Introduction to Storyboards
- 1. INTRODUCTION TO STORYBOARDS - LOU PATNODE | CONCEPTUAL ARTIST 1 Introduction to Storyboards Understanding The Process of Collaborative Pre-visualization or Storytelling for User Experience Design Lou Patnode | Conceptual Artist - May 18, 2015 Storyboard for Ratio 2014: Four frame storyboard showing how a user can access a service at home after a subscription purchased during a trip on a plane, using a low band-width LAN, by linking to an internet hub and updating content during boarding at the gate.
- 2. INTRODUCTION TO STORYBOARDS - LOU PATNODE | CONCEPTUAL ARTIST 2 Introduction User Interaction, the communication between users and software, is complex because it is inherently a conversation. A conversation spoken in stories, and these stories are affected by (and also affect) the design of the software. Just as the swipe of a finger, or a pinch-and-zoom can accomplish actions that words and menus only encumber; pictures and user scenarios can also serve functions that cannot be replaced, no matter how advanced the technology. Storyboards add context by placing images in sequence to enable a design team to visualize a hypothetical segment of time that can shrink or stretch: The length of a film, the life of a video game, the experience of living in a new building, or the single moment when a phone rings. The time depicted in a drawing is flexible and elastic. Storyboards are a powerful delivery tool for information. The conceptual illustrations used in storyboards work well because of two truths: 1. The act of drawing, and even watching someone else draw, can help us think. 2. Images speak more powerfully than words by adding extra layers of meaning. Using stories, a well-established practice in software design, is an effective and inexpensive way to capture, relate, and explore experiences in the design process. Pre-visualization is a collaborative process that requires a fluid state of creativity, critique, and reiteration. A good storyboard artist can sketch the ideas from a conversation in real time, and manifest tangible artifacts faster than images can be collected into a computer. User scenarios in the form of The Golden Path of the customer, or A Day in the Life of a User,
- 3. INTRODUCTION TO STORYBOARDS - LOU PATNODE | CONCEPTUAL ARTIST 3 help us as designers understand a wider world, providing insight into users who may not be just like us, by putting a human face on analytic data and functional requirements. Stories allow you to walk in the shoes of the user, the customers, or even the developers on staff, by experiencing situations vicariously within hypothetical environments and communities. Storyboards for UX design can inform minds and move ideas by bringing complex or mundane solutions to life, and they create a shared understanding by helping in visualizing technical solutions for clients and stakeholders. Storyboarding your ideas can strengthen the user experience elements of your design. Building prototypes or pitching and critiquing from an assortment of stories, using the collaborative process of pre-visualization with storyboards, can be an invaluable tool. Storyboards enable software developers to explore preliminary versions of creative ideas, with a shared understanding of solutions, making for a more efficient and streamlined production. Everyone already knows how listen to a good story. There’s no training, or explaining required. To prepare a good story for software requirements in User Experience Design, present design ideas under consideration in a clear and concise way, so that disparate elements are related to, by many differing parties, on the very basic level of storytelling. Create an interesting requirements story by formulating a purpose with two main business objectives in mind: 1. Define where investments are needed. 2. Foresee potential issues and pitfalls.
- 4. INTRODUCTION TO STORYBOARDS - LOU PATNODE | CONCEPTUAL ARTIST 4 Recipe for your story in seven easy steps. Step 1 – Current State – Red Hat (Intuitive Thinking) Describe each process in the current system using data flow diagrams, noting how the resulting expected outcomes have triggered a catalyst for the needed change. Step 2 – Executive Summary – Yellow Hat (Value Proposition) Provide a high-level summary of key recommendations based on the business challenges, and forecast the details of the proposal. Also, indicate the scope to the proposed project. Step 3 – Components – Blue Hat (Organizational Thinking) Create a roster of all the actors needed and group them according to their affiliation showing each persons role and an index of their contact information. Describe all the components of the future system including the severs to be used, the software they will provide, and the function of the software. Step 4 – Processes – Green Hat (Creative Thinking) Give a step-by-step description of each process showing how at each actor functions, which components will be used, and what specific, measurable result is expected. Step 5 – Outcome – White Hat (Information Analysis) Define which outcomes are success criteria and how those will be identified and measured. Exceptions should be included as if/then statements showing results and any resolutions to the matter. Step 6 – Requirements – Black Hat (Critical Thinking) Show the future system’s functional requirements in the form of Security Requirements, User Interface Requirements, Data Requirements, and Technical Requirements. Step 7 – Byproducts – All Hats Note the environmental or infrastructural changes like Gap Analysis, Tracking Notes, and Business Rules.