Workshop slides from Plain Talk in Complex Times - Center for Health Literacy Conference 2012

1. Using Storytelling to Improve
Usability and Plain Language
Whitney Quesenbery
WQusability

2. Hi!
Me
} User researcher
} Theatre designer
} Storytelling as a way to
understand user, culture, and
context in UX design
How about you?
2

3. Stories connect us
Stories make UX personal. They
remind us that everything we make
is made for a real person.
Couriemail.com.au @ianeverdell

4. We all tell stories
You already know
how to tell stories...
...but you may not
know how to use
stories effectively in
your work.
4

5. Our brains are wired to tell stories
5 http://www.blindspottest.com/

6. Changing a story can change the way we think
Our experience of the world is
shaped by our interpretations
of it, the stories we tell
ourselves.... so the key to
Timothy Wilson, author of “Redirect”
personal transformation is
story transformation.
6 Maria Popova, ‘Redirect’: A New Way to Think about Psychological
Change. The Atlantic, September 9, 2011 www.theatlantic.com

7. Stories connect patients to science
7 The NCI Cancer Bulletin: http://www.cancer.gov/ncicancerbulletin/101910/page6

8. Stories connect information to personal journeys
!
8

9. Stories help us see the individual
How do we understand each
person, not as part of a
demographic, but as an
individual with a history,
goals, attitudes and
relationships
9

10. How stories work
Storytelling is how we make sense
of the world: re-imagining our
everyday lives as an experience to
be shared with others.
Julia’s Journal – JuliaAshtonSayers.blogspot.com

11. Stories are not a broadcast transmission
11

12. Stories create connections
Story
Storyteller Audience
12

13. Stories create relationships
User
Story as
collected
We can meet people
through their stories
Story as
UX person
re-told
Our colleagues
(audience)
13

14. Stories create meaning
Elizabeth, 32 years old
Married to Joe, has a 5-year old
Aged 30-45 son, Justin
45% married with
children Attended State College, and
manages her class alumni site
65% college educated
Use the web 3-5 times Uses Google as her home page,
a week and reads CNN online
Used the web to find the name of a
local official
14

15. Good personas...
} Are based on research data
} Include information about
demographics, top tasks,
search skills, usability needs
} But most of all, tell a story
that lets us recognize the
persona as someone we can
empathize with
15

16. Personas can also be quick sketches
16

17. What can we learn from this short story?
Tanner was deep into a Skatepunkz game—all the
way up to level 12—when he got a buddy message
from his friend, Steve, with a question about his
homework.
He looked up with a start. Almost bedtime and his
homework was still not done. Mom or Dad would be
in any minute.
17

18. What makes a good story?
Stories have
} Time and place
} Characters
} Events
But they also have
} Emotions
} Imagery
} Interaction
} Motivation metaphor, movement, weather, atmosphere,
happiness, pride, frustration, boredom, joy, smell,
anger, pleasure, history, context, time, goals....
18

19. Stories start with listening
User
Story as
collected
} Show that you are aware of the other person
} Be quiet. Give the person time to think as well as to
talk.
Story as
UX person
re-told } Use verbal and non-verbal gestures to “take your
turn” in the conversation without redirecting it.
Our colleagues
(audience)
} Show warmth and caring about what you are
hearing.
} Reflect back what you hear, when appropriate, by
responding to what you heard or restating
19

20. Listen (and watch) for juicy fragments
Look for stories that….
} You hear from more than one source.
} Have a lot of action detail.
} Have details that illuminate user data
} Surprise or contradict common beliefs
} And are clear, simple, and compelling.
20

21. User
Story as
Ask the questions that
collected encourage stories
“Have you ever [done something]?”
“How often do you [do that thing]?”
“What makes you decide to [do that thing]?”
“Where do you [do that thing]?”
+
Story as
UX person
“When was the
re-told last time you [did that thing]?”
Our colleagues
(audience)
+ “Tell me about that.”
(and really listen)
21

22. Storytelling in our work
A good story will evoke
emotion. We humans
remember emotions best.
Kindersandi.moonfruit.com
@mike_me_up

23. FIGURE 5-2
Stories are embedded in our work
Mee#ng
the
users.
FIGURE 5-5
Understand FIGURE 5-3
Illustra#ng
user
needs
and
points
of
pain
Story as test And then I...
scenario
FIGURE 5-4
Success Clusters of stories
Evaluate Specify
UX person
?
Usability participant
UX team
Evalua#ng
the
work
in
progress Stories
Design
idea
Design Brainstorming
new
success
UX team stories
and
exploring
ideas
23 Human-centred design processes for interactive systems
ISO 9241-210. (formerly ISO 13407)

24. FIGURE 5-2
We just don’t call them stories
User research FIGURE 5-5
Ethnography
Personas
FIGURE 5-3
Contextual inquiry
Site visits Affinity analysis
Card sorting
Story as test And then I...
scenario
FIGURE 5-4
Clusters of stories
UX person
Usability participant
UX team
Usability Testing
Walk-throughs Stories
Analytics Design
idea
Scenarios
Storyboards
Wireframes
UX team Prototypes
24

25. Stories can spark innovation
They can start from...
} Stories you hear during from (or
about) users
} Explore new perspectives on a
problem or goal
} Personas
} Show their behavior in new
situations
} Data
} Explore the story behind the data
} Juicy fragments
} Explain the unexpected
What’s the story outside the box
25

