Once Upon a Time: Storytelling in the Design Process (original) (raw)
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DPPI 2013 Designing Pleasurable Products and Interfaces
Several design studies have looked at the potential of using narratives to enrich the design process or to create more engaging experiences with designed objects. However, the concept of narrative is still fuzzy and open to interpretations, due to its use and meaning in different disciplines and approaches. In order to deepen the knowledge of narrative use in design, this paper presents three categorizations that survey the what, where and why of narratives in design, respectively. First, it discusses five definitions of narratives based on narrative theory. Secondly, it proposes a typology that classifies the occurrences of narratives in design. Thirdly, it analyses the roles and functions of narratives in designed products and the design process. Finally, using the proposed categorizations, it shows strategies for a narrative approach to design richer experiences for products and discusses techniques for the design process. To conclude, future developments of the project are described, including a call for design projects that involve narratives to be included in a database.
Stories capture the characteristics of the design space and audience that designers and engineers need to understand to build a complete and useful software experience. A story is a design communication tool that transcends the cultural divides of multidisciplinary teams and intertwines a technology with its user's goals. This article describes how stories are powerful tools in software design, defines the elements that make a compelling story, and presents the use of stories at IBM from the authors' experience. It also explores the benefits at each phase of the design process and how stories evolve throughout the design process.
Narrative in design development
Ds 76 Proceedings of E Pde 2013 the 15th International Conference on Engineering and Product Design Education Dublin Ireland 05 06 09 2013, 2013
This paper describes the value of narrative used with ideation tools in aiding the rapid production of product concepts and designs for masters students of graphics, fine art, product and industrial design. The ideation tools used alongside narrative included elements of divergent and convergent thinking in combination with reverse engineering and functional analysis, and practical prototyping using a range of readily adapted artefacts. Narrative was introduced and used by the students in order to ensure the development of a context and purpose for the product, artefact or system developed or proposed and to stimulate original product concepts, ideas and thinking. The concept of narrative is familiar in design. Here however the concept was reinforced using structures associated with fictional narrative. Reverse engineering exploring the deconstruction and identification of function for each component in a product was used to aid students ensure practicality in their idea implementation. This paper describes positive experiences resulting from this activity, with a particular focus on the value of narrative in developing robust concepts. The use of physical prototyping provided tangible and instant feedback for divergent and convergent phases of idea development.
The Use of Stories in User Experience Design
International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction, 2002
Stories capture the characteristics of the design space and audience that designers and engineers need to understand to build a complete and useful software experience. A story is a design communication tool that transcends the cultural divides of multidisciplinary teams and intertwines a technology with its user's goals. This article describes how stories are powerful tools in software design, defines the elements that make a compelling story, and presents the use of stories at IBM from the authors' experience. It also explores the benefits at each phase of the design process and how stories evolve throughout the design process.
International Conference of Engineering and Product Design Education, Antwerp, Belgium, 2012
This paper aims to explore the approaches that designers take when storytelling. Design artefacts, such as sketches, models, storyboards and multimedia presentations, are often described in terms of stories. We aim to observe designers’ approaches to storytelling during a design project ran in The Global Studio, an international conglomerate of design students from various universities throughout the world. Literature that provides theory surrounding storytelling is used to provide a framework of analysis with which we used to observe the design artefacts produced by the students. The paper concludes by discussing the themes in approach to storytelling that have emerged upon observing the students’ design artefacts and the implications that we believe this has for Design Education.
The Value of Storytelling in Product Design
Technological and Organizational Perspectives
Contemporary product designers are increasingly attempting to utilize the latent potential of the product narrative and the impact it can have on the end-user and their relationship with products. Storytelling in product design allows a dialogue and conceptual exchange to be established between products and end-users. This chapter will consider the end-user’s relationship with products and the designer’s role in this emotional and conceptual exchange of storytelling in product design. This will be outlined through a framework defined by the authors as Narrative; Manufacture; History; and Interaction and will consider the work of contemporary designers Philippe Starke, Hella Jongerius, Dick Van Hoff, Ron Arad, Tokujin Yoshioka, Peter Jagt and Frank Tjepkema. The paper will be supported by a main case study of the work of Bernabeifreeman, the award winning industrial design practice of the authors.
Making scenarios more worthwhile: Orienting to design story work
N/A, 2020
Increased complexity in contemporary design work has led designers to place greater dependence on the use of story and narrative. Though many consider story and narrative a fundamental part of design, use continues to present challenges and efficacy is poorly understood. With regards to use, challenges stem from a lack of support in directing strategic conversations towards getting the right stories and to getting stories right. With regards to efficacy, poor understanding stems from a lack of research and a corresponding lack of unifying theory. Scenario research represents the largest body of knowledge on the use and efficacy of story and narrative in design. Yet, scenarios are characteristically narrow in scope and their descriptions typically thin. Scenario research is in decline, and what theory exists is neither extensive nor extensible. Nevertheless, scenarios serve as a starting point for this research, with questions posed about how designers work with story and narrative, and how, in turn, story and narrative work for designers. To explore these questions epistemological, philosophical and theoretical positions are taken up and these underpin a Research into/through/for Design methodology. A series of self-reflective experiments lead to the creation of novel narrative resources and approaches, which empirical studies expose to a range of increasingly challenging settings. Findings from these studies show that narrative resources coupled with resource-based approaches provide targeted support for cognitively challenging aspects of story work. Furthermore, outcomes from a programme of critical analysis provide insights into how story, narrative and narrative resources work for designers. Contributions to knowledge are made in three areas: first, in the area of design practice in relation to narrative resources and approaches to story work; second, in the area of design theory in relation to realistic approaches to method innovation; and third, in the area of research practice in relation to aids to visual analysis.
Solving Critical Design Problems: Theory and Practice, 2019
Solving Critical Design Problems demonstrates both how design is increasingly used to solve large, complex, modern-day problems and, as a result, how the role of the designer continues to develop in response. With 13 case studies from various fields, including program and product design, Tania Allen shows how types of design thinking, such as systems thinking, metaphorical thinking, and empathy, can be used together with methods, such as brainstorming, design fiction, and prototyping. This book helps you find ways out of your design problems by giving you other ways to look at your ideas, so that your designs make sense in their setting. Solving Critical Design Problems encourages a design approach that challenges assumptions and allows designers to take on a more critical and creative role. With over 100 images, this book will appeal to students in design studios, industrial and product design, as well as landscape and urban design.
Narrative Imagination: a Design Imperative
2012
Each generation entrusts the collective future to the next. Just like the oral traditions of our past continue to manifest in our consciousness, we need to tell stories today that will free the imagination. Designers in particular need to develop the ability to articulate the imagined possibilities that the narrative imagination can create. In order to appreciate the complexity of interactions that are occurring in a spatial or object orientated context we need to think about the imagination as a vehicle to discover and explore these new possibilities. To do this we need to enhance our capacity to access the imagination and use it as a constructive and formative tool for generating concepts. This paper sets out to consider storytelling in design education as a vehicle for imaginative exploration. The narrative is used as the vehicle to stimulate and manage this imagination. Reference is made to a design education intervention where the focus of activity is on developing a narrative ...