Storytelling for designers
As designers, we need to reach people with our ideas. One way to do this is through storytelling — we wrap our idea in a story. The advantage: people love stories, at any age. As adults, we may listen to different stories (or watch them on Netflix). But it is the same mechanism as when we listened to the kindergarten teacher.
This mechanism is also used in content marketing or in TED Talks. One of my favourite talks about Storytelling is the TED Talk from David JP Philipps. At the risk of you already knowing it, I have nevertheless summarised the most important points.
David JP Philipps starts his talk with this — rather famose — story: The story of the beautiful horse head. It goes like this: Once a journalist wanted to know how much a good story can affect the price of an object. And he did an experiment. On ebay, he bought 200 random objects that cost an average of 1 dollar. Then he asked 200 writers if they would be willing to write a story about one of the objects. And in the end, he had 200 Stories for the 200 objects.
We pay for emotions
This is the story about the horse head. Not very long and untitled. Written by the amarican author and actress Beth Lisick. Like all the other objects, the horse head went back to ebay. This time with the little story. And amazingly enough, it was sold for over 62 dollars. And that’s not all: 129 dollars became 8,000 dollars in the end. Why did the people pay so much more?
The reason is to be found in the brain, and specifically where the emotions are generated: in the limbic system, which is not subject to consciousness. And this is what happened: The stories linked each object to an emotion. It was the emotion that the people did pay for, not the simple ceramic horse head. This is just the same when we feel attached to an old worn teddy bear from our childhood. Or to a simple stone we found on the beach.
Hormones and their effect on us
The limbic system produces hormones that put us in different emotional states. For example dopamine, oyxtocin or endorphin. There are a number more, but let’s focus on these three for now.
Dopamine
When dopanin enters the bloodstream, we are more focused, more motivated than before. And we can remember information much better. For us as designers — This is a good basis when we want to explain, show and bring something closer to our clients.
Good to know: Every story we tell — every single one — will increase the dopamine in the bloodstream of the audience. And we don’t have to be professional writers. Even small amounts of dopamine in the blood stream will show an effect. But of course we can raise the dopamin level to a very high peak. That works with an exciting story.
So, let’s try this out with Agent Jack Bauer from the TV series «24». His mission is to save the lives of thousands of people in a shopping centre. We see Jack Bauer running into the underground car park. He runs towards a car. Manages to open the boot. And there it is: the bomb. It sits firmly in the boot and has a display on the top. It shows the time counting down. And — There are only 10 seconds left! … And done. End of this part.
We don’t know whether the bomb will exolode or not. Whether Jack Bauer is able to cut the wires. This is a classic cliffhanger. And our dopamin level is at the highest. So we are motivated to hear more of the story, right? And for sure we remember the information we got. For example, how many seconds were left on the display of the bomb.
The story of the error message screen
In our case — as Designers — we could take our clients on our jourey. If we tell them from the stops in between, from the problems that appeared and the solutions we found, this is a classic storyline. I can imagine telling the story of an error massage screen to my client. And it goes like this:
When we came to the error message screen, we weren’t happy at all with the message. The first step we took was to switch from technical terms like «Unexpected termination» to a more natural language «The app was closed unexpectedly».
Then we took into account the user’s feeling «Darn the unexpected closing!». But we figured out, that actually the user wants something else at such a moment: security. This brought us to «Autosave: All secured».
And we went even further. We have highlighted the service: «We have saved your work for you». This is the version we recommend testing on real people now.
At this point, the client will be likely convinced of the solution. Main reason: Concentration and motivation were high. We generated interest and took the client on the journey. If we designers only present the end of our journey, we miss the chance to show the value of our work.
Oxytocin
When we have oxytocin in our blood, we are more generous than without it. It increases our trust. And it makes us feel connected to other people. Oxytocin is often described as the cuddle hormone because it plays an important role in relationships.
When can these emotions be useful to us as Designers? I would say right from the first contact with the client. Or when we present an offer. But also when we want to convince our clients of one of our ideas. In these situations, trust and bonding are very good emotions that can help us.
So, how do we create that? For oxytocin we need stories that awaken empathy. For example, Migros did this well in 2017 with its Christmas campaign. They invented Finn, the lone elf who was left behind when everyone else was at Christmas dinner. It worked so well that one of my colleagues almost cried when the commercial was on TV!
In our case — as smart designers — we can use a persona. Maybe it already exists and we can build on it. Or we create it and introduce the persona «Karl» at the beginning of the meeting. Karl can tell about his problems and how the product makes his life better, easier or more fun.
Endorphin
When we have endorphin in our bloodstream, we are more creative than usual and more relaxed. In addition, endorphin increases our ability to concentrate, just as dopamine does. Wonderful emotions for us as designers! For example in negotiations. And — quite honestly — a relaxed client is more pleasant — more fun — to work for. So how do we get there?
We create endorphin in our clients’ blood whenever we make them laugh. A little humour in the right place can work wonders. I’m sure we’ve all had that experience. In our case as designers, we may show a funny gif in between a few text-heavy slides. It doesn’t have to be super funny. For example, it is okay to show that lovely, racing clock and at the same time point out that we are aware of the client’s precious time.
Summary
We can create the desired emotion with the right story. Storytelling is a good tool that we can use in our daily design work.
A little test just for fun: Do you remember how many seconds were left on the display on top of the bomb? If you do, it might have been because dopanin has increased your memory. ;)