26. Unexpected stories
Gina gave us the first tidbit. She was a } Character
nurse manager for the county health Establish perspective or
system. “I’m on the move all day and I relationship
have a huge case load. Patients are
always throwing new questions at me. } Context
Yesterday, I really struggled to sort out a Set up the problem
problem one patient was having with
side effects. I speak a little Spanish, but } Imagery
just couldn’t remember the correct Suggest emotions or
medical term to explain a new adjuvant experience
the doctor wanted to try. It was so
frustrating.”
She pointed at the sketch. “I don’t have }
a phone that will do all that - yet, but if
it’s really that simple…”
26

27. Juicy fragments can grow into a story
le
“When I’m ts of p e op
waiting eeing lo form. It
f or a bu s, I
wi “I love s tro plat
a way to kn sh I had e
on the m eans a train w
ill
ow when m
it will arriv
e.” usually n.”
o
a rrive so
“When the
bu
nning late, I can
drive marked, I a s stop isn’t well
“If I’m ru ain.” lways worr
y whether I
if I’m go ing to miss the tr in the right
place.” ’m
27

28. Stories explore situations and context
} Context
There is nothing more frustrating than
Set up the problem
waiting for the bus. On a suburban road.
In the snow.
} Character
The persona creates
Sandra didn’t like snow much anyway, the perspective and
but she liked standing at her bus stop relationship
even less, with snow oozing into her
boots and cars splashing ice at her. } Imagery
Suggests the
Had she missed it? Was it right around emotional
connections
the corner? Was it even running with all
this snow?
Was anything going to get her to work
on time today?
28

29. Stories explore situations and context (2)
} Context
Much as Ian loved staying out with his
Different setting
friends until the pubs closed, he hated
getting back home late at night.
} Character
Different person and
Was the train still running, or did he situation
have to trudge over to the stop for the
night bus -- 5 blocks that seemed much } Same basic problem
longer after a few beers.
And there was the tedium of watching
the bus wind through the streets.
29

30. Stories for brainstorming
} Start from a juicy fragment, analysis
data, or a usability problem
} Construct a story that sets up the
context...
but does not provide a solution.
} Be sure you ground the story with a
character (or persona), a context
(place, time, situation), a motivation,
and a problem.
30

31. Brainstorming from points of pain to a new story
Signs on the platform
with when the train will
arrive.
Text message with
the time the next
bus will arrive.
App that taps into transit
information for bus or train
locations.
Website with Bus checks off its
information arrival on the
schedule.
31

32. A new ending to Sandra’s Story
After she’d waited for a few minutes, Sandra } Sets up a possible
brushed enough snow off the sign to be able to solution
read the stop number.
She had the RideFind number in her
phone’s contact list, so all she had to do
was enter the number of the bus stop into a
text message.
A couple of seconds later, the reply came
back. The bus was 10 minutes away,
running late. She’d get to work this
morning.
32

33. Crafting a story
Stories help us empathize and experience
another person’s condition. Stories appeal
to our emotions and drive us to action.
Mary and Leonard Trujillo – The Mudhead Gallery @balchenn

34. Let’s create a story
} Start from something you have experienced
in your work.
} Think of a specific about the person
and a specific event
} Maybe a story about...
} Something you learned about their
perspectives or goals
} A need they didn’t know they had
} A delightful or painful experience
} What is important about this story? What do
you want to share?
} Write a story you can tell in one minute
34

35. Feedback
} How was that?
} Did anyone have trouble finding a story to tell?
} What was it like to
} Just listen to someone else’s story?
} Be listened to?
} How did it feel to get an appreciation instead of a criticism?
35

36. Each voice expresses a relationship
36

37. 3rd person allows you to explain and interpret
Whose words and thoughts are these?
} Are these things that Mary would say or
are they our interpretation of all the data
and stories that went into the Mary
persona?
} How can we show when we are using her
own words?
Does this communicate
} Research authority
} A neutral picture
} A realist tale
37

38. 2nd person creates a conversation
} What are the relationships here?
} Is the researcher in the story?
} Is it “you” and “me” or “we”
} Can creating a sense of identify
motivate action?
38 Courtesy Ian Roddis, OU and Caroline Jarrett

39. 1st person invites identification
39 Just LIke Me - Determining Eligibility Online with Personalized
Narratives - Thea van der Geest and Lex van Velsen, UPA 2010

40. Stories can be test scenarios
} They create a realistic
context because they are
based on real stories.
} They give you a range of
stories and perspectives to
draw on.
40

41. Transforming a story to a test task
} Use stories to decide on tasks that
let the participant “finish the story”
Another person just got promoted } Motivation
ahead of you. You know you are good at Enough of a story to
your job but notice that everyone else provide motivation
has a degree in business. Maybe it’s
time to go back to school.
} Goal
Does the local college have a program The task can be very
you can manage with your work precise, or allow the
schedule? participant more
freedom
41

42. Stories can make your work
richer and more persuasive
Stories take our audience on a
journey and enable leaps of faith.
@MarkErhardt

43. Stories use pull, not push, to engage (and persuade)
They help you think about
something (new)…
In a realistic situation
With a compelling character
and perspective
And imagine how it will solve
a problem
43

44. Questions?