1. What’s the Story?
Infusing Website Experiences with Storytelling!
Séamus T. Byrne
2. My Story
• Séamus Byrne (@seamusbyrne)
‣ Creative Director @graphic_mint
‣ My Background
‣ The Organic City
‣ Ongoing Narrative
3. Contents
• Why do Stories Matter?
• The Evolution of Storytelling
with Technology
• Storytelling in Web Design
‣ Business Stories
‣ Customer Stories
‣ User Stories
• Improving Websites with Storytelling
4. Why do Stories Matter?
“We experience life as a series of ongoing narratives, as
conflicts, characters, beginnings, middles and ends.”
– Dr. Walter Fischer
5. Stories and Community
• It is through the sharing of stories that communities:
‣ Build their identities, pass on tradition, construct meaning
6. The Evolution of Storytelling
with Technology
• Allowing storytellers to re-craft compelling tales in
emerging media
7. Lascaux Caves
• Estimated to be 17,000 years old
• First recorded evidence of human storytelling
• Depicting 2,000 figures: animals, humans and abstract signs
Once Upon a Time...
8. Oral Tradition
• Stories passed on from Generation to Generation
• Verbally transmitted folktales, sayings, ballads, song or chants
• Most commonly referenced by the bard
9. Written Alphabet
• Text Replaced the Oral Tradition (partially)
• 850 B.C. Homer the bard writes the oldest work of western
literature: The Iliad
10. The Book of Kells
• Circa 800 A.D. the book depicts the 4 Gospels
• Illuminated manuscript: juxtaposed pictorial art and text
11. The Printing Press
• Brought about by Gutenberg in 1439
• More people had access to new and old knowledge
• Brought about a scientific revolution, rise of the novel
12. The 20th Century
• Film, Radio and Television were born
• Story was re-purposed for the different media
14. The Internet
• In 1969, the Internet was born
• The Digital Age: Digital and Interactive Storytelling
15. The Modern Narrative
• Web 2.0: Blogging, Micro-blogging, Social Networks
• New Media: Mobile, Broadband, Podcasting
• Author-ville: Participation via UGC and feedback
The new bards are here!
33. Business Stories
Corporate
Public Domain Customer
PR/Advertising
Brand
34. Business Stories
Corporate
Public Domain Customer User
PR/Advertising
Brand
35. Customer and User Stories
Public Domain
• The Public Domain’s Story: Collective Public Opinion,
recommendations, reviews, word of mouth, viral
36. Customer and User Stories
Public Domain Customer
• The Public Domain’s Story: Collective Public Opinion,
recommendations, reviews, word of mouth, viral
• The Customer’s Story: The path a customer takes
towards purchasing an offering
37. Customer and User Stories
Public Domain Customer User
• The Public Domain’s Story: Collective Public Opinion,
recommendations, reviews, word of mouth, viral
• The Customer’s Story: The path a customer takes
towards purchasing an offering
• The User’s Story: The path a user takes when using a
product and/or service
38. The Customer’s Story
General Public
Brand
PR/Advertising
Public Domain
WWW
Customer Websites
Corporate
39. The Customer’s Story
General Public Expectations
Brand
PR/Advertising
Public Domain
WWW
Customer Websites
Corporate
40. The Customer’s Story
Customer Journey
When the need arises, the customer has to
successfully discover and find your offering Discover
Examine
Purchase
41. The Customer’s Story
Customer Journey
When the need arises, the customer has to
successfully discover and find your offering Discover
Customer must easily
understand the offering is
appropriate for their needs Examine
Purchase
42. The Customer’s Story
Customer Journey
When the need arises, the customer has to
successfully discover and find your offering Discover
Customer must easily
understand the offering is
appropriate for their needs Examine
Ease and flow
of purchase
experience Purchase
43. The Customer’s Story
Customer Journey
When the need arises, the customer has to
successfully discover and find your offering Discover
Customer must easily
understand the offering is
appropriate for their needs Examine
Ease and flow
of purchase
experience Purchase
Sales and marketing have
ensured a successful customer
experience, the plane has landed but
the journey is not over yet...
44. The User’s Story
User Journey begins by
interacting with the Use
offering:
User Journey
User Goal
45. The User’s Story
User Journey begins by
interacting with the Use
offering:
Easy to Use
User Journey
User Goal
46. The User’s Story
User Journey begins by
interacting with the Use
offering:
Easy to Use
Useful
User Journey
User Goal
47. The User’s Story
User Journey begins by
interacting with the Use
offering:
Easy to Use
Useful
User Journey
Meaningful
User Goal
48. The User’s Story
User Journey begins by
interacting with the Use
offering:
Easy to Use
Useful
User Journey
Meaningful
User-centred design brings
the user to their goal.
User Goal
49. The User’s Story
Expectations
User Journey begins by
interacting with the Use
offering:
Easy to Use
Useful
User Journey
Meaningful
Expectations
User-centred design brings
the user to their goal.
User Goal
50. What’s the Story?
Public Domain
Corporate
Customer
PR/Advertising
Brand User
51. Manage Stories via Websites
Public Domain
Corporate
Customer
PR/Advertising The
Website
Touchpoint
Brand User
52. Manage Stories via Websites
Public Domain
Corporate
Customer
PR/Advertising The
Website
Touchpoint
Brand User
53. Love Stories
• The “love story” between your client and their customer is
based on real commitment, understanding and connection
• Increase the chances of brand loyalty and offering adoption
59. Example: Apple Stories
• Emotional connection with customer based on Corporate,
PR and Brand stories.
• Meeting Expectations, consistency between stories
• Founded in garage, Adam and Eve eating forbidden fruit
67. Where Storytelling Goes Wrong!
Poor
Advertising
G
Unclear
en
er
Content
Faulty
al
Pu
Shopping Cart
Pr
bl
Not an
os
ic
C
pe
us
easy-to-use App
ct
to
m
er
U
se
r
Advocate
73. Outline Basic Plot
• Craft a story designed to provide customers and/or users
with an optimal Beginning, Middle, End: Blue Sky Scenarios
• Remove their obstacles (- to +) (tension, time)
74. Set the Stage
• Every element from language, Choices available, and even UI
arrangement can be used to support main story
• Presentation/visual structure, elements from theatre
83. Why Use Storytelling?
• Deeper Meaning: Enhance UCD with another layer of
relevance
• Automatic Advantage: Humans are hardwired to storytelling
• Emotional response: Positive reactions increase adoption
• Cohesive Experience: Harmonic, Holistic and end-to-end
84. Thank you!
Séamus Byrne
• @seamusbyrne
• seamus@graphicmint.com
• www.graphicmint.com
Text
FIN.
• Telling stories is as basic to human beings as eating. More so, in
fact, for while food makes us live, stories are what make our lives
worth living. They are what make our condition human.
- Richard Kearny, On Stories