meaning, so here can cover more emotional experience. And the story is to give users a more meaningful emotional experience.

(This article originates from Tencent CDC Blog, please indicate the source when reprint)