Storytelling as a language framework in product design - a business strategy - PART 1
Customers have options, not only direct competitors but everything else that might capture their attention. It's not red to green, sale or no sale, but earning your customers engagement, continuously.
(Read PART 2 here)
Have you ever heard about human-centric design?
Chances are that you have, but if you ask yourself, what does it really mean? Who is the "human" in human-centric design? In reality, all things human are actually very complex topics, wouldn't you agree? Yet, designers use "human" centric design all the time, and I am unsure that proficiency in Figma (UI) automatically qualifies one as a great connoisseur of "human" in human-centric design.
However, there is a concept out there that is quite human! An ancient and universal human activity: storytelling. It serves various purposes, such as communication, entertainment, education, cultural preservation, and fostering social bonds. It is the art of conveying events, experiences, or messages through narratives, often involving characters, settings, and a series of interconnected events. I am here to argue that it is also a highly potent way of designing a value offering (products, services, platforms, etc.), especially for internet businesses where building a relationship with the customer is key.
Storytelling as a Language Framework for Product Design
After thousands of hours of work and investigation throughout my career, I came to realize that the power of storytelling really lies in its structure and the relationship between storytelling concepts, mechanics, and language. For example, the customer (the user, your target audience, the person you are designing for) can be called the Protagonist. They are the main character of their life, and like Luke Skywalker, Harry Potter, and Wonder Woman (ref. Joseph Campbell's "The Hero with a Thousand Faces"), your customer, in their own way, is on a similar journey through time for various reasons. Similar to the heroes in our stories, people also have to overcome barriers, conquer challenges, and complete jobs-to-be-done. That's where a business comes in, to solve problems (with features, products, services, etc.), the question is, What should be your relation to the customer? What role and character are you in their story? In PART 2 I will give my answer to this but in a nutshell, a new business<>customer relation on the rise are businesses that are the guide to the protagonist on their journey, like Yoda or Hermione Granger.
Together with four other language concepts is the summary of my intuition and research on Storytelling as a Language Framework for Product Design.
Imagine the customers life as a journey in a story (the black line in the illustration beneath), filled with lots of scenarios, decisions, behavioral economics and unexpected turn of events. What language do you think will best help you in framing the customer’s journey in a way that alignes the both of you?
So, what do you think?
Now, let’s dive deeper in PART 2, Let’s look at a simple, yet explosive design premise you could add to your UX: TIME ⏰
Thank you for reading! 🦄
M