A × B = C
A represents forward momentum, which is the force that a character exerts to meet his or her goal with your product or service. B is the force or forces that act against your character and get in the way of that person using your product to meet his goal. If you multiply the forces, you get C—and that’s what will ultimately help the climax or the way that the customer uses your product to resolve this conflict (see Figure 8.1).
FIGURE 8.1
Opposing forces collide to form a climax or a peak.
I use the iPhone as an example to illustrate this law because it’s so easy to refer to when I’m in meetings or too tired to think (which is often). If Force A is that you want a 2-in-1 device so that you can communicate better. And Force B is that you don’t want to buy a new device or are afraid that it will be difficult to use. Then C is what wins: a 3-in-1 device that works like magic and is easy to use. It’s so simple to use that Steve Jobs ordered 4,000 lattes from Starbucks at the tap of a screen around 3/4 of the way through his 2007 keynote presentation. He didn’t just say that it was a 3-in-1 device that worked like magic. He showed how 3-in1 was magic.
Choose Your Own Adventure
Storylines are linear. The products you build are not. They involve complex systems, decision points, branching paths, interactions, feedback loops, dependencies, and infinite permutations. One question I’m often asked is how and why you would use such a simple, linear framework like story to envision and plan interactive products and services that are anything but simple. Shouldn’t we plan for something that resembles more of a Choose Your Own Adventure novel that you might have read when you were young? Or a modern corollary—video games?
While complex products have much in common with complex entertainment media like novelty books and video games, defining complexity as branching rather than linear is taking a system-centric approach. If you want to engage someone using your product, you want to design for the human experience, not the system. Systems are complex. Human experiences are linear. That’s because experiences happen as a series of moments in time. Until flux capacitors and time-shifting Delorians are a reality, time is unfortunately linear.
Whether someone using your product chooses to sign up now or sign up later, visit this page or that page, perform this task or that task, and do so successfully or hit a roadblock or error, the constant for that person is time. As such, when using story to assess, envision, and plan for intended experiences of use, embrace complexity by thinking linearly, one story at a time. Each character, each use case, each scenario, the happy paths, the critical edge cases, they each get their own story. Different stories might intersect and have common features and plot points (see Figure 8.2). And seeing the intersections and commonalties can be valuable. But each story lives on its own and should be given due diligence. Something like a flow chart is wonderful for mapping out a system from a birds-eye view. Stories are a map of the human experience, from the human view. Yes, in reality, your users will choose their own adventures. And yes, you can and should plan ahead so that those adventures are as engaging as can be.
FIGURE 8.2
Different storymaps comingle in an ecosystem of stories, each unique to a different character user type.
Make Things Go Boom!
Story structure works the way it does because humans need a little something near the end of an experience to help them pay attention, remember, learn from, and see value in what they just sat through or did. Or maybe humans evolved to need this something because of millennia of communicating through story.
No matter why, the fact remains: If you want to have maximum impact and help people and businesses meet their goals, make things go boom!
This boom can be as seemingly insignificant as a little animation on a tiny screen or as big as a voucher for a free flight because someone sat on the tarmac on your company’s airplane for three hours and complained to your customer service team via Twitter. As long as that little something is significant, delightful, or impactful, the experience will be memorable and the story repeatable…maybe even never-ending.
INDEX
A
A x B = C representation of momentum, 136–137
acting out stories, 126–127
adventure, choosing your own, 137–138
Agile user storymapping, 119
Amazon, 20
animation, 33
anticlimactic, avoiding the, 31–33
Apple commercial, 18
B
Back to the Future, 11–17
Badass: Making Users Awesome, 19
behavior analysis, 120–121
BoardThing collaboration tool, 103
Breaking Bad, 2–3, 129
building stories, 129–131
C
call to action, and structure of story, 11–12
changed goals, 135
characters
character-driven story, 134–135
goal-driven, 135
identifying through exposition element, 25
names, 26
Choose Your Own Adventure, 137
cliffhanger
FitCounter, 59–61
story structure as, 9
climax
in concept stories, 28
as concept story element, 25
in origin stories, 50
as origin story element, 47
and structure of story, 14–15
in Twitter usage story, 79
in usage stories, 73
as usage story element, 71
communicating stories, 129–131
concept stories
anticlimactic, avoiding, 31–33
basic description of, 22
climax/resolution element, 28
concept of, 22
crisis element, 27
for different personas, 29
end of story, 29
exposition element, 25
falling action element, 28–29
FitCounter example, 38–42
inciting incident/problem element, 26
mapping, 34–35
model for iPhone release, 30
versus origin stories, 47, 49
rising action element, 26
Slack example of, 36–37
structure and operation of, 24
support, 33
visual elevator pitch, 27
what they do, 23
conflict. See also crisis
designing stories for, 136
and rising action, 12
and structure of story, 12
core tasks (micro-stories), 86–90
crisis
in concept stories, 27
as concept story element, 24
as narrative arc element, 10
in origin stories, 49–50
as origin story element, 47
and structure of story, 13
in Twitter usage story, 78
in usage stories, 73
as usage story element, 71
customer journey mapping, 119
customer need, 128
D
data and analytics, 106
data-based usage stories, 70
data-driven storylines, 107–109
denouement. See falling action
diagramming, illustrating stories through, 117
E
elevator pitch
communicating story through, 127–128
concept story as, 27
end of story
in concept stories, 29
as concept story element, 25
as narrative arc element, 10
in origin stories, 51
as origin story element, 47
and story structure, 17
in Twitter usage story, 81–82
in usage stories, 73–74
as usage story element, 71
engagement, story as framework powering the human brain, 4–5
epic journeys, 84–85
experience mapping,
119
exposition
in concept stories, 25
as concept story element, 24
identifying main characters, 25
as narrative arc element, 10
in origin stories, 48
as origin story element, 47
and structure of story, 11
in Twitter usage story, 75
in usage stories, 71–72
as usage story element, 71
F
FaceTime, 19
falling action
in concept stories, 28–29
as narrative arc element, 10
in origin stories, 50–51
as origin story element, 47
and structure of story, 15–16
in Twitter usage story, 80
in usage stories, 73
as usage story element, 71
FitCounter
broken funnel problem, 91–92
cliffhanger, 59–61
concept story, 38–42
data analysis example, 92–94
new user experience story, 97–98
origin story, 56–66
product development plan, 58
refocus of vision, 56–57
sign-up flow plan, 94
smile test, 105
story map, 96
testing of new vision, 57–58
usage story, 90–100
flat story, 28
flow charts, 117
G
gap analysis, 120
Gilligan, Vince, 2–3
goal-driven characters, 135
goals
changing, 135
measurable, 135–136
Google Glass, 112
H
halfalogue, 16
Hemingway, Ernest, 124
I
improvisation and role-playing, 126–127
inciting incident/problem
in concept stories, 26
as concept story element, 24
as narrative arc element, 10
in origin stories, 48
as origin story element, 47
and structure of story, 11–12
in Twitter usage story, 76
in usage stories, 72
as usage story element, 71
iOS Calendar app, micro-story structure, 86–90
iPad, 110–111
iPhone release
anticlimactic concept story, 31–33
building and communicating stories, 129–131
and climax/resolution element, 28
concept story model, 30
concept story support, 33
and crisis element, 27
and end of story element, 29
and exposition element, 25
and falling action element, 28–29
and inciting incident/problem element, 26
patent application, 31
release of, 22
and rising action element, 26
iPod, 22
Iron Man, 112
J
Jobs, Steve, 22, 28, 32–33, 129, 137
journey mapping, 119
K
Kahneman, Daniel, 69
L
listening to customers, 102–103
M
main characters, identifying through exposition element, 25
mapping stories. See storymapping
measurable goals, 135–136
micro-stories (core tasks), 86–90
moments in time, 69
N
names, character, 26
narrative arc
elements of, 10
and story structure, 9
narrative cognition, 4
narrative versus story, 8
needs assessment, 122
O
origin stories
climax/resolution element, 50
concept, 45
versus concept stories, 47, 49
crisis element, 49–50
elements of, 47
end of story, 51
exposition element, 48
falling action element, 50–51
FitCounter, 56–66
inciting incident/problem element, 48
mechanics of, 48
rising action element, 49
Slack online collaboration tool, 54–56
story formats, 45–47
storymapping, 51–53
P
panels, storyboard, 117–118
patent, iPhone release, 31
peak-end rule, 68–69
Pinterest
invitation to join, 44
origin story format, 45–47
plot points
organizing thoughts and insights, 103
stories intersected with common features and, 138
story arc elements, 10
plot versus story, 8
Post-It notes, 103
problem. See inciting incident/problem
product development plan, FitCounter origin story, 58–59
products, building with story, 18–20
proofs of concept, stories as, 110
R
real-time processing, 69
resolution
in concept stories, 28
as concept story element, 25
in origin stories, 50
as origin story element, 47
and structure of story, 15–16
in Twitter usage story, 79
in usage stories, 73
rising action
in concept stories, 26
as concept story element, 24
as narrative arc element, 10
origin story element, 49
as origin story element, 47
and structure of story, 12–13
in Twitter usage story, 76–77
in usage stories, 72
as usage story element, 71
RoboCop, 112
role-playing and improvisation, 126–127
S
scenarios, writing stories through, 125
serial stories, 18, 85–86
Sierra, Kathy, 19
six-word stories, 124
sketch-based usage stories, 70
Slack online collaboration tool
concept story storymapping example, 36–37
home page, 55
origin story storymapping example, 54–56
smile test, 104–105
soap operas, 85–86
Star Trek Next Generation, 112
story
acting out, 126–127
building and communicating, 129–131
character-driven, 134–135
as cliffhanger, 9
as framework powering the human brain, 4–5
intersected with common features and plot points, 138
narrative arc, 9–10
versus narrative versus plot, 8
parts of a, 9
product building with, 18–20
as proofs of concept, 110
structure, 9–18
testing, 132
validation, 132
writing, 123–126
story arc
plot points, 10
and story structure, 9
storyboarding
illustrating stories through, 117–118
panels, 117–118
storymapping
Agile user, 119
behavior analysis method, 120–121
concept of, 4
concept story, 34–35
customer journey mapping, 119
experience mapping, 119
gap analysis method, 120
journey mapping, 119
needs assessment method, 122
origin story, 51–53
Slack example of, 36–37, 54–56
strategic, 119
SWOT analysis method, 122
usage story, 82–83
user journey mapping, 119
strategic storymapping, 119
structure
concept stories, 24
story, 9–18
superheroes, 47
support, concept story, 33
SWOT analysis, 122
T
target customer, 128
Terminator, 112
testing story, 132
They Live, 112
touchscreens, early models, 34
TV writers, 2–3
Twitter usage story
climax/resolution element, 79
crisis element, 78
end of story element, 81–82
exposition element, 75
falling action element, 80
first-time use as story, 75
inciting incident element, 76
low repeat engagement, 74
rising action element, 76–77
U
usage stories
climax/resolution element, 73
concept of, 70
crisis element, 73
data-based, 70
elements of, 71
end of story element, 73–74
epic journeys, 84–85
exposition element, 71–72
falling action element, 73
FitCounter case study, 90–100
inciting incident/problem element, 72
micro-stories, 86
model, 71
rising action element, 72
serial narrative, 85–86
sketch-based, 70
soap operas, 85–86
storymapping, 82–83
Twitter case story, 74–82
use cases, 125–126
user journey mapping, 119
user stories, 125–126
V
validating story, 132
W
wearable technology, 112–113
“what-if” question, 108–110
Wizard of Oz, 16
writing stories
micro-stories, 124
six-word stories, 124
through scenarios, 125
use cases and user stories, 125–126
visualizing story as first step toward, 123
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
For all of my students, workshop attendees, and clients who asked me for a book to read so they could hone their narrative craft for product design. There was no such book. For you, now there is.
For those who helped me start writing and counseled me through the way: Lou Rosenfeld, Kevin Hoffman, Karen McGrane, Christina Wodtke, Abby Covert, Sara Wachter-Boettcher, Rebekah Cancino, Matt Grocki, Tomer Sharon, Jeff Gothelf, Jonathon Colman, Russ Unger, and Dave Gray.
For those who read early drafts. You pushed me to do what I hate most and use my words to explain myself: Lis Hubert, Margot Bloomstein, Jane Pirone, Maya Bruck, Jonathan Berger, and Bill Gullo.